Day 25: Day trip to Maine

The day started off beautiful and sunny. We got up early and started our road trip to Maine to visit Fred’s sister Cathy and her family. We took two cars so we didn’t have to squish 3 adults into the backseat. Car companies claim 3 adults will fit in one, but unless the person in the middle has an 6 inch hiney and no shoulders, they lie.

Fred and I stopped by the grocery store for some road snacks (apples, Pop-Tarts, and chocolate chip cookies) because you just never know what to expect when you hit the road. It’s about 3.5 hours from Cape Cod to Sanford Maine so we needed something yummy to keep us focused.

It was a beautiful drive. We went through Boston and crossed the string bridge (Zakim Bridge) and went through a super long tunnel. I’m not used to tunnels so big they have their own underground on and off ramps. That was pretty impressive.

Driving into Boston

The Zakim Bridge

The tunnel

We crossed in to New Hampshire. I had never been there before. It’s very scenic. But this end of the country loves turnpikes! Just about every road we took today had a toll plaza. We may have accidentally gotten stuck in a few EZ-pass only lanes again. Unlike California, when you go through New Hampshire EZ-pass lanes without a pass, a super loud alarm goes off. It was a little fun to feel naughty setting off alarms like a geeky/non-violent Bonnie and Clyde. I’m sure we’ll be billed & fined for it later. But at the time, it seemed worth $2.00 to pretend we we’re out laws.

Then we crossed into Maine. Maine is very pretty as well. I can see why it’s a popular summer camp spot. I kept trying to get photos of these tall, crooked trees prevelent along the roadside. They reminded me of Dr. Suess trees.

Fred’s dad is from Maine so they would come up here as kids to visit his grandma. Fred says they would make their trips at night after his dad got home from work and they would make it there in about 2 hours. So Fred comes by his need for speed honestly.

We arrived at Cathy’s house around noon. She gave us the sad news that all her grandkids were sick so her son and daughter were unable to have lunch with us. That was a bummer. We were expecting a big family get together. I don’t think we have ever all been in the same place at one time.

So we picked up Cathy and went to the Back Street Sanford Restaurant. Our server was awesome but the over all dining experience was tedious. Everything was slow and my burger had to go back for re-cook to be edible. But we had a good time anyhow.

We knew we had a long drive home so we dropped Cathy off, took a family photo, and hit the road. We took turns driving back to ease the post lunch fatigue. Traffic got sluggish and it started to rain about an hour into our drive back. I did get to sit in Boston traffic though and really get a to soak up that big city experience.

Maine

Dr. Suess Tree

A Maine Neighborhood

Once back on the Cape, we stopped and picked up a pizza at Alecsies House of Pizza. The place was packed. A lot of the places to eat out here dont open until May for the tourist season. Fred used to go to Alecsies when he would come home to visit his mom in the summer with his family.

We ate our Pizza back at home with the family, watched Horrible Bosses 2 on TV, and called it a day. It was a great way to unwind from a long day.