We had a long drive ahead of us that Friday and I can’t think of a better way to start the day than with a yummy breakfast. As we had wandered about the town in the few days we’d been there I had seen a number of signs with a hand pointing one way or another that read “Cafe This Way.” Turns out that was the name of the cafe.

It was already raining steadily outside as we parked downtown and walked into the restaurant. Thus far, every day of our trip that we spent traveling from one place to another we had been met with rain. This day was no different.

First of all, I have to tell you that the food was out of this world. I ordered an omelet, “The Smokey,” but made a few substitutions. Have you ever had lox and bagel? Bagel and lox? No? You haven’t lived, my friend. I challenge you to present me with a combination more perfect, more palate satisfying than a bagel, a generous helping of cream cheese, smoked salmon (lox), and (depending on where you get it) sliced tomato, onion, and capers. Oi. Anyways, I made my omelet a little like that. The Smokey already came with the smoked trout (no salmon, but this was just as great…and fresh and local!), tomatoes, onions, basil, etc., but I removed the parmesan and added cream cheese and capers. Win win win win win.

Does my husband always look like he’s up to something? Yes. And was our table decorated in a Superwoman motif? You’d better believe it.

It looked like the cast of friends was running this place.

Only they were younger and hipstery.

Once we’d finished our yummy breakfast back out the door we went, now out into the pouring rain. Serious rain. I enjoy the rain more than the next person. A lot more. When I hear people complain about rain it hurts me down to my core, but I won’t talk about that now. It was raining and we were in it, heading out of Maine, into New Brunswick, with our final destination in front of us — Prince Edward Island.

Only here’s the deal. Maine? Bigger than you think. It takes a while to get out especially when there is a ridiculous amount of road construction going on. And that rain? Still with us. One. Two. FIVE hours down the road.

You see that sign? NEW BRUNSWICK CANADA. It is in caps and they are serious, folks. For the first time in my life (and not the first time in my mission tripping husband’s) I was crossing an international border. You heard me right, I’ve never even been to Mexico. This trip was my first time through customs and my first time to show someone my passport.

And that’s where it got interesting.

We had nothing to declare going in (though I have NO DOUBT that we could have made it back out of Canada with any number of weapons — they barely glanced at us), so when we parked the car and went inside to get stamped we figured that we’d be back outside and on the road in no time. Wrong. The man in front of us in line “forgot” to declare a large bottle of alcohol and that had to be dealt with. Then it was our turn. My passport was fine. I haven’t had so much as a speeding ticket in my life. Next, Kevin handed his passport over. The agent at the desk paused, went back to the computer, tinkered around for a bit, came back and asked for Kevin’s social security number, went back and tinkered around more (this actually took quite a bit of time), and finally joined us with a worried look on his face.

Then I found out I’d married a felon.

Seriously, folks, this was the way to do it. Keep up the facade all during the dating relationship, snag the girl, get her married and then take off across the Canadian border with her while she and everyone else remains under the assumption that you’re “honeymooning.”

And I’m kidding. But brilliant plan, right? What the agent revealed to us was that someone who was wanted for a number of crimes in Utah and Oklahoma (umm…we live here! what’s going on folks?!) has been using my husband’s name (they may not know him personally or even know that someone with the name exists) as an alias. Grrreat. And here we are trying to cross the border. Into Canada. Probably to get Canadian papers. Because you can do anything with Canadian papers, right? That’s what I’ve heard.

The social security number cleared us for entry (thankfully this person hasn’t stolen my husband’s identity, just using the name) and we were back on the road.

It. was. still. raining.

Here, in pictures…the next 7 and 1/2 hours of our lives:

Mmhmm. Yup. Rain.

Now, here are a few things that occurred on our trip into Canada and a few observations that I made. (I’m trying not to make a lot of sweeping generalizations here.)

1. The rest stops off the Canadian highway in New Brunswick are a little off the beaten path. Instead of finding a gas station right on the side of the highway like you would in the US, you have to get into a town a little. Or something. The one we found was hard to find. And it took a while driving down the highway before we even reached it. Someone please explain so we know for next time.
2. Who am I kidding. We will NEVER drive to PEI again. It’s a ferry or a boat for this girl.
3. Once you put more than one language on a sign, I stop reading it. Ask Kevin. We were getting deep into New Brunswick, almost to the coast whenever he asked me about a sign we’d just passed. “I didn’t read it,” I said. “What?” he replied. “Nope, I haven’t read a sign in about 100 miles. I stopped once the French started.” This isn’t political or nationalist or whatever, I just can’t deal with the clutter. This proved a little bit troublesome. What with the rain and the pouring and the needing to read the signs and drive and miss the potholes in the New Brunswick highway that were BIGGER THAN A HUMAN HEAD.

And then, finally, the vision we’d been waiting for (and at this point, praying for) all day:

The bridge that would bring us into the loving arms of dear, old PEI.

Part 2 of our arrival on PEI will be posted tomorrow. And remember, once we crossed that bridge it was only 7pm. There are still hours to go before we get to sleep. But at this point in the trip our only concern was sustenance. It only gets better. And if you ever plan on traveling to PEI you do NOT want to miss tomorrow’s continuation.

Because, well, I’m tired and don’t feel like giving you all a poor attempt at my next installment of honeymoon photos and witty commentary, I’m going to talk about something else tonight.

Seasonal hair loss. Tell me I’m not the only one who experiences this. It was one thing when my hair was shoulder length, but now that my tresses reach halfway down my back, I’ve got a serious issue here. I was raised in a house where animals were not allowed to be inside. Mostly because of the stink, partially because of the hair. And I don’t know about you, but I haven’t ever seen an animal with hair over 24 inches in length.

Me? I am that animal. The other day I confessed to my dad that having me in a house was probably worse than a cat. It was at that moment I could see the relief on his face–She doesn’t live in my house anymore.

That may be true. I still rent from him though.

I’m in your house cloggin’ up your drainzzz.

P.S. New look in the works for the blog. Very different. And I like it. I have some of my own tweaking and “artwork” to finish before I can start using it, but it should be soon!

After a long day of driving around the island, visiting all the tiny towns sprinkled across the coast, we were tired and hungry. Down the mountain we came, back into Bar Harbor to change clothes and find some grub.

I want to learn how to make these hats.

Specifically the one that looks like a fish consuming a human head.

This is the Quarterdeck, the restaurant we ate at our first night in Bar Harbor.

This particular evening we decided to check out a local lobster pound. It’s not like the ones you’ll see on the side of the road. Like I stated before, Bar Harbor is a very touristy town. I loved it and want to go back, but you need to know that before going there. Don’t worry, it’s nothing along the lines of Branson or Gatlinburg. They know what their market is though.

This is Stewman’s Downtown.

Kevin and I have this thing where we try the spinach and artichoke dip at every restaurant we visit. Whenever they don’t have that, we’ll sometimes go for the crab dip. And if you’re a restaurant that doesn’t have dip, you aren’t worth my time.

At Stewman’s we started with their seafood dip.

It was creamy and cheesy and dreamy and…mmm. I don’t remember what Kevin had that night, but he thinks it was the lazy lobster. I was slacking on my photographer responsibilities. Can you blame me though? I had a roasting pan full of Prince Edward Island mussels to dig into.

As my mother would say, we left that place “fuller’n'a dog tick.” True.

After dinner we headed back up the street to where we parked (a little church’s parking lot) and I spotted something. Can you see it?

The moose. Do you see it?

Let’s talk about this moose. I loved him. Though I’ve never been to Alaska, so much of Maine reminded me of what I have seen of Alaska on TV and in movies. I’m a huge fan of Northern Exposure (even though I was all of 9-years-old when that show went off the air; last fall I rented the entire series from Netflix and watched the show while I designed my save-the-dates and later my invitations) and anything about life in Alaska. For years during high school and a little while after I planned on completing my education degree and moving to Alaska to teach. And make bank. And live alone in a cabin in the woods like a real pioneer. All while freezing my tiny tookus off and spending a fortune on delicacies–like bread. So anyways, Maine was exciting for me because it’s a little like Alaska, only on the east coast.

Sadly, I didn’t see one solitary moose on our honeymoon. Hrmph. That’s why I liked this guy so much.

I cannot, for the life of me, think of a better place for us to have taken our honeymoon. The food was fabulous the entire time. Everywhere we went. And all the places we visited had incredible scenery. Sigh. I love the Maine coast.

(This was our last full day in Maine. That’s right. It means that tomorrow you have our trek through the abys–I mean, New Brunswick and our arrival in PEI to look forward to. Don’t get too excited.)

Timeout! I forgot dinner at Geddy’s!

That day that we went to Sand Beach, well, I sort of forgot that when we got back into town, after a nap, we had dinner at Geddy’s.

The interior of this place was decorated with a lot of license plates. Lots and lots. I love the “Ba Haba” one. At my new job I work with a lady who grew up in Maine and if you ask her how to say it, that’s what you’ll get.

One of the (admittedly awful) things that I loved about the restaurant were their clever restroom names. “Inboards” and “Outboards.” S’all I’m sayin’.

Kevin had pizza. Sometimes you need a break from seafood, but not often.

I wish that pizza had tasted as good as it looked. It was a pretty poor excuse.

This was the night. My lobster night. Something that they advertise at most restaurants in the area is a “lazy lobster.” That means there’s no work involved. They empty the lobster so you don’t have to. The presentation varies from place to place though. When I decided to get a lazy lobster that night I was expecting something more along the lines of what I’d seen at other eateries during our stay. What I got was a pile of lobster meat baked with butter and breadcrumbs. Mmhmm. It was decent, but I’m pretty sure that you get shorted on lobster meat when you take this route. But there was butter. And breadcrumbs.

And yes, my salad had anchovies. I love me some anchovies. It’s funny how my continued make-out requests were met with a quick denial post-dinner. Oh well.

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…

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!)