Our Big Earlventure, Part II

We're baaa-aack!

Hope some of you got to enjoy the Flat Brutus post yesterday!  I know everyone was looking forward to the next Earlventure installment, but our buddy Courtney did such a great post, we wanted to make sure you got a chance to see it!

Big Earl is all cleaned up and went back to his resting place today. Phew!!  Why is coming home the most exhausting part of a vacation??  Now I have no excuse not to get back to our regular blogging schedule!

After the first two days of start-and-stop (see Part I), our travels were a little smoother.  We made lots of little stops over the next few days, exploring ME and MA.  On the way we crossed through VT and RI, just making a few brief stops to stretch our legs. I snapped this quick photo as a momento for Mason, who took this (in addition to many other) opportunity to relieve himself in VT!

Next stop was for a shopping excursion.  We've learned that all Cabela's are RV-friendly (including dump and fresh water refilling stations), as well as pet-friendly (dog walks, kennels, and even corrals for horses).

While Paul & my in-laws were shopping (they bought fishing poles & an air mattress), the boys and I got in a good walk and some photo ops outside the store.  Brutus was happy to do a brief photo-shoot, and got met a bunch of new admirers!  It was quite chilly, so he is modeling his "Bad Boy" Juicy T in these pictures.

'Cuz we're hunting dogs!!

Brutus strikes a pose!

Mom, this moose makes me nervous... Can you get me down form here?

Then it was on to see the east coast.  Since it was Saturday, Brutus changed into his OSU jersey for the drive.  The Buckeyes were pathetic at best (beaten fair & square by 0-5 Purdue!!!!), so it's just as well that we could only follow the play-by-play over the internet.

Mobile internet is the best!!

Not worth missing the fall scenery for that game!!

All the team colors in the world won't help the Buckeyes in this game.  I think a nap will be much less stressful than watching them loose!!

Finally we arrived at the shore.  We stopped in York Harbor, ME so that the boys could get their first sniffs of the salty ocean air.  It was a cold and blustery afternoon, so we didn't venture far from the coach. 

Our first view of the ocean, York Harbor

The first thing that Mason & Brutus did was to check the pee-mail!

Here's Paul & Mason soaking in the scenery.  That's my in-laws in the background.

For once I got to be IN the picture, instead of behind the camera!!

Brutus wasn't sure what to think of that big noisy lake behind him...

... but eventually relaxed enough for a good photo!

We got back into Big Earl to warm up after that brisk outing, realizing that we had all worked up quite an appetite!  A quick search of the local restaurants on my trusty Macbook turned up Bayley's, a little local seafood place with a lot of history!  It was off the beaten path, but quite the find!  

Legend has it that you are supposed to eat lobster in all the months that end in "-er".  How could we go wrong at such a great little place???

Paul and I ordered lobster rolls (which were fantastic, by the way)...

... while my mother-in-law tackled a whole Maine lobster!!

After our bellies were full of delicious chowder, clams, and lobster (and the boys got their usual boring kibble - shhh, don't tell them!!), we found a place to park Big Earl for the night.  Since the camping the night before was a little much for my in-laws, we found them a nice Marriot where we could stay just outside in Big Earl with the boys.  Other than a few remarkable traffic maneuvers by Captain Paul, it was a pretty uneventful day (no parts to replace -yippee!!), and we were all ready for a good nights' sleep.

We say goodnight with a big yawn from Brutus!

Be sure to turn in tomorrow for the final installment of our Earlventure!!