Saturday, July 28, 2018

Whirlwind weekend

 The weekend of July 13-14 was a busy, but wonderful whirlwind.  I alluded to it a bit in my Hodgepodge post,  but wanted to expand on it somewhat so I don't forget the details.

 Mr. T and I were invited to attend a wedding in Maine on the Saturday, on behalf of our daughter and son-in-law who live in Nevada.  It was their former pastor's son who was getting married, and the whole church from Elko was invited provided they could get to Maine.  Our daughter asked if we could attend in their place, and the answer was a gracious yes.

When she broached the idea to me, our daughter also suggested, "I know it's a ways up in Maine, so I thought you and Dad might turn your trip north into a getaway."  Of course she had barely suggested the idea when we began to run with it.  We love getaways!

(This makes it sound as if we are taking getaways very frequently indeed.  Not really ... the last one -- to Stowe, Vermont -- was in May!  And these are overnight getaways, just long enough to get a bit refreshed.)

So we headed out early Friday afternoon, knowing it would take us at least 5 hours to get to Brewer, where we had a room reservation here:

It was a little amusing that my hubby had two work-related phone calls (which he had to pull over for), before we even left New Hampshire!  We made a quick stop at a post office to mail some things along the way, but otherwise did not stop until we reached Cornish, Maine and a favorite road trip break:
A frozen strawberry lemonade for Mr. T; iced coffee for me.
Sadly, they were out of donuts, but we made do with a box of Munchkins:

From there, we headed north and arrived at our hotel a few minutes after 6 pm.

This hotel has two buildings, the Maine Woods building, with an outdoorsy lodgy theme as in the lobby photo below, and the Maine Coast building, with a pretty coastal theme.

We were in the Maine Coast building.  I failed to get photos of our room, but it had a nice coastal decor.   After settling in a bit our first order of business was to find some supper.

We ended up having fish and chips at a nearby restaurant.  Although not as scrumptious as the fish we would enjoy the next day, it was good, and the price and location (walking distance!) were right.
After a wonderful night's rest we ventured to the Breakfast Room at the Inn for a nice continental breakfast, made even nicer by the homemade waffles with Maine wild blueberry sauce.  Using pre-measured portions of homemade batter, diners bake their own waffles in one of three waffle irons, which are kept constantly busy.  Bowls of blueberry and strawberry sauce await, along with syrup dispensers.

If you look at the small photo to the right of "Free Deluxe Breakfast" on the business card above, that is one area of the breakfast room.  One really neat feature of that room is the old cookstove (not in use as a stove) just to the left of the woman in the photo.  We sat in the second area.
Sign on the wall above our table
Another part of the breakfast area -- the "windows" here are mirrors.
 Returning to our room, we took good time over our Bible reading and prayer before checking out and heading for our wedding destination.  I will share just a few general photos from the wedding.  I did not try to get photos of people or of the ceremony.  These were taken with my Kindle, so are not the very best quality.

 The front of the sanctuary before anyone came in.  I love the lights draped inside the swags of tulle. 
A glimpse of the table centerpieces and the favors -- tiny jugs of maple syrup!
 The centerpieces were so simple but so pretty -- just slices of wood with a paper doily and mason jar atop each one.  Jars were filled with roses and baby's breath, then an engagement photo was propped against each one.  A few dark blue silk rose petals were scattered about.  (Wedding colors were orange and navy.)

I loved how they combined these gorgeous colored roses with the rustic look of old wood.  Touches of both were everywhere throughout the decorating.

After saying our goodbyes to the bride and groom and our friends (the groom's parents and grandparents), we headed south on I-95 en route to a meet-up with my blog friend Vee.  We were a tad early, which was a good thing,  because we drove right by the rendezvous at the first pass.

We had made arrangements to meet at one of Vee's favorite places and we very much enjoyed the delicious seafood and the wonderful fellowship.   We are kindred spirits in many ways and it truly was just like meeting up with an old friend.  Vee is warm and genuine, a delight to spend time with.

You can just catch a glimpse of the deck (look for the umbrellas) at the upper right.
 (The mosquitoes drove us off the deck -- which had a water view and would certainly have been a delightful place to eat on a sunnier day -- and inside, which could have been far more delightful without a particular inebriated patron.  But no matter.  Food and fellowship still wonderful.)

Vee had also told us about an ice cream place not far away ... so we all drove there for dessert.  It has mini golf and a driving range with a view of Mt. Washington.  And delicious ice cream.  The veranda had plenty of seating and no mosquitoes, so we continued to chat as we enjoyed dessert -- Campfire S'mores ice cream for Mr. T and myself (it's our new favorite) and Maine Deer Tracks for Vee. 
Curious about the flavors?  Campfire S'mores is described as graham ice cream oozing with marshmallow ripple and crunchy chocolate chips. Maine Deer Tracks is described as "rich espresso ice cream with crunchy toffee pieces and tracks of thick chocolate fudge."  Now I wish I'd had that one!

To learn more about the flavors of Gifford's Ice Cream, go here: Gifford’s Ice Cream and click on "Flavors".  Although Gifford's is a Maine company, several of our favorite ice cream places in New Hampshire serve their ice cream.
Before leaving the grounds, we brought out the gifts we had for one another and opened them at a nearby picnic table. Vee was far too generous ... besides the squash referenced in a previous post, there were books, including one from her beloved John's library.  What a treasure!

Another book was a recipe binder, to write my own recipes in.   I'm planning to use this to copy down all of those random, often-used recipes that are floating around my kitchen on scraps of paper or on recipe cards so stained they can barely be read.   It has a number of cute divider pages to divide the various sections of recipes.  One of them is pictured below.  How true it is!
And to top it all off, she brought us a tin full of her marvelous Rhubarb Custard Pie, cut in neat pieces.  I was tickled to see that Vee packs things in tins lined with waxed paper just as I do.  I guess it's the New England girl in us!

Meeting Vee was something I'd wanted to do for a long time.  Now that we've done that, Mr. T and I are hoping we can get together with this dear friend again at some point.  We don't live that far away, and we do travel to Maine occasionally.

The whirlwind weekend held even more fun and surprises, including the hike pictured at the top of this post.  But the post is getting rather long and unwieldy, and besides, the hike deserves its own post.  So that will have to wait for another day!

9 comments:

  1. I love getaways such as this. That is about all Jeff and I do for vacations these days and we are perfectly fine with it.
    I absolutely love the wedding favors for this wedding. How perfect!
    I am so glad you got to meet Vee in person. Meeting Arlene was such a blast. We have loved getting together each September. This year will be our third year of doing it. We now talk often though. Blogging has been special in that regards as well as learning about all the wonderful places in our country.

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    1. Yes, those are the best kinds of getaways. I will be thankful when my hubby retires and we can take getaways midweek when things are often less expensive.

      Aren't those wedding favors just perfect? I am not sure, though, if the wedding guests will be able to bring themselves to actually use the syrup? I hope so.

      Meeting Vee in person was wonderful. She is even nicer than she is on her blog!

      So happy that you and Arlene can talk together often and get together yearly.

      We have friends in Panama City and my hubby has family in Tallahassee as well as Fairhope, AL, so at some point after he retires we will be making a trip south.

      Maybe we will be able to meet up with you and with Arlene at that point. I hope so!

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  2. Oh what a lovely weekend, Mrs T. I wish you had a wedding in Alabama so we could meet up!!

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    1. Me too, Arlene! Since Mr. T has family in the Fairhope area, I guess it's not completely out of the realm of possibility. And, if you ever get back to Vermont, we will make a way to meet up here in New England!

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  3. Oh goodness! It was fun reliving the time spent with you. I had a meet just two days ago and my friend took pictures. I look like a deranged gargoyle. I dread having them seen in Blogdom, but that’s not the point of these meets...the conversation and the fellowship is the most important thing.

    Glad that you liked the pie. I have made a few amendments to the recipe...I use less rhubarb and I don’t bother with lattice anymore. I’m just as happy to make a galette as I did with yours...tastes the same and is far less effort. I always use my skillet instead of a pie plate to bake it in, too.

    Should we meet again before Glory, I would certainly find it a blessing and a lot of fun minus mosquitoes and that poor fellow who thought he was the life of the party.

    What a cute couple who married and their wedding favors were spot on for a New England wedding. Have you used the syrup yet? (Prolly not as good as New Hampshire’s. 😉)

    Happy outings! Summer is all too short up here and you have to do what you have to do!

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  4. I enjoyed reading about your trip to Maine for the wedding. So kind of you to do so for your daughter and her husband. :) We will be going to Maine at some point this fall, depending on when hubby gets complete clearance from the eye doctor after his second surgery in September. Our son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters live in Richmond...about 30 minutes or so from Portland. He works as an IT guy for L.L. Bean. I'm glad you had the opportunity to spend time with Vee.

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    1. I'm glad too, Dianna! It was such a blessing to meet up.

      Hope you had a nice trip to Maine last fall. Having family in an area is always a wonderful reason to visit there, isn't it?

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  5. What fun! The food sounds great and meeting a blogging friend is always THE BEST!

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    1. It really is, Terri! I have met in person ladies I got to know through blogging, but as far as meeting an actual blogger, Vee is the first. What a blessing it was!

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