I promise, we’ll eventually get to the whole “Pan-Am” part of the honeymoon. We were gone a long time!

On day 5 we made it up to the top of Cadillac Mountain before the fog rolled in for the day. And yes, it did eventually roll in on us.

Check out the panoramic view. It was incredible.

I think that this curly white growth is the stuff that Bear Grylls ate on Man vs. Wild when he was in Iceland. I used to be addicted to that show. It makes me crave Taco Bell though (as does Deadliest Catch). And the Oceans movies make me crave popcorn. Bad.

Us, at the top of Cadillac Mountain.

Another seagull that wouldn’t pay any attention to me.

The town was down below us. At least one of them. I thought it was Bar Harbor at the time, but I’m not so sure now. And I have no idea what direction I’m looking, so don’t even ask.

Like I told you, FOG. It was starting to become a theme of our honeymoon at this point. Little did we know…

Tonight’s dinner:

1 lb ground turkey
1 can green beans
4 russet potatoes, mashed
2-4 slices Provolone cheese
butter
salt
pepper
Worchestershire sauce

Cook and mash the potatoes while you are browning the meat. Add salt, pepper, and Worchestershire sauce to meat, to taste. Add salt and butter to the mashed potatoes, to taste. Mix green beans in with meat and cook 5 more minutes. Pour meat mixture into the bottom of a casserole dish and cover with Provolone cheese. Top the cheese with the mashed potatoes. Place in oven preheated to 400 degrees. Cook for 30 minutes or until top is nicely browned. May brown under broiler for the last 5 minutes if needed.

There you go! A quick, easy meal that makes my dear fellow very happy.

Tomorrow we’ll be back to the honeymoon!

Truth is that I need to coffee more on Monday than Sunday, anyway. This weekend (ever since I bought that box of candy canes) I’ve been enjoying peppermint mochas. Mmm.

• Mountain Rose Herbs lists “50 Ways You Can Spice Up Your Life” – some great tips here on herbal baths, remedies, tea, etc.
• They also have a number of recipes for relaxing winter baths. I must try these.
• Been reading my series of posts covering our honeymoon? No? Get caught up: Day 2 – Pt. 1, Day 2 – Pt. 2, Day 3, Day 4 – Pt. 1, and Day 4 – Pt. 2.
• Christopher Walken covers Lady GaGa – Oh, the hilarity.
• This is an instance where a Google ad really worked. All I’m going to say is BACONNAISE.
• Another group of Compassion bloggers are headed to El Salvador. Shannon reminds us to keep them in our prayers.
• Ronnica is in Turkey! Go check out her blog as she posts about her experiences there. Personally, I’m hoping for more food photos.

Short week at work, but likely a busy one with all we have going on. Best thing? The week ends with my birthday. I should probably come up with a list of things that I’d like to have. One of our good friends (the minister who married us) has a running list that he updates. And it’s LONG. Perhaps I should do that?

What lay beyond the trees, just outside of view?

The ocean. And today was special because I was finally going to touch it.

Acadia National Park’s Sand Beach.

I should put together a series of photos of Kevin, walking in front of me, by himself. There are a lot.

I could have stood there snapping shots of the waves all day long. Lucky for you I didn’t. And I’m merciful…only posting a few of the ones I took. If you want more, click on over to my flickr.

I loved the lifeguard’s chair.

Those creepy birds sat there the whole time we were on the beach.

Poor guy

I love barnacles. Baaaarnacles. You can’t even say the world without sounding like a pirate.

Right before we left the beach another couple wandered up and we asked them to take a picture of us. The first one of us together on our honeymoon.

And then we left because we were freezing. It was turning chilly and both of us were ready to get back to a warm room. And in all my oceanic zeal my feet got wet. I get grumpy when my clothing is damp.

Kevin, opening the door of the Honeymoonmobile (as I dubbed it). Yup, I got me a gentleman.

Once we got to Bar Harbor the sleeping in began. I hadn’t done it in a long time and it was treat. By George, this was my vacation from work and I was going to make the most of it. So at this point in the trip I think we started sleeping until 11:00 am every day. It made for an interesting meal schedule. We ate a lot of saltwater taffy that Kevin had purchased at the Cape Elizabeth gift shop.

On Day 4 we got out of the hotel room in time to catch lunch at Rupununi.

We were seated and looked through the menu for a bit before every light in the restaurant went out. All of them. Our server came over and said that it was the whole town out of power (not a large town) and that we could order whatever we wanted that didn’t require cooking. A salad or a sandwich. But not even all of those. Right when we were about to order the power came back on and we had a new world of culinary possibilities at our fingertips.

(My great-grandmother had a jaguar like this above the toilet in one of her bathrooms)

After lunch we headed into Acadia National Park. The day had started out rainy and turned into a heavy mist. It wasn’t too much trouble driving up into the mountains at first, but the higher we went the thicker the fog was. Like driving right into the clouds.

We stood at this lookout point for a bit watching the fog creep in. Should have guessed what would be waiting for us at the top of the mountain.

Like I said…heavy mist. And it only got worse.

…and worse.

We reached the top and there was absolutely nothing for me to take a picture of. Solid white. I’m not sure what the visibility actually was, but I’d give it a 0%. There was no choice but to drive all the way to the top because there was no place to turn around.

I think it was on our way back down that we met Mr. Seagull. Not the one from Portland. No, this was Cadillac Mountain Mr. Seagull. Kevin pulled over and humored me while I tried to get closer and capture this fella on film.

Hrmph.

Moving on.

Oh, you think those wings are going to help you?

And…we’re landing. One stone away? Really? That’s all you can do?

Seriously, all I want is a close-up. I am rotten at being a paparazzo.

Rubbing the whole “flight” thing in my face again?

And then I gave up. I know when I’m beat.

Once at the bottom of the mountain, we headed around the island, down misty roads that dryads and woodland nymphs could call home, on to our next destination.

Can you guess what lay just beyond the treeline?

We knew something was wrong when Kevin woke up this morning. Body aches, chills, a low-grade fever, and a slight cough…mmhmm. I’ve been seeing it all year in kids at school and now, finally, one of us. At the very least it’s seasonal flu. Worst–H1N1. Right now I am busy making sure that his fever doesn’t go up any more. In the half hour that I was gone to the store for medicine this afternoon it managed to go up 2 degrees, leaving him boiling and beet red at 102 I love taking care of people though, so I’m enjoying living out this Florence Nightingale fantasy.

The honeymoon series will be back tomorrow!

“Bright and early” would be an exaggeration, but Day 3 of our honeymoon was certainly the grayest and earliest. We set off from our hotel in Scarborough and headed north on the day long journey to Bar Harbor. This was our first long drive of the trip and (as would come to be a theme on days that we had to travel a long distance) it rained.

I believe there may be a coastal drive you can take between Portland and Bar Harbor (can’t imagine how long it would take though). However, our route was a bit quicker and necessary for us to take to make it to one of our pit stops. Kevin and I arrived at our destination around noon–just in time for lunch. This first stop on our trek was Gardiner, Maine, a small town where everyone seemed to be wearing a Red Sox cap.

I took this one because my maiden name is in it.

Kevin and I are both fans of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on Food Network so naturally we decided it would be a great idea to see if there were any places we could hit while we were on our trip. The A1 Diner in Gardiner was directly in our path.

I was busy taking pictures (in the rain) and all Kevin really wanted to do was get inside and get some food.

The interior of this place was like nothing I had ever seen before. A classic diner in every respect, there was one waitress and one cook. It did take a little while to get our food, but when you saw how fast that guy was working to feed everyone that ended up filling the place while we were there…well, you have to respect that. When we arrived there was just one other couple inside, but by the time we left every booth was full and most of the seats at the bar were taken. It is definitely the kind of place you want to get to early. That or prepare to wait for a seat. It’s worth it.

The menu. Oh. My. Not an exhaustive list of items available (the stuff on the board looked like it changed pretty often), but the menu at the table featured the salads, soups, sandwiches, and entrees available on a daily basis. The specials on the board that day sounded delicious. And goodness knows I’m always up for a food adventure. Nothing sounded light though and I wasn’t in the mood to have something sitting heavy on my stomach with hours still left on our trip. To spare your eyesight (you can always view the original image–it’s much larger), I’ll just tell you what was going on at the A1 Diner that day.

Sweet Potato Fries w/ Chipotle Sour Cream
Lamb Tagine
Moroccan Fried Fish
Blue Cheese Meatloaf
Spanakopita
Pork Tenderloin w/ Mango Salsa

Mmm. Another time, another time.

I kept trying to get a photo of this guy. He was so fast! Elusive! Constantly, magically producing food out of nowhere!

Kevin had their Oakland farms hamburger. A safe, wise choice. Kevin’s food choices are nothing if not safe and wise. Mine tend to be life-threatening and foolish. Sometimes raw. Sometimes breathing. At least he puts up with me when I’m clutching my midsection and rocking, praying that my life be spared and pleasepleaseplease don’t let it be food poisoning.

These were magical fries.

I had the Greek salad. Told you, I needed something light for the trip. This was tasty and I think I ate all of it, which I can rarely say when I order a salad.

On our way out of Gardiner I saw this shop–”Scrap Addicts.”

I hate scrapbooking. Have I ever written about that? Honest to goodness, I feel the same way about it as I do cruise tourism. It is a leech on resources. A waste. It passes the time, but accomplishes nothing. I want scrapbooking to go the way of the feathered bang (or “fringe” for my UK readers).

Next up was Augusta. The capitol! We didn’t stop. On a schedule, people!

After a long, long time on the road, lots of rain and mist, a short nap, and about 20,000 lobster pounds down the road, we arrived at Bar Harbor. Quite the touristy little place, nestled against Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, it’s picturesque. We got settled in our hotel and then hustled our famished selves out the door and downtown to the Quarterdeck restaurant for Kevin’s whole lobster he was determined to eat (I had been equally determined in the beginning, but chickened out somewhere along the way).

The necessary tools.

My husband got the surf and turf. The surf. And turf. The thought of consuming that much food makes me feel ill. He somehow manages to eat like this and not put on a pound. I hope our children inherit that from him because my metabolism is certainly nothing to aspire to.

Oh, hello, Mr. Lobster.

BEFORE

AFTER

I had the lobster bisque. Genuine lobster bisque. This is all I care to eat for the rest of my days. Heavy cream, lobster meat, and lobster shells crushed into a fine powder. YUM.

Then we went back to the hotel and slept for the next three days.

Well, maybe not. I know we both felt like we could after that long drive and that gluttonous display fine dinner. Nope, the next morning we were up and out for what would be a very, very special day in both our lives.

(Stop by tomorrow to see what happened!)

When we bring her in for the night or just walk within a few feet of her, this is what she does. Stop. Drop. Offer tummy.

Later that afternoon, when we were done walking around downtown Portland, we drove to South Portland and visited Cape Elizabeth and the beautiful lighthouse there. Along with lines, signs, brick, and cobblestones, I love me some lighthouses. And covered bridges. But there were no covered bridges on this trip. Saving that for spring break.

I took this one while perched on a rooftop.

Kidding. But Kevin did have to stop me from walking on the grass to get a better shot a couple of times because if anything I am oblivious to signage. I know. I love it, but if it is imperative in any way I will ignore it. Just one of my quirks. It also got very interesting on our trek from Maine to PEI later in the week, but I’ll get to that.

At this point in the trip, this was as close as I had been to the Atlantic Ocean. Or the ocean, period, if you believe the same way my husband and I do. You see, before this trip the only “ocean” I’d ever touched was the Gulf of Mexico on the coast of Texas. Which looks remarkably similar to a muddy lake. No offense, Texas. Actually, wait. Every offense, Texas.

Cape Elizabeth is the site of a very famous shipwreck. Lots of postcards and prints in the gift shop are reprints of photographs of the shipwreck. Old, old photographs. Very neat.

There is just something so violent and cold and awesome about the Atlantic and the way it crashes into the rocky coasts of Maine. I love it and can’t wait to go back.

Like that? Ring any bells? No? Thought not. And we can just call it “The Honeymoon” from this point on if that works for you.

Yes, Day 2. I know, you’re probably wondering where Day 1 went. Did someone spike the punch at the reception? Thank goodness, no. Day 1 is lost somewhere in the ether, high above the clouds. Day 1 was spent on a plane between Oklahoma City and Manchester, New Hampshire.

Day 2 began just outside of Portland, Maine. We drove into the city and spent the day walking around the town and enjoying the seaside fare.

The first place we stopped in town was Gilbert’s Chowder House because we were hungry and I’m not sure what sounds better than a chowder house.

Our first stop was a very good decision. Kevin had his very first lobster roll and I had the seafood chowder. Mine was good, but his looks better than mine because it was better than mine.

During this trip, I harassed a lot of seagulls. This is just the beginning.

Portland has a lot of lines. And signs. And brick. And cobblestones. Oh, the cobblestones. I love all those things.

NEXT UP: The seaside and Cape Elizabeth. But first, this photo I took just for Heather…