America’s Birthday…twice!

Happy Fourth of July! We were hoping for better weather but the rain continued to dog us as we headed to shore and then drove to Scarborough for a celebration barbeque with our friends Duncan and Jen.

Duncan smoked an AMAZING brisket and Jen made delicious sides and a scrumptious strawberry cake. We were all stuffed by mid-afternoon but managed to continue to nosh for the rest of the day. The kids enjoyed Patrick’s sparklers and some noisy fireworks, too.

We had a great time spending the day with Jen and Duncan, their kids, Jen’s sister, and some of their friends. And the rain eventually called it quits! We all stayed up late chatting (and so did the kids…) but eventually drifted off to bed; we stayed at their place overnight so Cecelia could have a sleepover with their daughter Vivian. They were up early the next day hanging out together.

We had some Holy Donuts for breakfast (Duncan, I know the potato flour donuts aren’t your absolute fave, but thanks for picking them up!) and then got on the road to make it to Eventide in Portland when they opened at 11 am. First, though, we took a little drive down memory lane. We drove by the house we lived in for the summer of 2020, and then we also stopped off at Bug Light, which is in Portland Harbor, where we kept Oestara on a mooring that summer. (Kevin Ferrie, if you are reading this, we have such fond memories of that summer, thanks to you and Stephanie!)

Then we headed off to Eventide. We were second in line at 10:35 and it was kind of blissful just getting to sit down right away.

After stuffing ourselves (are you sensing a theme about the food in Portland?! it is SO GOOD!) with oysters, smoked fish dip, and brown butter lobster rolls, we stopped off at the airport to drop Matt off. (Matt, thank you so much for joining us for the trip! We hope you had an awesome time!) Then we hit the Hannaford for provisions and headed back to the boat.

Jim & Kate, friends of ours who have a lakehouse in Maine, met us for dinner on shore, and we all headed back out to the boat before dark, because the powers that be had postponed the Portland fireworks from the 4th to the 5th, and our mooring was a prime viewing spot, as you can see from the photo at the top of this post.

We were happy to celebrate America’s birthday not once, but twice!