Ryan's Journal

"My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?" — David Mitchell

Tag: 2021 New England Trip

Goats of Maine

Posted from Brunswick, Maine at 5:49 pm, September 15th, 2021

The destination for the day was Brunswick, Maine, but the path there was a choose-your-own-adventure of Maine locations. Being mature adults, Audrey and I decided to make our way there via Smiling Hill Farm, where we were able to pet cows, goats, sheep, pigs, and a handful of other animals. After being slobbered on by cows and mobbed by some very enthusiastic goats I may need to do laundry sooner than planned – a text message was sent to my parents letting them know I’d need a little extra time before dinner to change because I smelled like a barn – but the stop was very worthwhile and made for some great videos. Of particular note, the farm’s mini horses had apparently learned that they could cajole visitors to drop a token in the food machine and bring them snacks if they stomped their front hoof repeatedly, and it took only a minute or two for them to properly train us in this routine.

The day’s other notable events included a stop in Fort Williams Park to see the Portland Head Lighthouse, and of course have another lobster roll from one of the food trucks. For dinner we re-joined the Holliday Clan and took Ma Holliday to get the fried clams she’s been craving since we left New England in 1984; luckily she was not disappointed and came away a very happy lady. Tomorrow we’re off to Bar Harbor for two nights of exploring Acadia National Park.

Day the Third

Posted from Kennebunkport, Maine at 6:22 pm, September 14th, 2021

We returned to Nunan’s Lobster Hut again tonight, this time with my parents and brother in tow, and it was delightful. My dad licked his plate clean after finishing his blueberry pie.

Prior to dinner, the day included hiking among forest, salt marsh, and a myriad of weird mushrooms and fungi in Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. The entire clan did a one mile loop, and the mosquitos only got to snack on us a tiny bit before the bug spray was fully deployed.

From there everyone mostly went off to do their own thing. Audrey and I stumbled on a farm stand in Kennebunk featuring what seemed like a million pumpkins, then headed to the coast for a few short excursions before returning to our room for a nap. Afterwards I set off on foot to see the coast of Kennebunkport, including George Bush’s family compound, and covered about five miles before returning home. The night concluded with lobster and pie at Nunan’s, followed by drinks outside at the hotel with music and campfire smoke wafting through the air.

Tomorrow we’re continuing north, and the tentative plans suggest that there is a high likelihood of petting goats along the way.

Lobstah

Posted from Kennebunkport, Maine at 6:19 pm, September 13th, 2021

The lobster feast New England trip continued today, with the route taking us from Manchester up to Kennebunkport, Maine. After ambling through backcountry roads in New Hampshire for a couple of hours (total Dunkin’s spotted: eight) we met the rest of the Holliday Clan for a stroll on the Marginal Way along the rocky Maine seashore in Ogunquit. From there we spent a few hours hiking in the Wells Reserve with wild turkeys and among hundreds of migrating monarch butterflies, while passing through fields, forests, a saltwater estuary, and finally along a marshy boardwalk where we met another one of Maine’s native inhabitants: the voracious mosquito. We arrived back at the car down a pint or two of blood, but still happy.

Ma Holliday booked us at a beautiful place along the inlet in Kennebunkport, and after a short siesta we searched around for a dinner spot. In general, the shabbier a place in New England sounds, the better the food – you really want something with “Shack” or “Stand” in the name if it’s available. Our first choice, The Clam Shack, was already closed for the day by dinner time, but luckily we found Nunan’s Lobster Hut, which served up the best lobster rolls so far by a wide margin, as well as homemade blueberry pie that warranted an exclamation after each bite (“oh yeah”, “that’s delightful”, “oh no, there are only three bites left”); we will almost certainly be back again tomorrow.

Nunan's Lobster Hut, Kennebunkport
Nunan’s Lobster Hut, Kennebunkport. This place possessed all of the omens for a great New England seafood place: “Hut” in the name (“Shack” is also acceptable), picnic tables out front, and a packed parking lot. Having now finished our amazing dinner, we can confirm that the omens were most definitely correct.

Back to where it all began

Posted from Manchester, New Hampshire at 6:32 pm, September 12th, 2021

It’s Ma and Pa Holliday’s 50th wedding anniversary this year, and to celebrate five wonderful years together, as well as forty-five additional arduous years having to deal with my brother and me, they decided to do a week-long family trip in New England; Aaron and I were born here and called the place home until we moved to Cleveland in 1984. Audrey and I decided to extend the trip, so in addition to a week with the family, we’ll be spending a total of three weeks on a glorious, work-free adventure through New England, across Southern Ontario, and ending finally in one of the world’s most popular travel destinations, Cleveland, Ohio.

The trip started with a 5:30AM wakeup in Los Angeles yesterday, and we arrived in Boston by late afternoon through the magic of chairs that travel through the sky at 600 mph; airplanes are truly wondrous machines, and the folks causing current increases in air rage incidents really need to go back to using conestoga wagons for a while to regain some perspective.

Shortly after landing in Boston we made the short trek to Manchester, New Hampshire, where we met a high school friend at her family’s home for dinner. After much laughing and some incredible home-cooked food (thanks Erin & John!) we finally returned to the hotel and headed to bed.

We met up with the rest of the Holliday clan early this morning and set off on a trip to the coast and the town of Portsmouth. Audrey and I took the scenic route, revisiting Nashua where I spent the first nine years of my time on this planet. From there we played the “find a Dunkin'” game through rural New Hampshire on our way to the coast (spoiler alert: Dunkin’ Donuts has a location approximately every 250 feet throughout New England). We ate lunch next to several docked tugboats in Portsmouth, roamed across the state border to Maine for a quick stop in Kittery, then enjoyed more of rural New Hampshire by continuing to avoid highways on our 90-minute return trip to Manchester.

The lobster roll count after today stands at two (one for lunch, one for dinner), the moose count is currently at zero, and we’re hoping to increase both of those counts significantly as we start up the coast of Maine tomorrow.