Dan and I try to take a day trip every week if we can to some place in New England. This post and the next one are two we did recently; one in Camden Maine and the other in the Stowe area of Vermont. Two of the millions of things I love about living in New England is that each state of the six that make up this region has its own particular flavor and feel even if the geography doesn't vary greatly, and that there are hundreds of towns in each one worth a field trip - I've lived here for 17 years and I feel I've barely scratched the surface.
On our way to Camden, we stopped at a diner I have read and heard about for years - Moody's Diner in Waldoboro ME. This place is a veritable 50s type diner and famous for its pies. Finally I got to experience it! And you know what? Once was enough - I never have to return. I ordered a lunch that was was truly "dinery" - half a tuna salad sandwich and a cup of chicken noodle soup. The food tastes exactly like you would make it at home; not bad but nothing special. Not fabulous and very ordinary. Meat loaf with mashed spuds, hot turkey on toasted white bread, spaghetti and meatballs, burgers, etc. We ordered the four berry pie and chocolate cream pie for dessert and I found the chocolate cream to be gummy where I could taste the flour in the homemade pie pudding; the whipped cream was real, the crust tasted like a shortening crust - it was flaky. And they serve a lot of pie - everyone seemed to order a slice and workers kept bringing out more pies for the case. In a nutshell, very ordinary - I was a little let down because the place was packed, there was a big line to get seated and it's really famous. We passed through Wiscassett (another super pretty Maine town) and Red's Lobster Shack on our route, another famous Maine eatery with very long lines and there was one as we passed - we ate there last summer after waiting in line for an hour and that place did not disappoint - absolutely worth the wait! Before Camden, we stopped in Rockland at the fabulous Farnsworth Museum in that adorable and charming downtown and spent a good piece of time looking at great art - like a lot of original Andrew, N.C. and James Wyeths. I highly recommend this delightful and lovely museum. Camden was our final destination and we first quickly toured the town to pick out our dinner location for later on and then headed to Mt. Battie to climb the 1000 foot mountain and sit at the top and enjoys fantastic views of the town and harbor. After, we walked all over town, went in stores, sat at the harbor to watch people and boats and then ate at a fantastic Thai restaurant owned by a Thai couple called Long Grain that I had read about in several magazines; a tiny hole in the wall place with a long wait (we got in by eating at 5:15 and sitting at the bar) and listened to the phone person take reservations for days and days in advance. This is a tiny place that doesn't even have a sign outside with its name on it - we had a hard time finding it. The food was absolutely wonderful.
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