We’ve been taking the advice of someone in Deb’s clinic who has recommended brew pubs and other places to visit.  One of the recommendations was to go to Herring Brothers butcher shop in Guilford and stock up.  Jim called before leaving and was assured they had lamb in the freezer, a major motivator since we cook all sorts of lamb-based (not lambaste) recipes.  So, we drove about an hour west through snowy fields and small towns to the shop.

The shop had some talkative folks who were happy to help the southerners.  We bought lamb stew meat, ground lamb, two Maine-raised NY strip steaks and three boxes of shop-made beef jerky.  We later sent two of the jerky boxes to our sons, who have reported great satisfaction.  Jerky is one of those things that you find in various places, and the commercial stuff is sometimes crap.  Last time good jerky was found was in Perryville MO at a bratwurst shop.  Hmm, great jerky from Maine and Missouri.  Maybe more in Maryland?  The strip steaks were perfectly wonderful that night; we fry them in butter because the apartment has no grill.

There were various sights along the snowy way, and here are some pictures, starting with buildings:

Roadside items of interest:

The Towns of Milo and Three Rivers, very close to each other:

Last time Debbi and I went to the LL Bean flagship store in Freeport, ME, was 1984. Deb had come to Boston from Panama and had no warm coat. Now we’re in Maine, and finding our time in NC has left us, well, cold! So we trekked south about two hours.

We found a brew pub for lunch (of course!). Gritty McDuff’s is a three-location Maine set of brew pubs, in place since 1988. Deb had a lobster roll (lobster salad on bread), I had a lamb gyro, and we both had chowder. Yummy stuff, washed down by local bitters and IPA.

Then to Mother of Purl, a yarn shop, where Deb bought gorgeous Peruvian wool for a vest she might make for Jim. Or, the yarn will go into the stash and never see the light of day! [Editor’s note 3/25/23: the vest is underway!]

Then to LL Bean, where we bought some lined jeans, bathrobes (we should have brought these from home), a wool hat to keep the snow off Deb and replacement chopper buckskin mittens for the ones Jim wore out a decade ago. The store is now part of a huge complex, having grown a whole lot since we were there last. It’s clear from the size of the parking lots that it is a major tourist attraction in the summer. I took only a couple of pictures, and here they are.

Back to Lincoln! Deb works tomorrow and Friday, so I’ll go to the gym and get laundry done. Maybe some genealogy, as RootsTech is on.

Snow is coming and Deb has Tuesdays off.  I had things to do in the early morning, so about 10am we left to find lunch near wilderness.  We drove through Medway and East Millinocket toward the Knife Edge Brew Pub on the edge of Baxter State Park, a true wilderness area.  Except for the small towns, our travel was among snow and trees.  Evidence of logging was everywhere, but softened by the coat of snow lying on everything.  The Penobscot River, which I-95 roughly parallels, was by turns frozen over and then had some open areas.  This area of Maine has a lake every fifteen feet, but the Mainiacs cleverly reduce the wetted surface area (a ship design term) by calling them “ponds.”  Sorry for my demographic slip; actually the locals are Mainers.  I still like Mainiacs better!

We stopped at the Katahdin General Store to compare its contents to the Mast General Store in Valle Crucis, NC.  KGS is smaller, without the breadth of REI-type products, but it does have:

• All the tourist stuff you’d want.  Anybody want a plaid mug that says “Momma Bear” on it?
• Snowmobile helmets, bib suits, snow goggles and really heavy gloves.
• Fishing lures and all the gear you’d need for ice fishing.
• Plastic sleds to carry all the stuff you need out on the ice.  One hitches the sled to a snowmobile.  Confusing, though, because the local term for snowmobile is “sled.”  A sled pulling a sled?  One of the towable sleds was eight feet long and six feet wide … I thought it was a skiff.
• A nice selection of local fudge, honey and jams, just like the Mast!

Had a bit of a double take as we were getting back into the car.  Four snowmobiles (I’ll now refer to them as sleds) pulled up to the gas pumps to refuel.  Weird seeing them on pavement.

We continued west toward the brew pub.  Got up a little bit in elevation on a snowy access road (cinder strewn, Debbi driving slow) and saw Mt. Katahdin.  Kind of low, trees in the way.  The mountain stands 5269 feet tall, lower than NC’s Mount Mitchell by 1400 feet.  Still, it’s the highest point in Maine.  The Appalachian Trail ends on Mt Katahdin, but is not accessible after October 15^th.   Camping is not allowed in Baxter State Park after October 22^nd.  Lot of bad weather.  The Knife Edge (for which the pub is named, of course) is a 1.1 mile trail up the mountain that’s about three feet wide with steep drop-offs on either side.  Not recommended for the casual hiker.

The brew pub has a huge pizza oven, of which I made a poor picture.  I had a local IPA and Deb drank coffee with our very good pizza.  Sleds were parked all over, as the pub is part of a wilderness rental service, plus is a great spot to stop after a wild run through the snowmobile trails.  After lunch, while we were leaving, the four sleds from the KGS gas pumps pulled into the parking lot.  Seems sled trails through the region are legion!

Guess what?  It’ll snow six inches tonight. 

Interesting first week we’ve had.  Cold temperatures, five inches of snow overnight Thursday, Deb worked Monday/ Thursday/ Friday, and some such.

Tuesday we drove to Bangor to buy metal shelves for the kitchen.  There isn’t much counter space, no cabinets and so on.  The Whitetail Inn caters to sports-oriented clients, here for the lakes, fishing, snowmobiling, hiking and hunting.  Correspondingly, it is furnished roughly and we are altering our apartment to suit a longer stay and our desire for comfort.  The apartment is in an old house, top floor.  Nothing is level.  The floors slope to the center and all the doors are wonky.  Reminds us of the three-decker Victorian where we lived in Boston.

We drove to Bangor on ME-2, winding through small towns and next to the Penobscot River.  Very pretty drive, very few vehicles on the road.

After finding the shelves at Home Depot (see the photos of the apartment), we drove to the Mason Brewing Company for very good calamari tacos, a burger and Banh Mi sub with pork belly.  When I get a Banh Mi in Pittsboro, the port is pulled and barbecued (of course!).  The brew was good, and the pub very nice.  Deb had cider and I had Ghost Reaper IPA (sorta spicy).  The pub is on the Penobscot River, which is iced over.  Someone had a brilliant idea to make bathroom urinals out of beer kegs!

We found a yarn shop in downtown Bangor, and Deb bought yarn for a cowl.  We looked for small appliances at Target and bought an electric kettle for tea.  Back home via I-95 with leftovers for dinner.

On Tuesday, we drove back to Bangor to buy a better desk chair for me.  The cheapo I first bought gave me back pain.  Found a decent one on sale at Staples.  Back home again.

Thursday, there was five inches of snow on both vehicles (Debbi has a rental and I have our truck).  I found that the locks on my truck cap were frozen, so I had no access to the snow tools in the bed.  After Deb went to work, I found some lock de-icer and got the cap open.  The foam snow pusher made short work of the accumulated snow.

This weekend, we’ve done some planning for the trip west we’ll make in June.  We’ll probably go to a yarn shop in Millinocket this coming week, and maybe down to Freeport to buy flannel-lined jeans at LL Bean.  What we’re experiencing reminds me very much of winter in Boston and the four months I worked in Ottawa.  We’re getting used to the outdoor temperatures, but nothing can make us like nighttime lows in minus degrees.  Eleven weeks to go!  We can do that standing on our heads (inside).