I had Monday off so we got out of Boston, courtesy of a sweet rented Hyundai Elantra. We decided to go north, through New Hampshire and to the southernmost part of Maine. There's a very small part of New Hampshire between Massachusetts and Maine. It takes under an hour to get across. I looked up places to eat lunch in the small towns around the NH/ME border and settled on one with "lobster" in the name. I know. It's like finding a Republican in East Texas.
We drove through backroads with adorably quaint New Englandy homes, all the way to the end of the road, only to find the restaurant was closed. True, it was a Monday. As we drove out of this town, we realized that it wasn't just closed because it was Monday; no, everything in Maine was closed. Like, the entire state.
We chose a second place. It took only three attempts to get there. The first two included driving up residential roads that were nowhere near the actual location, thanks to amazing service by AT&T. Finally, on the third try, we found the second lunch option - The Lobster Shack. It's like the McDonalds of Maine - every town has a Lobster Shack.
According to the search filter on Yelp, this place was open. But according to the closed sign on the door, not so much. In an entire touristy wharf area, only one restaurant, called Jackie's Too, was open. I guess it drew the lucky straw and got to stay in business for the winter months. This one restaurant was full of people who probably came to the little town of Ogunquit, Maine for other restaurants, only to find they were forced to eat at Jackie's.
I'll go on record now as saying this: I don't really get everyone's thing for lobster. I tried a lobster roll when I moved here (my boss paid for it so hey, why not). Didn't blow me away. Your average chicken salad has about 20 times the flavor. My aunt made lobster with butter. But what's the point of paying so much for something you eat only for the butter? Just drink a stick of melted margarine already.
Despite this, I forced PLS to share a lobster roll since he had never had one. I wanted him to know that lobster was NOT all it was cracked up to be, even when eating it in the lobster state. He agreed that it left a lot to be desired. Or maybe he was agreeing so the car ride would be pleasant.
We left Ogunquit still hungry and headed north to Saco Bay. PLS was set on going there because "It looked nice on the map" or something. We drove through a few more closed towns, full of signs that said "Thanks for a great season! See ya in the spring!" Someone tell the Maine tourism council that this sign should have been up at the state line, not "Welcome to Maine."
Here it is. A beach in Saco Bay, Maine. It was pretty. It has the whole east coast beach thing going on, with the tall wispy grass, lack of seaweed, and no sunset over the ocean (sad).
We spent five minutes on the beach and took some pictures. It had pretty white sand, and the sky was gorgeous, but it was January in Maine and it was freezing cold. PLS put his hand in the water, declared the water "salty," and then we drove back. It was a fun little adventure. I think next time, we'll hit up The Cape.
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