LOBSTAH TIME! Our Vacation to Maine in Pictures

This is the post devoted to the week where we abandoned our everyday woes (and low-carb regimen), loaded up the car with our gear and the dogs and headed for Down East Maine. We slept, we read, we sat on the deck, we got some sun, we watched bad movies, we drank margaritas, we took scenic tours, we visited local farmers' markets, we watched whales, we watched bald eagles and sunsets and grilled from our deck, we looked at the countless stars, we smelled the salty sea air. In short, it was heaven...until we ate some "Red Tide" clams the last evening there and ended up horribly sick that night and during the drive home. Oh well...seafood is delicious, but sometimes, it's like playing digestive Russian roulette. ;-)

Our first break with our carb fasting was on the way through Vermont, when we stopped in Montpelier for dinner at Positive Pie.

The next morning, we hit up the Crystal Springs Farmers' Market in Brunswick, Maine where we bought lots of fresh veggies, handmade corn tortillas and salsa verde, and these awesome fermented "Swedish carrots" that I am going to have to try and replicate at home!

Further down the highway, we found some folks selling strawberries along the roadside.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Can you hear the angel chorus singing?? This is what we've dreamed about for three long years--the world's BEST lobster roll at Red's Eats in Wiscasset, Maine. Well worth the hour wait!

Our wonderful vacation rental for the week in Addison, Maine aptly named the Ocean Vista House.

The view from the dining room and kitchen. AMAZING!!

Prunelle also enjoyed the view. Poor old girlie is 13 now, and I made her wear little panties to protect our security deposit, just in case. ;-)

Old man Grady enjoyed chillin' on the deck, too.

The youngest, Dollop, preferred to sit between us in her own Adirondack chair. We watched the lobster boats coming and going, we listened to the many birds (and the livestock at a farm down the way), and we sniffed all the wonders of God's seaside creation. Ahhhh.....pure bliss for human and canine alike!

One of Cyd's first stops was Wild Blueberry Land for a housemade Blueberry Crumb Pie--also something she's been dreaming about since we were there three years ago.

We also tried their blueberry ice cream, and our new obsession, their blueberry milkshake! (Yeah, this is where our diet fell spectacularly apart. Oh well, it was vacay!)

In our random travels, we came across this goat dairy farm with a creamery in their garage. We bought some garlicky chevre and some lovely mild feta.

Another garage-based business, and this one is truly fantastic! Mother Shuckers (ha ha) is run by this delightfully enthusiastic and personable woman who sells the lobsters that her husband catches each day, and provides invaluable advice about how to prepare them. I follow her on Facebook, and she's HILARIOUS!

Here is Mother Shucker Nadine herself, digging around in her garage fridge to find four deliciously sweet and tender "shedders" for our dinner.

I made my poor roommate do the dirty deed, but aren't they GORGEOUS? (Forgive us, crustaceans, for we know exactly what we do...but we cannot resist you steamed and drenched in drawn butter.)

Then came the tedious job of retrieving the meat. I strongly suggest you stick to the claws, the knuckle thingies, and the tails and forget the tiny little legs--unless you want to suck the meat out of them as a little tideover snack to sustain you as you're cracking lobstahs.

I made this luscious whole grain linguine with sautéed spring onions, a mix of different mushrooms, Silver Queen corn cut from the cob, and organic garlic from a farm in Jonesboro, ME. And the lobster from Mother Shuckers' Clam Shack, of course. And butter. LOTS of butter!

When Cyd took the lobster shells out to the garbage, LOOK what she found in the woods behind the dumpster?!

A bucket list day: Whale watching in Eastport!

We got back in time to have margaritas and watch the sunset off the deck. Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

Even our breakfast is grinning during vacay in Maine!

One of the beautiful sunsets and the view from the deck.

We were very surprised to find authentic Mexican food at this little roadside joint in Milbridge, ME (Vasquez Mexican Food). ¡Muy delicioso!

Truck full of lobster traps on Beals Island.

Beals Island lobstermen weighing the "shedders" for our last dinner in Maine. You can't beat lobsters bought right off the boat!

This pretty much sums it up, doesn't it? LOL!

Our last fabulous lobster dinner in Maine--including sweet corn and a sugar snap pea and garlic scape salad--which sadly, I couldn't even eat, because the bad clams I had earlier that afternoon did me in. (In hindsight, Cyd probably should have walked away as well. She was paying the price by morning. Boo hiss.)

On the way home, I hit up the Ellsworth Farmers' Market (while poor sick Cyd snoozed in the car). I bought more veggies, more fermented carrots (they're my new thing), and a blueberry maple yogurt parfait for Cyd, if she's ever able to eat again, that is. ;-)

Since Cyd declared a moratorium on seafood after the killer clams--and also because she slept the whole way home and had no say in the matter--I sought out some good eats as we rolled through Portland. And TripAdvisor led me to this AWESOME Cajun sandwich shop called Po'Boys & Pickles. They are consistently voted best sandwiches in Portland, and I can believe it!

I had a very good muffaletta there, but the real joy for me was their housemade pickles. I bought a quart of half sours (not pictured) to bring home, and also some of these beautiful pickled veggies. The mix of the day included red onions, carrots, green beans, and fennel. DELISH!

And they also sell gin-yu-wine Zapp's chips. This crazy "Voodoo" flavor may be my dietary undoing! (Good thing they are only sold in Louisiana...and on eBay. UH-OH!!)

We were supposed to stop in Nashua, NH for the night, but it was only 5pm when I cruised past there, so I decided to just keep going. And I made it back to Burlington in time to grab a gluten-free chicken pot pie from the Healthy Living Market for our Sunday dinner (local folks, ya gotta try it--it's incredible!). YAY for me, long-haul driver extraordinaire!