Addendum to yesterday's statement about "too much delicious food and drink to recount": let's just say I had enough to drink that my sleep was transient last night. I woke up sore and tired, but excited enough for what today would bring that got dressed right away and sat down to chat with Robert about what today would bring. The weather looked iffy, so we decided to start with breakfast at a great gas station diner-like place called Dysart's.
As I was eating a tasty breakfast sandwich with French toast for the bread, we decided to chance the rain and head up to the relatively new Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in north central Maine. It was a long drive to the park and along gravel roads, but road trips are the way Robert and I love to hang out. The photograph at the top of this post was taken within the park, and there are (hopefully) some choice photographs shot on my Hasselblad to be seen at a later date. We eventually made it to the picnic area with an expansive view of Katahdin itself and numerous other peaks at the top of the Appalachian Trail. We got some great photos, but we could also see some serious weather headed our way.
So what did we do? We hit up some more of Maine's fine craft beer offerings, like Bissell Brothers in Milo. We snagged some suds and enjoyed the rapidly cooling weather on their covered patio while the rain picked up.
The staff were friendly but the bathrooms were another story...
We returned to Bangor and grabbed another round at Bangor Beer Co where we ran into some of Robert's delightful colleagues, then decided to take a chance on a newish barbecue joint. I won't name it because then I’d have to shame it, because it wasn't great. Us two Virginia boys knew what we were getting into, but had to take a chance just in case it was actually good. So with the smoked meat a failure, Robert called an audible and we wrapped up the evening with some seriously good ice cream from local joint, Gifford's. So tasty.
Tomorrow is my last day of exploration with Robert (I'm here all day Monday, but he has to teach all day) before heading back. The rough outline includes Freeport, Portland, loads of coffee and beer, and more glorious exploring. Whoohoo!