DAY 8: Retail & Nature Therapy

Observation of the day

There are always magical places to be discovered.

 

Quote of the day

“You are by yourself? How wonderful you can do what you want.” – commented by the greeter at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. Made me laugh because she said it with a bit of envy but the truth is, as parents we crave alone time, but we are always missing our families when we have it!

 

Boothbay Harbor at high tide.

VM: Ahhhhh. That about sums up my day in a word. Lisa & I met up at 10am today to enjoy more girlfriend time & a bit of retail therapy. Boothbay Harbor is filled with fun little waterfront shops which truly have lovely New England gifts. We had a wonderful time checking out the stores and by 1pm decided to get a bite to eat. A shopkeeper recommended the harbor front Mine Oyster restaurant (http://www.mineoyster.net).

During our morning excursion, Lisa & I had the pleasure of meeting Rosie 
& her owner from San Diego. Rosie was the sweetest English Bulldog, clearly
loved & pampered by her human. I couldn't help noticing how similar they looked!

Boothbay Harbor is a dog town!

I keep imagining what it's like to live out on 
the middle island!

The place was jam-packed but we found seats at the bar & shared a yummy lunch: Maine cheese curds (the most awesome thing similar to mozzarella fingers but bite size), salad and upon the bartender’s recommendation, Triple Tuna Roll -- Spicy tuna, avocado, cucumber roll topped with tuna, green onion, jalapeño, ponzu, chili, Tobiko and sesame seeds. She recommended this as the tuna had just been caught and fileted that morning and she was literally salivating about how good it was. She was not wrong. It was out of this world. We enjoyed our lunch, all the while talking, talking, talking…

Nothing like old friends & retail therapy!

At 2pm, Lisa & I finally said our good-byes as she had to head out and I decided to go explore the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (https://www.mainegardens.org). If you are ever in this area, I HIGHLY recommend it. In my opinion, Maine is just beauty everywhere and the gardens are simply more testament to that. There are parts that are manicured, and parts that feel more “wild” even though I know they are curated. Regardless, it is magical spot. I reached the Gardens at 3pm so I made the most of my 2-hour visit. They currently have a “troll” exhibit which was awesome, but sadly, I only had time to find 3 of the 5 trolls as I ended up stopping quite a bit to just sit and breathe (told you it was a magical spot!) The pictures below are the proof!

The trolls were an unexpected bonus!!!

 

While my children would accuse me of being a "creeper," I couldn't resist capturing 
these sweet Maine kids as they explored the Gardens. At one point, 
the aunt watching the boy in the blue boots said, "stay away from the edge" and the
toddler quite simply replied "what's an edge?". You forget that life is a 
discovery every day for them. We need to recapture a bit of that!

One of my favorite parts of the Gardens -- a spot were everyone was encouraged 
to make a home for the fairies living in the woods. So sweet.

Another favorite Gardens' spot -- the meditation garden.

Stopping to breathe results in meeting new cute, furry friends.

My little friend with the blue boots loved playing 
in the Meditation pond.

 

This little buddy was digging his way to China.

Fun history fact.

            

 

I am mildly obsessed with these vertical gardens
created from lobster traps. They are so cool. Now I'm trying to figure out
how I can take lobster traps home in my car!

 

                                        

Love my little foot bridge every time I walk to town. It is so neat.

In the evening, I decided to walk over to town for a drink. Boothbay Harbor has a lot of fun, friendly spots, and after walking around, I decided to check out an Italian spot overlooking the harbor called Ports of Italy (http://www.portsofitaly.com). Again, they were jam-packed so they invited me to sit at the bar which has now seems to have become my spot.  It seems everyone always wants to talk to a solo traveler, so I had a group of friends from Rhode Island adopt me on my right and a couple from Massachusetts adopt me on my left. Ultimately, I succumbed to the wonderful aromas from the kitchen and had the ravioli stuffed with lobster and ricotta. It was yumola.

Tomorrow, I head to Portsmouth, New Hampshire for a night. I will be sad to leave Maine, but I look forward to the day I return.

 

Random Pics of the Day

 I never tire of checking out the Maine homes. Everywhere it looks like  

Coastal Living magazine even if they aren't fancy or totally manicured.