The Desert of Maine and Seafood for Two

Today was a very proud day for me.  As you can see here, I am thrilled to be eating this gigantic seafood dish.  People were staring.  "Can he do it?", they had to be thinking.  "Can he actually eat all of that by himself?"  They probably noticed that the menu said "Lobster Fra Diavolo [For Two]".  And here I was, all by my lonesome, Beowulf face to face with crustracian Grendel.

But I'm getting ahead of myself!  I'll start at the beginning of the day.

On our way to Ogunquit and Freeport Maine outlet heaven, we stopped in Newburyport.  They have a store here dedicated to salt!  I bought some salt.

We then stopped at the Stonewall Kitchen company store.  It's a huge building full of all the Stonewall kitchen products, as well as a cafe.  And they go all out with their Halloween decorations!  Look at these witches.

Witch closeup.

I don't know what you call these.  Narrow pumpkin/gourd pyramids?  Whatever they are, I love them.  Also, I learned today that pigs evidently love eating pumpkins.  I'd like to see a pig eating a pumpkin some day.

More witches!

More pumpkin pyramids!

A very large and awesome Halloween display greeted us at the entrance.

Another Halloween display was not far behind it!

After this, we stopped in Ogunquit, and then hit up the outlets in Freeport.  Look, I'm gonna skip ahead here.  A lot of amazing stuff happened today, and I want to share with you what I consider to be the most amazing part of it (until the seafood dinner).

When my sister and I were last in the area six years ago,  we decided to visit Portland, Maine for a day.  While I was researching things to do in Portland, I came across something called the Desert of Maine.  My interest was immediately piqued.  How can Maine have a desert?  This climate is far from arid.  It's all lush and green.  How could such a thing be?

Six years ago, my sister and I never got to see it.  The desert was somehow closed.  I didn't understand then how something like a desert could be closed.  But in the years hence, I've frequently thought about the desert, and what it must be like.  Today, I was going to find out.

We pulled up to the parking lot around 5.  There was no one around.  I grew nervous.  No way the desert was closed for the evening!  No way I was going to miss seeing the desert again!  We entered the building to the right, and there was no one in there either.  No staff anywhere.  I saw a door open on the other side of the door, and on the other side of it, a hill illuminated in the light of the setting sun.  And then I noticed something terrifying:  the desert's hours.  It had closed at 5 pm. 

I knew what I had to do.  I ran out the back door in the direction of the hill.  Or rather, I walked at a very brisk pace.

I was seeing sand.  And in the distance, something that looked an awful lot like a desert.  I scaled the hill.

DESERT!

After seeing this site, reality kind of sunk in and I realized I'd ditched my wife, my sister and her boyfriend back in the store.  I backtracked, whereupon I discovered that the owners of this desert were more than willing to let us explore even after hours.  We paid the modest entrance fee and reentered the desert, this time on the right side of the law.

Evidently, this is not a 'true desert'.  This 'sand' is actually glacial silt.  It's very similar to sand, but finer.

Once upon a time, this was a farm.  However, the farmers did not take proper care of their land.  They never rotated their potato crop, and let their sheep overgraze.  After time, the soil eroded to reveal a sand dune of silt.  This sand dune quickly grew to envelop the whole farm.

Around 1925, the farm had been purchased by a wily fellow who turned it into a tourist attraction.  It sure attracted me.

Desert mushroom!

What's bizarre is how close it is to typical forest foliage.  The whole thing struck me as very surreal.  

Maybe science doesn't consider it a 'true desert', but it's a desert in my heart.

Here I am, proudly displaying my Desert of Maine entrance sticker.

And here I am, forging ahead.  I've always loved weird stuff like this.  One of my life goals is to visit the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota, and there's this weird office building in Ohio shaped like a basket that I've always wanted to check out.  This was a huge experience for me.  My traveling companions were very politely bemused.

At this point, we were two hours from Rockport and we still wanted to check out Portland, Maine.  It's where my wife's mother was born, though she was born to Brazilian parents and moved to Brazil when she was three.  My sister found a restaurant that sounded awesome, and we decided to go check it out.  The restaurant is called Street & Co., and I have to say I've fallen madly in love with it.

 Look at this octopus!  It was delicious.  I don't know what this red stuff is, but it's delicious.  Look, food writing isn't my forte!  But I'll say this: it was tender.  Oh so tender.

My sister got these pate deviled eggs that were also amazing.

My wife got calamari in Puttanesca.  What a combination!  The flavor of the olives was outstanding.

My wife got these scallops in pernod.  Served in a frying pan!  She has ordered scallops like three times on this trip, but this time they were truly spectacular.  I didn't try any, however.

My sister got sole.  She loved it, but I didn't try this, either.

Her boyfriend got this fish pasta thing.  I don't remember the name, but I tried a tiny piece.  That's all I had room for, because I ordered this:

The lobster fra diavolo.  I tried to get someone else to be my "plus one" on the dish intended for two, but there were no takers.  I guess I was feeling a bit saucy after my quasi-legal sand dune flight a bit earlier, however, and I decided to order it anyway.  This thing was huge.  People really did look.  Later, upon exiting the restroom, an old man asked me if I had ordered the Lobster Fra Diavolo all by myself.  "Yes I did", I responded.  "Yes I did".

Let's take a closer look at this guy in the background.

"The guy behind you is watching you eat that", my sister said.  "Let him watch", I responded.

I don't want to come across as overly self-assured.  I was intimidated.  You can see it in my eyes here.  However, I am reminded of the words of Admiral Halsey: "There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstance to meet".  This was a challenge, and I met it.  Look, I'll be honest, I did not finish the two pounds of pasta.  I think that would be physically impossible.  But I did, however, eat the whole lobster, and all the calamaris and clams and mussels.  On our way out, the guy behind me told me that he was tempted to do the same as me and order the Fra Diavolo for one.  I like to think that I inspired him to give it a go next time he dines here.

Tomorrow, we go to Boston!