        | Turns out that the animal running through the yard making freaky sounds was a fox. As we slumbered in our humble Maine cottage, we heard the sound again--my first thought was that there was a vicious chihuahua outside. So I got up and turned the front porch light on, and beheld a reddish fox trotting across the front lawn. If you've never seen a red fox relatively up close, they are quite beautiful. Their markings are striking, and they always look so clean. Their tails are quite bushy, and it's difficult to imagine how they manage to stay so well groomed as they're tromping through the forest. As our day started we noted with glee the lack of rain for a second day in a row! Our plan was to drive down to Boothbay Harbor to visit the Maine State Aquarium, so that's just what we did. We got there about 11:00 AM and enjoyed seeing a blue lobster, a very large lobster, and other aquatic creatures that dwell in the vicinity. They had a wonderful interactive tank where we could pick up starfish, hermit crabs, spider crabs, urchins, horseshoe crabs, and sea cucumbers. It was very cool--the tank was just loaded with specimens, so there was no jockeying to get ones paws on the prime crustacean. The aquarium was contained in one room and not too impressive overall, but the $5 per adult admission fee was worth it for the interactive tank. We stopped in at a local restaurant for lunch. Despite it being high noon, we were the only customers there. The combination of the economy and the recent weather has hit the local businesses pretty hard. We then got some ice cream, and bought some fresh saltwater taffy. Upon entering the taffy shop, we were handed a warm sample of banana taffy. It was quite excellent. I called Troy and taunted him--he is a taffy lover. We scoped out some more tourist opportunities, and found a short boat cruise that features lobstering and seals. At $17 per adult we thought this would be a great little activity while we're here. We tried to drive the loop around Southport island, but a backhoe was blocking our path at the southern end. It wasn't too scenic, but it did serve to help get Emily to sleep. So we drove back to the house and let her fully recharge her batteries. When she woke up we went went driving and found ourselves on Westport Island, which is just next to the peninsula where we are staying. We whipped out the map and took a back road that included a scene we will definitely have to go back and photograph, so stay tuned. We then drove down to Wiscasset and saw the train passengers unload. There's a train that runs between Brunswick and Rockland, and once Emily is a bit older this would be a fun thing to do. We walked downtown and visited a sunken garden. Emily felt the need to lick the lichens off of the birdbath. We browsed around a few shops, and in one of the antique shops we found a nice gold-plated weathervane in the shape of a rather healthy cow. At $17,500 it was just beyond our budget for antique souvenirs, so we opted to pass on it. We drove across the bridge to Edgecomb to get a picture with the giant metal lobster and then headed home for dinner and more Wii bowling. |
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