Day 130 – Still windy, 20 MPH winds expected today, 38 degrees this morning. There were very dark clouds rolling in when we left for more antiques shopping. It took a long time for our feet to get warm in the car. Around Lubec, the fall colors are mostly past peak with the wind blowing the leaves off the trees. On the way north on Route 1, there are still some pretty colors.
First we went to 45th Parallel, a large store that looked promising except that they were closed, for the season – probably. That hadn’t occurred to us. Places might be closed when off season here. We found a couple more places in Calais that Suzanne had recommended to us; they were closed for the season, too. Calais is a border town, a major crossing point for entering Canada at New Brunswick. It’s maybe a little more than hour north of our land on Route 1, a fairly large (for this area), and old city. Alot of the storefronts along the main streets are closed. Kind of a shame. They do have a Walmart, a Dollar Store, and other big lot stores, etc. The better restaurants (in our opinion) have closed. We did find a new place for lunch & a couple of good places where Rob could look for brackets, though.
Before all of that, we went to Marden’s. Every year we go to Marden’s. Marden’s in Calais is a large, discount department store. Everyday at Marden’s is almost like Christmas shopping on Black Friday. Lots of people going through piles of discounted things, bumping into each other with shopping carts as they shuffle through the rows of hanging discounted clothes, etc. Many of the items they have are overstocked, brand-name items, from major stores. Everything new, nothing used. You never know what they’ll have, but you do know it won’t cost much. For example, this time Rob got a pair of heavy-duty, steel-toed Brahma Work Boots for $17 and a wonderful Marc New York large, down, waterproof, winter jacket for $49.99. I got a Hane’s Sweatshirt for $5 & a nice Corduroy jacket from Northstyle for $8.99. They have tools, nuts & bolts, etc., so you know where Rob spent most of his time. We got a heavy-duty, anti-scratch, non-stick, copper baking Loaf Pan for $8.99 & Christmas cards were $2.99 a box. We actually don’t enjoy shopping but it’s always worth the trip to go to Marden’s.
We’d seen a store called Boston Shoe Store on the way to Marden’s. Their sign said they were a gift shop & antique store. We went there next. It was a great store, but a shoe store? No, maybe the shoes were located elsewhere. There were many things I would’ve like to buy there, but one advantage of “living” in an RV, is that you don’t have room to store stuff. Our house in NY is filled with stuff. No place to put it in the RV. It keeps me from spending needlessly (most of the time). Rob found an antique hand-made door strap hinge piece that will hold our sign, and he bought it. I still cannot picture it, but later when he showed it to Michael & Suzanne, they thought it would look great with the sign. I’ll just have to wait until I see them together to give an opinion.
The makings for the sign bracket
It was past lunch time, windy with dark skies, & cold. We were hungry. I had seen a little cafe & bake shop down the street from Boston Shoe Store, “Crumbs”. I had seen people coming & going so that was a good sign. It was perfect. Warm & trendy, they had coffees & teas & local sodas. Baked goods that looked fantastic: pies, cakes, cookies, muffins, whoopee pies, rolls, & breads. In fact, we bought a large loaf of Jalapeno Cheese Bread. They had quiches, various macaroni & cheese casseroles, paninis, cold & hot sandwiches, soups & salads. Just what we were looking for after a long day of spending money. Rob got a panini on Jalapeno Cheese Bread with Avocado, Roasted Peppers, Onions, & Feta Cheese. I got the Parmesan Pesto Grilled Cheese on Jalapeno Cheese Bread with Cheddar Cheese. Sandwiches were only $6 each and really, really good.
We headed back south on Route 1 to Eastport. & went again to Raye’s Mustard. We’d rapidly been going through the case of mustard we’d bought there several months ago, using it daily for our sandwiches. We went intending to get another case of their small jars, enough to last until we were back here again next year. but found that we could get a gallon jug of their Down East Schooner Mustard for $19, saving $40 plus, and shipping, if we’d had to order more during the coming year. They really do have fantastic mustards!
The sun was coming out, still windy, but it was warming up into the 50’s. Maybe we’d be able to sit outside when we got home. We passed by the Griffin’s driveway. The Crab sign was out. What does that mean? We’ve learned from the folks on the road that Mrs. Griffin in Pembroke on Route 1 had “the best crab you can get, freshly caught & picked; you just stop in when the sign is up & you know she’ll have some”. Well, for a couple of years, we’ve driven by on the way to wherever, and looked for the sign. Never seen it. Lo & behold, the Crab sign was out & it hadn’t been that morning. YAAA! I phoned a couple of people from the road to tell them, the Crab sign is out; the Crab sign is out. One wasn’t home, but Suzanne did want a pound. We got 3 pounds for ourselves & 1 for her. This was one productive day, boy!
We stopped by Michael & Suzanne’s when we got home, delivered the crab (caught yesterday, picked clean this mornin’), visited a little, then went home and put up all our stuff. Too late & still too cold because of the wind to sit outside, but a nice 58 degrees. The cats were glad to see us & we were glad to back at the RV.