Day 9
We got up the next
morning. Ann took a shower, packed and
then, the luxury of Kennebunkport so close she could smell it, said,
"Let's get out of this hellhole!"
She had a twinkle in her eye when she said it. I know that what she really meant to say when
you get to the core of her feelings was, "Let's get out of this
hellhole!"
I had a quick breakfast of
pancakes (because we hadn't yet had enough carbs), bacon (because there is
never too much bacon), and delicious scones made by the awesome female staff
member (see parenthetical above re carbs).
Ann picked at a scone and watched in awe as I inhaled the pancakes. We said goodbye to Fred, Cindy and the nice staff and headed off to Kennebunkport.
What is striking about
northern Maine is how dirt poor it is.
There are pockets of relative prosperity (canoe stores, coffee shops,
real estate brokers) around tourist areas like Moosehead Lake, but in general
it is very impoverished. Interestingly,
the impoverished Mainers in this area do not have enough money to shingle the
roof or fix the broken windows in their houses but seem to have plenty of money
for snowmobiles, boats and ATVs. We saw
one family of enormous, toothless people riding six ATVs across the road to
their house, which had a caved-in roof.
On the way south to
Kennebunkport I challenged Ann to a new punching game--Subarus. People in New England are crazy about
Subarus. I think if you did a pie chart
of the average New Englander's brain you would find that about a third of it is
given over to Subarus--exceeded only by Dunkin' Donuts and the Red Sox which takes up the other two thirds. I was pretty good
at the Subaru punching game and Ann very quickly claimed that her shoulder was
getting black and blue, that I was acting immature and that, once again, she
was a delicate flower. What a buzz kill.
Typical New England Subaru (Democrat Version)
Donuts for Votes Scandal in New England
They start them early!
We drove for several hours
through beautiful scenery and poverty before coming to Kennebunkport. At Kennebunkport the poverty quickly gave way
to wealth, as evidenced by lots of large waterfront summer houses, nice
restaurants, art galleries and jewelry shops.
Ann had found us a nice hotel on the water near the harbor. She seemed happy with the pillows, sheets,
fancy bathroom, etc.
The hotel had canoes that
we could take out and paddle around the harbor.
After unpacking we hopped in a canoe and explored the harbor. On the way back to the hotel, a huge tourist
boat that took up most of the channel was coming upstream while we were going
downstream. Ann took this to mean that
we and our canoe would be run over, crushed and ground up in the propeller of
the tourist boat and the only way out of our predicament was for her to freak
out and start yelling at her husband.
Apparently it worked because the tourist boat passed by us harmlessly
and the captain gave us a friendly wave.
The Harbor from our Hotel
When we got back to the
hotel we decided to go on a walk around town.
We walked down the east side of the harbor to the waterfront, checking
out restaurant menus on the way. We then
wandered through a beautiful neighborhood of classic old summer homes near the
water, ultimately ending up at a nice inn overlooking Walker Point where the
Bush family summers.
We stopped on our way back
at the Colony Inn, a big old hotel with a pool overlooking the water and had
lunch on their terrace. There was a
wedding taking place on the lawn while we were eating lunch. The bride was pretty but a little on the
stocky side. Ann noticed that the
bride's mother, father, uncles and aunts were enormous and, even if you graded
them on a curve for their size, were just downright unsightly. The grandfather seemed to be clutching a
bottle of Crown Royal whiskey. Part of
me wanted to yell over the railing to the groom to run while there was still
time, but it seemed inappropriate somehow, what with the bride coming down the
aisle and all. I decided I was not my
brother's keeper and enjoyed my lunch.
Dude! Run!
After lunch we wandered
into the commercial part of town and looked at a couple of galleries and
tourist shops. I bought Ann a nice sterling
silver necklace which made her happy (temporarily). After shopping we went back to the hotel,
took a short nap, then had a drink on the lawn outside our room facing the
harbor.
Right in front of us there
was a big, massively overpowered outboard with two inflatable motorboats that
looked like they belonged in a James Bond movie. I went over for closer inspection and saw
that the inflatables had Secret Service markings on them. The dock boy then confirmed that the big
outboard belonged to President Bush senior.
This boat had three three hundred horsepower Mercurys on it. With nine hundred horsepower I figured this
boat could easily go 80 miles per hour.
I doubt seriously whether the Secret Service boats could keep up if
George wanted to lose them, especially if there was any chop on the water—the inflatables would go airborne.
George HW Bush's 900 HP Boat and Secret Service Boats
After cocktails we went to
the Striper restaurant up the road and had a delicious meal of fried oysters on
the half shell, fresh fish and a bottle of sauvignon blanc. This was our last night before heading home to face the music at the office. Went to bed happy.
The next morning it was raining. We got a small breakfast at the hotel and got on the road to Logan. Had an uneventful trip home followed by a joyous reunion with Daisy.
Thus ended another eventful vacation.
The next morning it was raining. We got a small breakfast at the hotel and got on the road to Logan. Had an uneventful trip home followed by a joyous reunion with Daisy.
Thus ended another eventful vacation.