We took a few days off from everything and went to Maine this week.  We lucked out on the weather - it was like summer only with no people around.  I have never seen the ocean so calm.  There was barely a ripple at Short Sands Beach in front of our hotel. Even Long Sands, with an unprotected wide open expanse of just ocean, and further south in the Rye area, there was very little surf action going on. The water looked more like Joe's Pond than the Atlantic Ocean.

I watched one of the old buildings at the beach being torn down.  A whole block, mostly with Shelton's gift shops and perhaps a restaurant, it's hard to remember, and so much of it was already gone, I couldn't really tell what had been there.  I took some pictures, but there were several people, mostly old timers, who had brought their folding chairs and were just sitting across the street watching the big machines systematically knocking down the old landmark.  I was told a new building will replace it and be open for business (I'm not sure what, but it will surely be something for tourists!) by late summer, 2016.

When we got home yesterday, our cat, Woody, paid absolutely no attention to us.  His objective was to get outside to enjoy the fresh air and nice weather.  Later he finally came in briefly, but we know he was thinking he'd rather be on the outside of the door than caged up inside, so it was well into the evening before he came in.  Then he put us through our paces until bed time, going in and out and demanding food.  Fred said he was just making sure all his normal services had been restored.  Today things are back to normal with Woody sleeping peacefully, probably confident we won't be going off and leaving him for any extended period again for a while, at least.  Jamie and Marie look out for him when we are gone, so he's well provided for except for doors opening on demand.

It's going to be another chilly night - quite different than when we were on the coast with daytime temperatures in the high 60s and nights in the 50s.  The foliage along the way was still beautiful in most places, especially along the coast.  In the mountains lots of the leaves at the high levels have been blown off, but in the valleys there was still lots of color.  We took the scenic route going over, through North Conway where we stopped at L. L. Bean's, and then to Fryburg, working our way through small towns along rivers and lakes to Wells, Maine.  It was a lovely drive, but took us longer than usual.  We came home on much more highly traveled roads from Portsmouth, eventually getting on I-93 so we were in St. Johnsbury shortly after noon.  It didn't matter - it's still interesting traveling through the mountains, whichever way you go.  And once there, we enjoyed as much seafood as we could possibly eat, finding all but one of our favorite spots open.  One place we have enjoyed for breakfast is the "Stolen Menu."  It's not far from our hotel and was discovered several years ago by our friend, Elisabeth, when she and another friend, Louise, went with us to York.  We have had breakfast there several times since, but on this trip we found it gone.  There was some sort of bar or pizza place where it used to be.  Another spot we liked last year, I think it's called Nick's, and is right in York Village, was closed this year because of a recent fire.  The York Fire Department is almost across the street from the building it was in, so that probably saved that whole block.  The restaurant was a favorite spot for locals, and was on the lower level of a business block.  It looked as if the other businesses are ok, but the little restaurant needs work.  However, we went to Norma's out on Route 1, and that is always good, so we didn't suffer one bit.  We had lunch at Petey's in Rye one day, and that was especially good.  Way more food than we really needed to consume, but it's so good - I had a clam roll and it was overflowing with clams, and we were able to save some frenchfries to take with us to the Nubble Light where our friend, Louise, loved to feed the gulls.  In her honor, we fed a few of the hundreds of birds waiting there for handouts.  Another highlight was the clam chowder at the pub in our hotel, the Union Bluff.  I always try to have at least one meal there just for their chowder.  And that was a good "mini vacation," but we are very happy to be back home, back in service for Woody.