Maine musings

First, the lobster rolls.  You would think that with all I've said about lobster rolls, we were some kind of aficionados, but no, not really.  In fact, over the years we haven't eaten that many of them.  But, of course all that changed this trip.  This time we are doing our very best to completely decimate the lobster population ;-)  I told you about the Lobster Gal who has eaten over 140 different rolls and rated them all.  It piqued our interest for some reason so as I explained she has her number one pick followed closely by a tie at second.  Her second place tie was Boothbay Lobster Wharf and Five Islands Lobster. We went to and enjoyed the BLW roll and decided we should, since we were in the area, try the Five Islands roll as well.  Now in the area means within 60 miles of there.  What complicated it just a bit was Five Islands is now on their off season schedule and is only open on the weekends.  No problem.  Off we went.  Not only is their lobster roll excellent, their onion rings were perhaps the best onion rings any of the 3 of us had ever eaten!  And the beautiful views, sitting on the dock munching down our food was icing on the cake!  

This is it

The menu

The view

And the roll!!

Now you noticed I didn't mention Lobster Gal's numero uno.  Her number one pick, drum roll please, is the Clam Shack in Kennebunkport, just up the road from Wells.  We just HAD to find out if we agreed.  Now lobster rolls in New England are served on unique toasted hot dog rolls called split tops.

Nicely toasted

And every lobster roll we have ever had has been served on this delicious roll, there is something about the buttery toasted split top roll and the lobster meat that combine in a very sublime way.  Well, Numero Uno, The Clam Shack doesn't use these rolls!  They use a special locally baked round roll instead, to say we were skeptical is an understatement.    Well, we all 3 in total agreement, believe as does Lobster Gal, that the round lobster roll at the Clam Shack is the very best.  It was amazing.

The tiny place on the bridge

The view as we ate

The Absolute Winner

Karen is leaving us tomorrow and just to show how crazy we are, we are going back to the Clam Shack and having one more fantastic lobster roll which will be our last for a long, long time.

After we devoured our lunch we took a ride out past the Bush Compound on Walker's Point enjoying the view and the surf.  

As we drove around Ocean Drive we found this beautiful Episcopal church that was built in 1887.

Saint Ann's Episcopal Church

The church and grounds are open to the public so we spent some time walking around enjoying the grounds and admiring the old stone church.

We have had quite a bit of rain, thunderstorms, and wind the last few days, and although it has made sunrise viewing a bit tough, it made for some wild surf on the beach.

Couple surfers taking advantage of conditions

As to sunrise viewing, Jan and I, when we are in Maine enjoy getting up early, sunrise does happen very early here, I can hear the groans from some of you, but as I said the weather has not been cooperating for us.  We have tried and had one little glimmer of the sun one morning out of our first 4 tries.

Just a glimpse of the sun

Still pretty though

So finally, yesterday morning was clear and off we went again, and this time we had success!

Good morning everyone!