For Thanksgiving we smoked a turkey for a pot luck at church and two more for the Thanksgiving outreach. The results were awesome! We will post the follow-up video for the two birds soon as well as add a link for the recipe.
This is the smoker that I used:
Additional external thermometer:
At the end of the fourth day we made the trek from the coast to Lincoln, ME. We got in, got our room and journeyed out to my mother-in-law’s camp on Combolasse Pond. It may be a pond by Maine standards, but definitely a lake by California standards.
I say this every year, but I could really do with a place up here. This is my ideal – an adirondack chair on a floating platform that I could swim out to and nobody could get to me.
Two weeks later I could swim in and be at peace with the world. That, of course, isn’t reality. What I did do was pull Shannon and a neice in their boat behind a kayak while they were tormented by a nephew in a kayak.
It was a good day. Tiffany flipped a kayak coming out to join us and then we went later again and I flipped – it just wouldn’t be kayaking if you didn’t get your hair wet once.
Hey Everyone! I continue to be remiss in my blogging. We’re now a week into the trip and enjoying life.
Day 1 was an adventure in itself. We were in line so long at LAX that the cut-off for checked luggage happened in between my golf clubs and the clothing which required a supervisor to approve (taking another ten minutes), or we could re-book the flight. We got the luggage checked finally and did an OJ through the airport (think Hertz rather than Ginsu) and were the last to board the plane. The Avis bus was almost at capacity by the time we got out of the airport in Boston. Sean kept doing laps between Tiffany and I and was really excited to be on a bus. We had about a two hour drive to the Fairfield Inn in Manchester, NH and thus ends the first day.
The second day was going to originally be a golf day for me and Tiffany was going to see other baby wearers in Dover, NH. I have a muscle in spasm or something in my lower back, so I didn’t golf and went with Tiffany. The meeting migrated to a local pizzaria and the kids did laps through the pizza place. That afternoon we meandered over to Nashua, NH which has been on the list of best places to live a few times and has piqued our interest. We had dinner at an Irish pub called Then Fiddler’s Daughter. Good food, good service, good location and the best kethup on the planet.
Day three had us out of NH and in to Southern Maine. We stopped by a store called Butterfly Baby in Portland and then to Whole Foods, also in Portland. From ther we headed to Belfast and the Belfast Harbor Inn. We first went to Belfast last year so Tiffany could go to The Green Store and we went this time for the Celtic Festival happening the next day. We ate at the Dockside restaurant – excellent food and quite kid tollerent. We spent a couple hours in the harbor area until it started getting a little chilly. They have a great skate park in Belfast though. In the harbor parking lot with the water as a back drop and featuring a half pipe that was about 8 feet, or so, deep.
Day four started with the Celtic Festival parade. and we set off for Acadia National Park. We did a quick naturn walk type hike on the Ship Harbor Nature Trail. It was nice and easy for the kids.
Here we are at that time of year again – planning our annual trip to Maine!
Actually, I’m REALLY late on this considering the stuff I want to do. We’re going earlier this year – July instead of August.
On the agenda is a motorcycle ride from Augusta, to Quebec, across Maine to New Brunswick, and down the coast to Machias or Bar Harbor and then back to Augusta. I’m thinking three to four days – it could be shorter, but we have things that happen along the way. We’ll be stopping and taking the Katahdin on Moosehead lake, having blueberry pie at Helens in Machias, probably having lobster in Bar Harbor, possibly taking the cat ferry to Nova Scotia, and taking a lot of pictures along the way. I have several friends who have expressed interest in doing the ride with me, but with only three months for a heads-up, I might be solo. This is the route I’m looking at:
Also looking at climbing Mount Katahdin – had a friend interested in this one as well and I’ll bet a dollar that I can get him to go on a canoe ride with me as well.
My wife wants to find the perfect lobster roll (think lobster hot-dog). I’ll give that a shot. Last year we found this cool place on the coast that was popular with the kayakers and I’m sure we’ll pay them another visit.
I have a tradition of playing golf at Jato Highlands, so that is a must-do event.
Finally, looking at buying some real estate up there, but I’m uncommitted. We’ll look at the stuff we find online to get a better feel than we get from 3000 or so miles away.
Anyone else want to go? Lets make it a party!
– John