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Maine Event - Day One

Today was a wonderful day for the Hinkle family in beautiful, rainy, Maine. Things got kicked off pretty early due to Emily hoisting out of bed just before 7:00 AM. Rather than come and see ol' ma and pa, she went to Uncle Jim and Aunt Gayle's room. They claim they were already awake, but I don't believe them. At ten to seven I felt like it was about 4:30 AM--not sure why as we went to bed about 11:00 PM. Lots of coffee made me feel better.Aunt Gayle prepared a wonderful breakfast for us and we had a nice time chatting it up before the final bustle to get U. Jim and A. Gayle to the bus station. We (Jim, Gayle, and I) launched at 10:30 AM for a rainy drive to Portland. Leigh and Emily manned the battle stations until I got back.It was a bit of an effort, but we managed to get Little Miss Wonderful down for a nap. We did a bit of vacation research while she slumbered, and we headed down to Boothbay Harbor at 4:00 PM or so. Once we got in the vicinity, we got off track a bit and ended up in Southport. We pulled off at a dockside restaurant/gift shop/seafood shop edifice and walked around a bit. At the back of the restaurant we found the lobsters!

In a tank under the lobsters were a number of unfortunate creatures that had found themselves ensnared in the lobster traps. Several fish, eels, a spider crab, hermit crab, and starfish were doing whatever it is that they do in tanks. I gave the hermit crab and a starfish a breath of fresh air, but Emily was not interested in getting close, yet couldn't avert her gaze.

So then we got back on track and found Boothbay Harbor right where it's always been. The first thing we checked out was a replica three-masted ship. It's a working ship, but not working at the moment as it was dry-docked. It was beautiful!

We stimulated the local economy by purchasing a pink Life Is Good hat for Emily and a pizza. The people at the next table were from--shocking but true--Dallas, Texas! The poor souls had been in Portland for a wedding and decided to motor on down to BH and maybe do a boat cruise or something. Oh, if it only hadn't been raining all stinking day long! They also accidentally ended up at a nasty B & B--sorry, no refunds.Leigh and I weren't watching Emily too closely for a bit at the pizza joint, and our lack of parental diligence allowed Emily the opportunity to have her first beer.

The local merchants are a bit on the laid-back side of the scale, as you can see from the sign on the door of the duckpin bowling alley. Or, if you can't see, it says, Hours: 12 noon til door is shut.

We plan to go back to Boothbay to visit the Maine State Aquarium, and hopefully take a cruise to Cabbage Island for a clam bake. But as the evening wore on, Leigh got a bit grumpy, as you can see by her demeanor in the following picture, so we decided to call it a day and headed back to Wiscasset, where Aunt Gayle's four-berry pie awaited.
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