*Disclaimer - we are back from vacation but internet was spotty at best at the cottage so I will be writing about the days now. I hope you enjoy!
Day one - Saturday - started fairly early as our flight out was at 8:50. The flight was turbulent but we survived. Landing at Logan, the car rentals are not at the airport terminals. So once we had our luggage we got on an incredibly crowded bus for a ride to the car rental terminal. It probably didn't take nearly as long as it felt...though it did take us about an hour from landing to leaving the airport.
Also in case you are wondering, we flew into Boston because that's the closest airport to Kittery (which is like the southernmost point of Maine). This also means we didn't just go to Maine on vacation, but we went to Massachusetts and New Hampshire too!
Look - I knew it was possible to drive through a state in a day but it still blew my mind a little to know that we landed in Mass, drove through NH, and ended in Maine in less than an hour. I'm lucky if I can get from one end of Dallas to the other in an hour some days!
Rob couldn't wait to get to the beach so as soon as we arrived at the cottage we went down to the beach. I might be misremembering, but I don't think we went inside first.
The beach is nice. It's fairly secluded - also Maine doesn't have a lot of sandy beach coast, it's mostly rocky. And although public, this beach feels like you either know about it or don't. He pointed out The Point and we headed back to unpack.
So a little about Pop's Cottage. First, cottage is a bit of a misnomer now but I'm told when it first got it's name it was much smaller. Rob's Great Grandfather purchased it back in the '40s and it has been in the family ever since. I'm not sure how long this has been going on, but it essentially works as a family time share. Each spring, everyone puts in their requests for the week they want. Then once all the family has booked, the rest of the time it is available as a rental.
A couple of years ago, the cottage was updated and expanded. I'm told it was "roughing it" back in the day. It's really quite nice now and much bigger than a cottage...though looking at the surrounding houses I can see why the name stuck. We might do things big in Texas but those beach houses are huge!
Rob's father's cousin (Jerry) and his wife (Connie) live in a huge house they built just two doors down, and they invited us over for a chat and a glass of wine. The view from their back patio is spectacular. There's a brief stretch of woods then a marsh and then the ocean. It's an unobstructed view and not gonna lie, I was pretty envious.
Connie and Jerry were delightful and time kind of got away from us. Next thing we knew it was 8:00 and having not really eaten much we were pretty hungry.
And Rob was jonesin' for some lobstah!
Here's a fun fact: the summer season doesn't really begin until July 1st....so it was a challenge to find a restaurant open past 8:00. We settled on Lobster in the Rough and it was a smart decision.
It's an all outdoor place - walk up to a window to order your food, go to the bar to get a drink, then find a place to sit until they tell you your food is ready. There were fire pits lit and a live band. Rob loved it.
Anyway we ordered 2 lobsters, a bucket of steamers (blech), and went to order some drinks. While waiting to order, we hear this voice behind us...
..."well not exactly Dallas, Flower Mound..."
Now I'm not trying to eavesdrop but when you are 2000 miles from home and you hear someone mention the small town you lived in for 20 years (Rob), your ears perk up.
And now we have a new friend. She's new here and looking for friends so we will invite her over for a Sunday Funday soon. Her name is Meredith but she goes by Mer (aka the Mer (mayor) of York).
It's a small world y'all.
We didn't stick around there for too long because they closed at 9:00, but don't worry, we went back. More than once - and saw Mer there again too.
It was a great but exhausting day. And that ends day one.