The weekend

This is reposted from Julie's blog:

I got home from work on Friday and Eric, my brother, decided that he really wanted good lobster for dinner and was determined to drive up to the Maine Diner in Wells, Maine just to have some. So after a lot of convincing, he finally got Shawn, Liz and I to agree to go. We went to pick up Liz and realized that since the diner closed at 9 pm and it was just after 7, and that it takes 1.5 hours to get there with no traffic, that perhaps we would be cutting it close.




A new plan was determined. We would stop by the apartment, pick up some stuff, drive up to Maine (Portland specifically, we thought), spend the night in some crappy motel, and then go to the Maine Diner for brunch on Saturday.




So thats just what we did. We got some stuff from the apartment, of course forgetting some of the most essential things like underwear, tooth brush, clean pants, and then started on the drive to Maine. We stopped by the first New Hampshire state store to pick up some refreshments, and Liz was overly excited to see that they sold Pimm's and bought two. We continued on our way to Maine and did not stop until we got to Portland.




As it turned out, it was quite chilly and windy in Maine. This wasn't much different than the weather in Boston, but for some reason, we had not considered the possibility that walking around Portland would suck due to weather. We parked our car and quickly decided on a restaurant. We went to DiMillos Restaurant which is located on a boat, so they call it a floating restaurant. Food was very good, but most (damn you, Shawn) avoided the lobster because prices were especially high. The waiter claimed that they were higher than they have ever been because lobsterman have been making fewer trips to see because lobster demand was low.




Anyways, after dinner we decided it was too cold to do anything but get in the car and find some place to crash for the night. We ended up at a Days Inn in South Portland, which was decent enough, and had wireless internet as a bonus. The decision was made to stay in the hotel and drink rather than go back out and find a bar at which to drink. Eric tried to get everyone to play cranium, and we got as far as taking out the pieces, but everyone decided they were too tired and we watched some tv and called it a night.

We woke up early and decided to finally play a round of Cranium. We started with Shawn and I versus Eric and Liz. Eric and Liz pulled out far ahead. We decided to switch things up in the middle of the game and I went to Liz's winning side and Eric went to Shawn's losing side. The game continued, Shawn and Eric caught up quite a bit, but in the end, the ladies won the game. After a cup of coffee and a bite of bagel, and Eric going out for 30 minutes to buy Liz some new underwear, we departed the hotel around 11 am.

We headed south toward Kittery. We follwed some signs that led up through Kittery and all the way to Portsmouth, NH before we turned around to search for signs to the outlets. We stopped at a Dairy Queen to get a blizzard, since there isnt a DQ nearby, and there was a moment where Liz flipped out about her taxes in Arkansas being filed late. Moving on, we stopped at a few outlet malls, but not the traditional outlets. We hit a brookstone, a Linens N Things, a Naturalizer and Easy Spririt, and a Cole Haan. No one found anything and we started to get hungry.

We traveled north on route 1 for about 20 miles until we found the diner. We had a short wait but it was certainly worth it. As a table, we ordered 2 seafood chowders (deliciously filled with clams, scallops, lobster, shrimp), 3 lobster rolls (very light mayo, good flavor, lightly buttered toasted roll), 1 reuben sandwhich, a half order of onion rings (which could have served 8), a crab cake, and a bunch of pickles. The prices here were certainly more reasonable than at dinner and the food just as satisifying and yummy.

After lunch, Eric decided we needed to go to Manchester, NH and Liz decided we needed to drive down 1A which goes along the coast. So we headed down route 1 until 1A and took a tour of the ocean and the extravagent homes overlooking it. This is not an ideal passage for the quessy as it twists and turns the entire way. When we were satified with our viewings, we headed off west to Manchester.

In Manchester, we went to a gun shooting range. Specifically, the Manchester Firing Line Range.Eric and Shawn decided to do some target shotting with two guns, one with the six bullets in the circular thingy and one that you pack all the bullets in and then insert in the gun. Ask them if you want to know what they shot. They even got Liz to shoot the guns, and she hit the red part of the target 3 out of 6 times which we all thought was quite impressive. We left when all the bullets were gone and both Eric and Shawn were surprised at the cost of this experience.

At this point, we just wanted to drive back to Boston. We headed in the car back east to get to 93. Eric was driving when all of a sudden he said "Julie, there's something really wrong with your car." And all of a sudden the car started to slow down on its own and while Eric was suggesting we could make it to the next exit (and mentally freaking out and searching for a place to pull over from the left lane), we all screamed at him to cut over the lanes and take the exit that was in 15 feet. The car went slowly down the exit ramp and came to a stop across a gas station. Liz steered while Eric, Shawn and I pushed the car across the street and to get some gas. We ran out of gas! because Eric had not seen the light that comes on when gas it running low. We refueled on were on our way.

We finally got home around 8 pm and ordered some italian for a local place. Eric, Liz and Shawn got their booze on and I called it a night around 11. I had had enough adventure for a 24 hour time period.