Welcome to Maine!

This weather forecast is a beautiful thing!

I took this picture for two reasons: to show you a pretty boat, and to show you high tide.

There were signs all over downtown Rockland about the Blues Fest going on this weekend. This one was my favorite.

It's outside Rock City Cafe where I ate 2 breakfasts and a lunch. Great place. 

Yesterday while I was eating breakfast, a guy at the table next to me asked the girl with him what she was doing for work now. She replied, "landscaping." 

"Oh yeah? Yourself? Or with a company?"

"I work for a woman named Rain."

Buh-dum-bum!

Seriously took all I had not to laugh out loud. And no one at their table saw the hilarity.

Downtown Rockland:

I may have bought a book here.

I did not buy a book here. But I still thought you'd wanna see a pretty bookstore:

These chairs are made from lobster pots. They are surprisingly comfortable.

This is either a dragonfly or a mosquito. I liked it either way.

I heard some of the Blues Festival. The only guy I had heard of was Victor Wainwright.

I listened to his set from right here behind this nice couple.

At the end of it, Victor said, "All right guys, we have to go soon, but first we're going to play you 30 more seconds of hell fire boogie!" 

And they did.

Remember the picture of high tide? Well, this is low tide from the opposite angle. They have a 12 foot tide here! Ridiculous.

I took that photo last night around 5:30 on my way into town for happy hour and live music at The Fog. When I got there though, the place was near empty. I reconsidered. Instead I walked up the street to an outdoor patio area, I think called The Speakeasy, where there was live music. 

The picture below is The Kennebunk River Band. They played blues-ish music yesterday on that patio from 1 until almost 6:30. They played everything from Roger Miller, to Southern Cross, to Adele, but they blues'd up everything. (That is too a word!)

You can't tell from this picture, but there are only picnic tables outside to sit on. So I made some friends. They were in town from somewhere inland on their motorcycles. Nice couple. They told me Camden is even prettier than Rockland. I'll believe it when I see it. 

While I sat with them, I ordered a Sam Adams Summer Ale. About half way through it, a server guy came over and asked me if I'd ordered it outside. When I told him I had, he handed me a t shirt. "Order Sam Adams outside and you get a Sam Adams t shirt!" 

Pretty cool.

When the band stopped playing, I asked them if they planned to do another set, they were really good.

The guy you see in the ball cap informed me they'd played since 1, and no, they're going home. "But did you get a cd?" he asked.

"No, I only have a credit card."

Then he gave me a cd. And I rifled through my bag for 3 crumpled dollars.

A couple minutes later, a guy came up and said he and his group of six want to sit down, would I mind? I said no, of course not. And got up and moved. There was a table across the patio with a guy about my age and a guy twice my age, and they looked friendly, so I asked to sit. Nate and Dana were good company. Local guys, very proud of Maine. It turns out they'd only known each other about 20 minutes when I sat down. 

We small talked for about a half hour, then our checks came, and before I could get my wallet out, Dana grabbed my check and said- no, yelled- "Welcome to Maine!" 

When I objected, he yelled even louder, "Welcome to Maine!"

"Thanks, Dana!"

Overall, this was a great weekend in a new place. If you're ever in Maine, stop in Rockland. If it's a Friday night, visit the Kennebunk River Band at The Speakeasy's patio. They're there every Friday. And apparently some Saturdays. 

Tell them Dana sent you.