Back Where We Started

 One more lunch at a favorite place, Dolphin, and that was that.

Fell down on the job, no pictures of our delicious lunch, fried haddock, fish chowder, and awesome homemade blueberry muffins!

We made our way back to Brattleboro, VT and Pine Grove, PA retracing our steps, then detoured to Hayes, VA to one of the very nicest parks we have ever been to, Machicomoco State Park to visit Colonial Williamsburg.  Huge private sites, with enormous patios, completely dark and quiet, only ding no sewer, no big deal.

In all our years of travel we had never visited Williamsburg.  It was very hot, but we did manage to walk from one end to the other, very interesting and beautiful.

We spent several hours walking around and then it was time for lunch and oysters, we had to redeem ourselves after not really enjoying Maine oysters.  We were between two different restaurants and chose one, we ordered and in a few moments the waiter came back and told us they were out of oysters:-(  But the rest of our meal, a couple different appetizers was quite good.  So after we drove down to Jamestown, not really knowing what we could see, actually not much as it was so long ago, not much left, but they had a nice drive through road with lots of signs and information, after that, well we still wanted oysters, and it was a very small lunch so......  We went to the other restaurant that we had picked, Berret's, and wow, they had $1 oysters all day!  So we got oysters and a local beer, Jan had 10, and I started with a dozen, and then had her 2 that she couldn't eat, she was full, but loved them, then ordered 6 more, they were delicious!

Then we had one more thing on our agenda, crab cakes.  There is a small restaurant chain in that area that I discovered long ago while flying, and got Jan to a couple years ago that has amazing crab cakes, Surf Rider.  They also offer a unique side dish, when you order an entree, you can pick any two sides or broccoli, yes broccoli, it is a huge portion simply steamed that is served with a sauce on the side, it is good, delicious, and different:-)

Fried oysters

The broccoli

And the amazing crab cakes!

So now we are back in Georgia, at Talona Ridge in Ellijay visiting Karen and Tom for a few days, then will return to Cartersville.  There has been progress, at last, on the house build and will share more in the next few weeks as it, hopefully, comes together.

Goodbye to Maine, Already!?!

Our time here has flown by, as we knew it would, and it's already time to say good bye.  We spent only 2 nights at Shore Hills in Boothbay as Chewonki was full for those days.  Since we were near Boothbay Harbor we wanted to go over to Trevett Country Store and get an awesome haddock sandwich, plenty big enough to share and oh so delicious.

And after lunch we took a ride over to River Road and to an oyster farm we have driven by at least 10 times over the years and never gone in, this was the year.  We drove in to a very well organized operation that provides oyster tours, oysters, shucking instruction, etc.  We don't know much about specific Maine oysters so we got a mixed dozen, 3 each of 4 different varieties.  Stupidly we didn't take a picture of the names of the oysters and we can't remember what they were.  There are hundreds of varieties we found out.  So we were handed our dozen on ice, asked if we needed to learn how to shuck, no we already knew how, handed a towel and an oyster knife.  Then you go find a seat, shuck and eat your oysters.

So what did we learn, first of all it is a great experience, a lot of fun in a very pretty location, but we really didn't like the local oysters very much:-(  Way too briny for our taste, not awful, but it did prevent us from buying any more.

Then we moved over to Chewonki into one site for 2 nights and then over to a better site for 4 more.  We had several last shot restaurants to go to, and first on the list was Shaw's in New Harbor, it is a picturesque, real working harbor.  We had a delicious lunch that delivered on all fronts, probably the best lobster stew on the planet, sorry Billy's, flavorful haddock bites and awesome onion rings, all the food groups!

We had another place to go, Moody's Diner an institution since 1934, and we had planned a major splurge.  Just so you don't think we only eat seafood, they have a sensational open face hot turkey sandwich, real carved turkey served with real mashed potatoes covered in homemade gravy, wonderful.

And then the splurge, we both joined in, real Maine blueberry pie a la mode, oh my!

I am still drooling just looking at the picture:-)

We had a rendezvous that we were really looking forward to, meeting very special friends for lunch and a visit, Diane and Donald, Diane goes all the way back to high school!  We had another delicious lunch at McLoon's and a pleasant visit.  They were camped nearby and we went back with them to enjoy a cup of coffee, that Donald roasts himself, grinds himself, and brews like an art form, it was truly excellent!

So one more visit to Shaw's, had to have a final go at that awesome lobster stew, then we picked up some cooked lobsters for our traveling day lobster rolls.  Good bye Maine one big ding for making this trip so short is we sadly didn't have time to see our Maine friends, Bob, Scott & Sue, and Doug & Nancy:-(  So now back to Brattleboro, VT and Pine Grove, PA retracing our path getting here, then one more detour as we make our way back to Atlanta.