Whale Watching and Great Food

Tammy and I were at the pier by 8am, at Dunkin Donut (for a 24ounce coffee, only) at 8:15 and waiting to board the Odyssey for a whale watching excursion. The crew (with Captain Fred running the boat) got us underway on time. They announced that we might experience "mild to moderate chop" when we clear the harbor.  I wondered what they meant by "mild to moderate chop."

Have you seen the George Clooney movie "The Perfect Storm"? Where he tries to power his fishing trawler up a vertical wall of water?

It was almost like that. I'm glad I had a bagel and cream cheese, yogurt, an orange and a lot of coffee for breakfast. (No, I didn't lose it over the stern, but I was considering it for the first 2.5 hours of the excursion.)

Eventually, the waters calmed, and I started feeling like maybe I'd eat food again sometime later this year.

The nausea was resolved and I was feeling good. Finally.

The whale watching was as successful as last night's fishing trip. (Seriously, if I needed to live off my fishing and hunting abilities, I would be a very skinny vegetarian.)

That was the one harbor porpoise I saw. Of course, I missed it here.

Take my word for it. It was THIS big!

When we returned to stable land, we decided that it was time for lunch/dinner. So, back to the Portland Lobster Company for lobster rolls. And clam cakes. And onion rings. And a wild blueberry mead (not really worth mentioning any further--if I hadn't paid $8.50 for the glass, I wouldn't have finished it.)

This is what the entire meal (for both Tammy and myself) looked like:

A fantastic meal!

The lobster rolls here are very different from Boston's. In Boston, it is a hot dog bun, a layer of lettuce and a mixture of shredded lobster and mayo. Nice. Like an upscale tuna salad sandwich. But here, where lobster is lord, it is more simple. The same bun and iceberg lettuce, but then they add all the meat from a one pound lobster. Not shreds, but the whole tail, both claws and all the other bits Then they pour a little clarified butter over it. Here is a close up (try not to drool on your keyboard):

This simple sandwich was a better meal than yesterday's feast.

The place was busy, with live music and a lot of tourists in town.We shared a picnic table with another couple (Sara and Brian, visiting from Virginia) and eventually had a few beers. I enjoyed an Allagash Belgian White Ale and an Allagash Belgian Black Stout. I also had a sample of Allagash Black Prince (too much American hops for my tastes, but I think it was a well-made beer.) The Belgian Black Stout was excellent! Allagash Brewing is a Portland craft beer brewer and I am glad I had the opportunity to try them.

All four of us had a great meal and several great beers. So of course, we were stuffed. But there is always room for a crepe. Just across the street from the restaurant was a pushcart vendor making the lightest and tastiest crepes I have had in a long time. Tammy and I had a simple lemon and sugar crepe. Sara and Brian had the banana-nutella crepe.

Sara and Brian

The crepes put me over the top in terms of calories, but it was so worth it!

Life is for the living. And life is meant to be enjoyed. That does not mean eating with abandon and completely ignoring the consequences of over-indulging. But vacations like this do not happen all the time. And both Tammy and I are staying very active. We are also logging everything. And we are still making choices. We know that all the fried food is an indulgence. We also know that when we return home, we will return to a tightly controlled intake until we return to our goal weights. But we are having a helluva good time. We are eating foods that we simply can't get at home, especially the fresh seafood, being served less than a day from harvest.

Tomorrow we drive to Cooperstown, New York to tour the Ommegang Brewing Company and a meal at their brewpub, and then on to Niagara Falls.