Megan and I had the best road trip EVER. The crazy part is, it was almost totally unplanned. We coasted on luck and street smarts (mostly luck, really) and it was incredible.
After going AWOL from the 3rd Maine's civil war re-enactment, we headed up to Islesboro to stay with my great aunt Mimi. She's 90, way sharper than I am, and full of fantastic stories. For example, she and her friend took a trip though Germany in August of 1939. That's the month before WWII broke out. The trip consisted of buying a row boat, meandering downriver, renting rooms in farmhouses, and having ridiculous adventures like getting chased down a mountain by a drunken Nazi officer. She makes our road trip look lame by comparison, doesn't she? And that's not even her best WWII story! She served coffee at the invasion of Italy! For real! As if that's not enough, in addition to having been in the shit, Aunt Mimi has a great sense of style. She rocks yellow ballet flats like nobody's business. Megan and I really want to grow up to be her, but since that civil war re-enactment is the closest we've come to battle, I don't think it's in the cards.
Aunt Mimi wanted us to see Acadia National Park, but since we knew from previous experience that Maine is full in August, we went inland from Islesboro instead. On our way, we randomly happened upon the A1 Diner in Gardiner, Maine. I feel confident in saying it is the best diner in the world. It's in an old-school diner car, offers five kinds of soup, and the lunchtime music selection includes Thelonius Monk. Apparently it's been there forever, but a gay couple from Boston bought it ten years ago, so the menu is a hybrid of city slicker staples like tofu and diner classics like peanut butter pie. Also, our waiter had a soul patch and is trying to launch a career as a singer-songwriter. The diner could not have been more perfect - my heart almost exploded.
In New Hampshire we stayed at the resort in Breton Woods where FDR convened the international conference that set up the IMF and World Bank. It looks like the hotel from The Shining. Megan and I meant to start a new world order, but we had a bottle of wine and several Miller Lites instead. The next morning we got up and hiked part of the way up Mount Washington, which is beautiful. Verdant woods, crystalline streams, you get the picture.
And now I'm back in NY, and my trip is almost over! Daft Punk is tonight, and then tomorrow I'll be back in SF. I didn't confront the German army or anything, but still, I think it's been a good trip.
3 comments:
Probably my favorite blog yet! Thanks for cheering me up!
I am looking forward to your blogs from San Francisco, as that is a town
where I left my heart.
Too funny. I started reading this when you were a "Blog of note" and you end up spending some time down the street. What a small world. I haven't read your blog in a while, so I didn't know how close by you were. Hope you are well.
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