PaulGraz's Daily Blog for The Great Ice Cream Run!
Day 7, Friday June 15th: Rockland, ME
to Bar Harbor, ME:
Woo Hoo! We don't have to depart until 9AM today - this allows for a more
relaxed schedule in the morning. Turns out I needed that, because Nicole
was determined to not wake up, not get moving, etc, etc...
After a quick breakfast, running down the street to gas up, and loading up the
car - we're on our way. It's a relatively short drive today (under 90
miles) from Rockland to Bar Harbor (or Bah Habah for the locals). The
group has been talking about the final ice cream stop all week - Lobster Ice
Cream. I'm a bit apprehensive about that, but I'll probably try it.
After all, "when in Rome"...
So we get to Bar Harbor and head for CJ's Big Dipper. This place has soft
serve Wild Maine Blueberry ice cream that's absolutely fantastic! Outside
CJ's on the deck Robyn and Ian handed out some door prizes (Thanks to
OutMotoring.com for the really cool
hat!), and then picked tickets from a hat for the Grand Prize - a polo shirt
from The Bag Lady, custom embroidered
with a picture of the winner's car. The Bag Lady is actually Robyn's side
business - click the link and check it out, it's all top quality stuff. So
Ian reaches into the hat and pulls out ... MY TICKET!
It's my lucky day!
Then we stroll down the street to Bill's Chocolate Emporium, the one and only
home of lobster ice cream. I ask for a very, very small serving. As
it turned out, it wasn't small enough. This is basically vanilla ice cream
with bits of lobster mixed in. This just isn't a very good combination.
Like almost everyone, I couldn't finish it. Maybe this is an appropriate
way to end the ice cream portion of the week - because at this point I'm
thinking I wont be eating ice cream again for a long time...
So we hang out for a while and check out some of the shops in Bar Harbor - this
is really tourist central, but there were a few shops that had some pretty funny
t-shirts. And then it was back in the cars for a short drive to visit the
Seal Cove Auto Museum. Coastal Maine seems like an odd spot for a
collection of antique cars, but it was certainly a very nice collection.
Over 100 cars, mostly from the early 1900's through the 1930's - mostly
meticulously restored & maintained. And one very nice 1971 VW Bug.
Yeah, that seemed a little out of place among the Model T's...
At this point, The Great Ice Cream Run is officially over. But my vacation
trip isn't. Many of us would continue driving, heading west into New
Hampshire, to participate in MINIsOnTop
(MOT). This year is the 5th annual MOT, another MINI event held at Mt
Washington, NH. Basically, MOT is a couple hundred MINI owners who get
together to drive up the mountain at sunset, held each year right around the
summer solstice. More about MOT in tomorrows blog...
So the auto museum must have been good - because we stayed a little too long.
It was 2:30 by the time we left, with about 4 hours of driving ahead to get out
to Gorham, NH. The drive to NH was mostly along route 2, which was rather
scenic. It was around 6:45pm when we arrived at the Town & Country, the
host hotel for MOT. Nancy drove up to NH today and is already
waiting for us, all checked in at the T&C. We meet up with a bunch of friends from
NEMINI and head out for dinner at Mr.
Pizza. Hey - with a name like that, how can we go wrong?
J
As always - see my pictures link for the photos of the day...
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