Tuesday, June 01, 2004

Monhegan Island

We slept in until 8:00, having considered and rejected the idea of getting up earlier and going back to the beach. We had an hour until breakfast, so we packed and got ready to head to Port Clyde. Breakfast was in the formal dining room and we got to meet some other guests staying at the inn-- a young, devoutly Christian couple who seemed a bit odd for reasons other than the fact that the girl did not eat. Things got even stranger after they left, though. Our hostess started telling us about her Himalayan adventures and how Boothbay is situated on some sort of spiritually optimal magnetic median. Well, it is a peaceful place, but magnetic?

Our hostess went on to tell us about a dove nesting on the third floor balcony, so we went to go see it. It was a sweet thing, but I don't know how it was planning to manage the heavy tourist season, since the balcony was part of the priciest guest room in the house.

So we finished packing, loaded the car and checked out. We left the car at the inn for a little while and walked back into town where Dan bought me a red fleece jacket I had seen and liked the previous day. I believe that if you still want something twenty four hours later, you should always get it if you can afford it. We then mailed some postcards, got some cash and browsed at a little bookstore before heading back to the car.

Now we were off to Thomaston! We had a little time to kill before we needed to head to Port Clyde so we checked out the Henry Knox museum. The museum was a well done reproduction of Knox's home, Montpelier. It was interesting and I learned a lot, although it was unfortunate that the house was a reproduction and not the original. It's amazing that we've managed to forget Knox, considering how much he did for the American Revolution. The reconstructed home contained a lot of original pieces, including a cabinet that supposedly had once belonged to Marie Antoinette that Knox picked up in France after their Revolution.

Next we were off to Port Clyde to catch the ferry to Monhegan. While we were waiting Dan made friends with two female cyclists, one of whom was an artist with plans to do some painting on the island. After I bought our ferry tickets, we all had lunch together in the general store.

Dan and the ladies had hot dogs and pizza while I had yogurt and an apple. With all the decadent goodies available on the island, I was saving my stomach! After we ate, Dan and his friends checked out a military sea/land vehicle beached nearby.

And then it was time to get on the ferry. We saw a lot of seals on the ride over, which was fun. The ferry ride was choppy but otherwise uneventful for all of us except a timid greyhound who didn't like it a bit. Then after we docked, the poor thing was afraid to get off the boat because the ramps made him nervous.

It was great to be back on Monhegan. We hauled our luggage up the hill to our B&B and checked into our apartment. Unlike the rooms in the main house, we had a heater of our very own-- a good thing when you're a Southerner in Maine! Since it was late in the afternoon I made a quick trip to the grocery store, then Dan and I went for a walk at Lobster Cove. We spent a lot more time investigating the shipwreck than last year and it was all very interesting. I wish I knew more about it. After we had exhausted the possibilities of the shipwreck we wandered around on the rocks for a bit, enjoying the cairns and rock sculptures until about 6 pm.

After we freshened up a bit at the apartment we went to the Island Inn for dinner. Service was unbelievably slow but the hummus was so outstanding we made arrangements to buy some the next day to enjoy in our apartment. After dinner we went to the library. It had been closed the last time we were on the island, so this was our first time to see it. I loved it! Tiny libraries in old homes always remind me of the one in Dennis, MA, where I used to go with my grandmother to check out books when I was visiting Cape Cod as a child. I felt so at home I could've stayed all night, but library hours are short on Monhegan, so we checked our email and went back to the apartment to have some tea and settle in for the night.

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