1774

Monday, July 14, 2014

Castine is a lovely little town with pleasant people full of charm, it’s awnings never the same color as the last nor made of the same material…one house down from the Inn displayed a lot-size garden trimmed with marble arches and sandstone pathways.  The hot damp air glistened upon my skin as I walked down the broken sidewalk, a footpath, really, that narrowed near the crossroads and picked back up across the street.  A corner deli boasted the year 1774 proud to have been around longer than the United States of America had been united.  It’s frame was sturdy and tall, an old hospital or nobleman’s chambers I would suppose with an arched entry way, door frames wider than those of that time depicting its wealth and stature.  Now the only thing of noble means coming out of that place was a tiny poodle dressed in 4th of July garb.  No, it wasn’t the 4th of July.  The fireworks had been cancelled the week prior due to bad weather and rescheduled for tonight…how could i be so lukcy? 

As I neared the harbor I could tell that the visitors in town were few as most eyes were tilted in my direction some stares, a wave and a hello, but mostly just blank-stares.  Granted it wasn’t the cool refreshing kind of weather that one would expect for this time in Maine, but a 98% humid day with full sun and not a cloud in the sky.  Mostly, beautiful, but still a hot and humid day that gave way to sitting, watching, sleeping, picking and staring.  

The harbor was small, but boasting the largest ship on this side of the seaboard, the maritime academy training vessel was docked directly in front of the Breeze ice cream stand and public restrooms in the heart of the Castine community.  There were three restaurants in town: Dennet’s is the kind of place that should really just call themselves Denny’s on the water or Fried and dipped, or smells like fish.  It’s a mystery to me, really, how people survive on fried seafood every day….there wasn’t one vegetable listed on the menu, and french fries are a sorry excuse for a vegetable.  Not even the kids menu included a healthy option!  The people were friendly, the view was great and there were plenty of dogs for Sage to wave at and say “dog” over and over and over again.  But the food was just plum nasty.  

On our second night the Pentagoet Inn, located just adjacent to the Castine Inn where we were staying was loud with happy hour chatter, glasses in hand, men and women dressed in their polos and lilly pulitzer sailboat dresses, anticipating a glorious evening together.  Seems to me they were having a large social as they all seemed to know each other.  I’m not usually one to care, but because I hadn’t seem as much as a large family strolling down the streets of Castine I was curious as to who these people were and where they had come from?  The Inn hostess didn’t know either, but agreed that it was some kind of exclusive party.  Needless to say we decided to walk on by.

McFraley’s pub was not even worth mentioning really, but just so you know how bad it was and so that you don’t ever pass by there and need to die early- I’ll give you the details. 

We walked in with an 18-month old in his stroller, granted, and the big huge dude with the tattoos i’m not against tattoos, stared at us not even asking if we would like to sit down?!  We finally asked if we could seat ourselves and he said, “yeah” and made a hand guesture.  Not sure where he was gesturing though because they only appropriate tables that were open were on the outside hallway where Sage’s stroller actually got stuck when were tried to venture towards a seat.  There were other available seats, but two of them were arcade games with twirly red and blue mushroom seats for chairs.  Ugh!  At this point I was just hungry, so 1774 it was!  

After scouring the menu we decided on shrimp baskets- how could anyone mess that up?  We placed our orders with the young girl waiting on us, and realized that she was the ONLY person working in the whole restaurant.  After taking our order she disappeared behind the large half wall extending through the middle of the restaurant.  We could hear her, though, no the phone.  She said I need help, Send Kevin.  Then, again, we heard heard on the phone saying, I need two shrimp baskets, and then, “we don’t”?  OK..  She approached our table as if we hadn’t just heard her entire conversation and tried to gently put it to us that they didn’t have any shrimp right now.  That would be fine, we ordered something else… 

After another minute we heard her speaking to nobody, answering her own questions, asking and answering…. realizing that she was again on the phone.  Not sure how all of that worked, but within minutes I had a pulled pork sandwich in front of me, with coleslaw on it- not a fan and was feeding Sage a greesey grilled cheese sandwich.  And again, not a vegetable in sight!  

Castine was very interesting….not sure that I’d go back, but thankful for the slow-pace and the experience of light-filled people and places.