Shopping is Done!

Wifey and I spent the weekend in Freeport Maine with our good friends the Johnsons. We got just about all of our shopping done for the holidays, which include Christmas and birthdays. Both boys and Sue celebrate theirs in December.
The weekend was split with the daytime spent shopping in Freeport and the evenings doing vacation stuff in Portland.

We stopped for lunch at the Muddy Rudder in Falmouth Maine. It's a tradition for us to begin our holiday weekend with a delicious Lobster Bisque. Actually that is Sue's tradition. Since I have to lose so much weight, I opted for a baked scrod dish, which was also very good. We were able to get a bottle of my favorite wine McMurray Ranch Pinot Noir.

Satisfied, it was a short drive to our accomodations The Harraseeket Inn.

Soon after I distinctly heard a voice say, "Let the Shopping Begin". Wifey was off like a dog chasing a meat wagon. LLBean Outlet store where returns are resold really cheap, was her first stop. Patagoinia, North Face oh heck, just Click here, for a video tour.

After some warmup shopping for the girls, we drove to Portland for dinner and the evenings activities. J's Oyster bar was the spot. If you have been to Portland, walk into the parking lot of the tourist spot DeMilos, look left and there it is. J's, where the locals eat. It's din-gy, kind of rough looking, and the clientle is mostly drunk and derilicks. This was according to the guy smoking outside as we approached. "Thats ok", I said. "I'm an undercover derilict". The seafood is very good. Alaskan King Crab with steamers for me. Lobster Pernot for the ladies and a medium "bucket" of steamers and oyster stew, for my buddy Jack.

The girls shopped most of the morning and well past lunch on Saturday. We wanted to take a hike before going back to Portland for a movie and dinner. The hike worked out pretty well. It was and easy hour of flat hardpack. The temperature hovered around 50 with no wind. It was actually a pretty good day for a walk in the woods.

Some have it better than others. (freeloader)

The movie was much better than we all expected. "The Queen"

Your could hear a pin drop in the theater. If you've seen it, you know what I mean.

We ended the evening in Portland at Street and Co. This gem was recommended by our waitress at the Muddy Rudder. She said it was her husbands' favorite. (He is and executive chef). We tried it. She was right. It went right to the top of the better restaurants where I have dined.

Fisherman Stew for me. A Mediteranian dish with shrimp, scallops, tuna, swordfish, mussles, clams, and salmon. All cooked in a wonderfull sauce. (dipping bread in the sause was as good as the meal). Wife had the sushi grade tuna, seared not cooked. The Johnsons had something or other that I can't recall because I was so enthralled with my dish. (and the cute waitresses scurrying around the place).

Sunday morning was quiet and would have been another great bike riding day. Saturday afternoon was perfect. Because we were with friends I didn't bring my bike. There was quite a bit of down time for me while the others were shopping. Like the saying goes, "If I only knew then.....". Next year for sure. I did walk alone on Sunday morning and here is the photo journal.

McDonnalds, Yes, "the" one with the clown.

Later.