Saturday, August 22

We woke up early Bob woke up first and managed to clean the fridge out and the floors). After my shower, I loaded up the odds and ends, continued cleaning the kitchen, and then febreezed everything (for that fresh scent). I wrote in the cottage journal.

We waited for Tom and Lorraine who arrived around 10:00. They were very satisfied with our cleaning job. We got our deposit back and were on our way along Route 1 from northern to southern Maine.

We stopped in some shops and did some antiquing--that was a lot of fun. When the search for a place to stay began, we first considered camping but Hurricane Bill had created some highly threatening clouds. I know what you are all saying: "Yeah, sure. We knew you wouldn't camp!" Honestly, there were some very cool campgrounds, but most of them were resorts or RV camping places (expensive--so why not stay in a hotel). However, the area we were in at the end of the day was a heavy tourist area, so one stop after another at chain motels/hotels yielded the same results: either no vacancy or 200 dollar rooms.

We finally came across a motel that was not a chain but was AAA recommended. The room was less than 80 dollars, so we registered. The room was a throwback to the 1960s--naugahyde sofa, very old television on a little three-legged stand, pine paneling, grotesquely flowered bedspreads, old oil paintings (maybe even paint-by-number art), harvest gold tub (caulked by someone with huge fingers), linoleum floor in bathroom (but clean). I was a bit------disappointed and skeeved out. The hotel had a dining room and we were tired and hungry and didn't feel like looking around for another place.

The dining room had those old-fashioned wagon wheel chandeliers, very old knickknacks, wooden chairs, an old piano (oh no! is this a piano bar?) and the music playing was big-band area. A quick scan of the room showed many silver-haired couples dining (but who am I to judge since I have my own silver fox, Bob). The tables did have white tablecloths. Even the menu took us back to old times (Duck a l'orange, prime rib, chicken pot pie). Since I was upset after a telephone conversation with my mom, our first course consisted of beer and gin and tonics (doubles). I ordered a salad first (mixed greens really were mixed greens and not iceberg in various states of decay) and the thousand island dressing that I chose befitting my surroundings was very good. Bob had duck and I had the prime rib--very delicious (with potato and veggies sides, of course). Although we were pleasantly surprised (and stuffed) by the main course, we wondered if we should just quit while we were ahead or order dessert. Those of you who know us, know that we ordered the dessert. Bob's was a delicious banana bread pudding--YUM and I ordered Fruits of the Forest pie (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, rhubarb) and it was excellent. I did not want ice cream or whipped cream and I'm glad I ordered it without these toppings because the pie was perfect.

After watching two hours of Food TV (don't know how we could have after all we had just eaten), we went to sleep.