6/28/08 Lucky Tickets

The citizens of Sanford are way behind this baseball team. They volunteer at the ticket booth, in the gift shop, and in raising money for the scholarship fund. They can't pay these boys for playing on their team, but they can give them college scholarships. It's a win-win situation. Besides the typical 50-50 ticket sales (which you may remember I never heard of until the Farmington Fair, but now I can say it's typical), they sell "Lucky Tickets". Okay, so they're raffle tickets, but they give away so many free goodies during the game from local sponsors that it feels like practically every ticket is a winning ticket. One of the most coveted prizes you can earn with your lucky ticket (besides a free oil change) is the chance to watch the game from these two recliner lounges from the local furniture store. You sit right on top of the visitors' dug out. What a deal!! MRM's dad actually won those seats at the game on Friday night, but all he won on Saturday was the oil change. None of the rest of us won anything. But we all had a great time and the Mainers won their game in spite of the drizzle.

6/28/08 The Sanford Mainers Baseball Team

After our day of touring the coast, we ended up at our destination of Sanford, ME. MRM's parents live here. They had a baked bean supper waiting for us (it is, after all, a Saturday night) and then we all headed out to the Sanford Mainers' baseball game. The Mainers are in the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). It's like the minor leagues of the minor leagues and it was a blast--in spite of the cold. I actually got the emergency blanket out of the trunk of my car to bring to the game for Rodney 'cuz he was cold during the day, but I ended up being the one who used it at the game. Front row--mom and dad. They have season tickets. They're such loyal fans that dad actually got to throw out the first pitch last week.

Next to dad sat MRM who read a book through most of the game. (Remember, she plays Soduku when watching Red Sox games at the house.)

Next to MRM are her niece and her sister-in-law--the nice folks that included me in their Thanksgiving dinner last year.

On the second row are me (not pictured), Rodney (who takes his baseball very seriously, obviously), RBF, MRM's brother, and her sister-in-law's mom whom I met at Thanksgiving last year, so it was like old home week!

There's a better picture of MRM's brother and his mother-in-law. Behind them you can see the Mainer's mascot, Broose the Moose.

6/28/08 What's the weather like there in Maine in the summer?

It turns out that Maine has the same expression that we have in Texas: "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute." But it's been rainy and drizzly most every day since I've been back and today was no exception. You don't see many pictures of OOB or Kennebunk or Ogunquit because the skies were gray and you couldn't see the horizon.

You might think you'd want a summer job lifeguarding on the beach, but not today:

6/28/08 The Celebration Tour -- Day 1

Rodney is moving to Oregon and has a list of places and people he wants to see before he leaves. We're calling it his "Celebration Tour" of Maine (I refuse to let him call it a farewell tour because that would imply he's not coming back). So he's letting me tag along with him whenever our schedules permit. It's so much easier for me to do my "Welcome Tour" of Maine with someone who already knows so many great spots and how to get there.

Today we went to Old Orchard Beach (okay, I was the expert on this one as we ate Pier Fries for the first course in our progressive lunch), then to Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. I had driven through Kennebunk and Kennebunkport on Easter Sunday of 2007 with Grace when she gave me that amazing tour of the coastline, but we didn't stop. Rodney and I drove past Walker Point (which I had also done with Grace) and we're pretty sure by the number of secret service we saw, that the former president must've been home. We had lunch at Federal Jack's. When we told MRM's mom later where we ate, she said it was located in Taint Town . . . right in that area you're not in Kennebunk and you're not in Kennebunkport, so you "tain't in either town". Federal Jack's is affiliated with a bookstore that we went to downstairs. They had a lot of cool stuff, but this was my favorite:

That has nothing to do with Maine but it is just one of the many good laughs we had on the Celebration Tour.

From Kennebunk we drove to Ogunquit. It was very quaint. I took this picture for my friends back in Dallas that have West Highland terrier dogs. It gives you a feel for the quaintness.

This part of the state is overrun with Canadians in the summer. They love coming south to Maine for their vacations. There are plenty of folks who speak French that live in Maine year round, but signs like this are intended for the tourists who speak French.