Belgrade Lakes Region, Maine, July 16, 2005 — We get up in our room at the Village Inn. We are up pretty early. There is coffee in the breakfast area. V8 juice, too. FFP eats some Raisin Bran he scores from Day's store. He also got papers...The Boston Globe, The New York Times and a local Maine one. My aunt and uncle are coming by at nine so we have time to sit around and drink coffee and take it easy. We have to switch rooms for some reason. The owner comes and gives us a different key for when we come back.

My aunt and uncle come and I climb in to drive their car to the coast. A little over an hour later we are at Fort William Henry. I show FFP around the ruins of th fort. The most interesting thing to

me about it is that after Indians used a huge rock to hide behind and beseige the first fort, the settlers built a tower around said rock.

We head down to the lobster dock then. We pick some lobsters, order up a couple of bags of steamer clams and go upstairs to wait. FFP can't wait to eat and gets some crab cakes. We get some drinks: beers for my uncle and I and water for FFP and a cocktail from my aunt. I'll just have the one beer as I'm the driver. It's a local one, though. It's my habit to try local brews. Pemaquid Ale, it is, dark and rick. Then the lobsters arrive.

They are beautiful. We park them on the next table while we feast. People keep walking by and looking at them. We never intend to eat them all. They turn out to be rather hard of shell. My aunt and uncle, though, use their expertise to extract the delicious meat. I eat my share of a bag of clams, sharing a bit with FFP. The cole slaw and rolls seem superfluous to the mission.

When FFP and I have had our fill, my aunt is still cracking, putting the lobster meat in baggies to be iced for the trip home and to fill buns for lobster rolls. A nice tradition, buying too much and taking it home. I'm sorry I'm so inept at helping extract it. My aunt and uncle comment on how hard the shells are and my uncle says the shells go through cycles of hard and soft between molts. FFP and I go out and look at the lobsters coming in from boats. One of us (FFP I think) takes the best picture of the trip. Something about the composition, the particular bodies, the angle.

Lobster traps are everywhere and working boats are bringing in loads for weighing. I guess the guys we are eating are pretty fresh. They tasted great. My aunt says she thinks the hard shells taste sweeter but I think it's the risk reward thing.

Next stop is Pemaquid Point with its rocky coast and pretty lighthouse. My aunt and uncle sit on a bench and feed the seagulls the leftover bread while we explore the rocks and museum a bit.

We head back to our home base at the Village Inn. We consider stopping in a little town that's having a fest of some sort but it looks too crowded. My aunt and uncle head home. FFP and I check out the new room. Then we go to Farmington and check out a secondhand bookstore. A couple of tomes end up in the trunk of the car. We go back to the room and then head over to my aunt's place for drinks and sandwiches and some TV. Tomorrow we are on our own to do whatever and then will come visit them in the evening. We go back to the room and do some reading and TV for a while. We also trouble them for a couple of loads of laundry.