Day trip to Thomaston and Dorman's

     From time to time folks have asked, "So, when you are parked in Maine for the summer, what do you do?"  Well the Maine coast is fully populated with places that are scenic, historical, interesting, or just nice places to eat.  Today was a good example of the new and the familiar.  Walt Wagner, the lobsterman and Maine farmer from whom we get our lobsters, recommended a place in Thomaston, run by a friend of his that makes a wonderful fish chowder.  So eight of us drove down to give it a try and to stop at the famous Dorman's ice cream stand on the way back.  Thomaston is south of Rockland and close to Owl's Head about an hour from here.  The "Slipway" restaurant has indoor closed, indoor screened, and out door eating areas on the dock.  Most of us had the requisite chowder and an appetizer.  I had smoked salmon, but several folks had some wonderful mussels.  The weather was ideal although a bit cool on the water.  (Sorry about that you folks in Houston.)  From there we headed back up route 1 to Dorman's, an ice cream stand that has been in business for over a half century where Ann Dunn took these pictures.

     Since it was Friday, the campground had its weekly happy hour where campers bring pot-luck hors d'oeuvres and the campground provides beer and wine.  I had planned to make my "Mussels Casino" dip, courtesy of Dan and Nancy Taylor, but my hunter-gatherer skills failed me yesterday so I bought some farm raised mussels on the way home.  We arrived at four and happy hour was at five and the cook time was twenty minutes.  There was a lot of prep time so we were scrambling.  It wasn't as good as some previous versions, but it was still good.
     The weather has been so nice that I am hesitant to describe it as it would be seen as "rubbing it in".

     As the evening wound its way down and I carried a bunch of mussel shells up to the dumpster, I took this shot of an almost full moon over Penobscot Bay.  Life is good.