After a blissfully wonderful night's sleep, Kathi and I got out of bed around 8:30 this morning. I was up first and hoping that upon glancing out the window of our absolutely wonderful lodge, that I would see a moose just standing in the yard. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Because we did not think to buy coffee when we stopped at the grocery store on our way from the airport to this home away from home, we did not linger long this morning before showering and getting ready for our day. We did have a delicious breakfast of yogurt and fruit and nuts before we left. The drive to Bangor is only about 30 minutes down Interstate 95 and was quite beautiful. I was still keeping my eyes peeled for moose but had no luck. Once we got to Bangor we decided that we both really required coffee before we could really do much of anything else. After circling a few times around the Bangor Mall we finally located a Starbucks with a drive through, which had a pretty long line. So, Kathi pulled into a parking spot and taught me how to put my complicated Starbucks order (decaf, grande, almond milk, peppermint mocha) into the Starbucks app, so that I could use the pre-order feature of their app, which allowed us to just walk in and pick up our coffees!! How amazing and wonderful is that?
While we were circling the mall (which had backyard sheds set up for sale in the parking lot??) in search of the drive-through Starbucks I spotted the LL Bean outlet store across the street. Now Kathi and I both agreed that LL Bean is not normally the kind of store that we would frequent, but, hey, we're in Maine and LL Bean is a Maine staple and when in Maine, one does as Mainers do.
Right up in the front of the store they had an area that was full of small gadgets and gizmos that were anywhere from 40% to 70% off. WOW!! Amongst these gems they had Joby Gorillapods, which are these small tripods with bendable legs that can wrap around tree trunks or whatever is available, that one can mount their camera on to get shots that require a tripod, on sale for $6!!! These are normally $20, so I was VERY excited to see these because my daughter, Megan, had "borrowed" mine a while back, took it to Eugene with her and I haven't seen it since. (It's ok, honey, you can keep that one, because now I have one for myself again!)
I also found a pair of black ankle-high boots that I had been in search of along with a new rolling backpack to be used when traveling. (My current one was slowing falling apart). Kathi also came away with a couple of items (socks.....she is a sock freak) So, we were both VERY happy that we stopped there, even though it is not really our kind of store. Ok, Lori forgot something of great importance here. On our way out of LL Bean, a family was just coming in – a couple and three small children. One of the small boys was adopted. Why do I know this? Because he was obviously a member of the family and displayed a true sense of belonging…and because he was black. The first black person I had seen after about 50 hours in this state. Lori – who knows me better than just about anyone in the world – caught my eye as soon as the doors had closed behind us. We both silently mouthed the word “One” to each other, and each of us held up an index finger.
Our next stop was Stephen King's house. His house is actually a stop on tours offered by touring companies in Bangor. Not only because Stephen King lives there, but because it is a beautiful and historic home. The only reason it even occurred to us to go by there was because I had seen a post on Facebook a couple of weeks ago about how a red balloon had appeared in one of the upstairs windows of his home the week that the movie "It" opened, and knowing that we were going to be in Maine while the movie was still out, we planned to go by his house, then go see the movie. Stephen King, of course, wrote the book "It". Kathi and I both are Stephen King fans and years ago we both read just about everything that he wrote. He is such a prolific writer, however, that it became nearly impossible to read his books as fast as he wrote them and, over the years, I think we both moved away from the horror genre. So, while it has been a while since either one of us has read a Stephen King book, it was still exciting to go by his home and take photos. And we were definitely NOT the only ones. There were at least 6 other cars that parked and the occupants got out to take photos.
After grabbing a quick sandwich at a nearby Subway, we went to the movie theater (Hollywood Cinema), to take in "It". While it may not win any awards, it was a very enjoyable movie with just the right mix of creepy and funny. It gave me some ideas of how to decorate my front porch this year for Halloween, which would include, of course, a red balloon.
We made a quick stop at a grocery store on our way back to the lodge for some items that we forgot on our first trip (coffee, coffee creamer being the most important ones). OK, it’s me again. I don’t know why Lori keeps leaving out the cultural influences of this trip. Lori saw a full grown black man in the store! He was in the checkout line, she said, but by the time she took me by there he was either gone or myth, like the Yeti or Bigfoot. Back at the lodge, we put on an extra layer of clothing then walked over to Rich and Maryanne's house for the bonfire that we had been invited to. It was a wonderful evening of pulled pork sandwiches and baked beans, s'mores and good company.
We walked back to the lodge and tucked in for the remainder of the evening. We intended to start our journaling, but somehow, just didn't get around to it. We did, after MUCH fussing with the smart TV and getting signed into Amazon TV, rent the movie "Blade Runner" to watch in preparation for the new "Blade Runner 2049" movie. We watched for about an hour or so, then both realized that we were sleepy and not really following the movie very well so turned it off and went to bed.
Tomorrow we check out of the lodge and drive 2 1/2 hours south to Booth Bay Harbor, where we will spend the remainder of Girls Weekend 2017.
No comments:
Post a Comment