8/11/08 on the road to Old Orchard Beach

This is the ice cream place in Turner! It's the one that's Randy and Jenn's favorite where we celebrated Rodney's packing completion and then went to play Disc Golf. I was driving to Old Orchard Beach (100 miles from Farmington) to work with my colleague Grace for a few days. I left around 4:30 and got to Turner (35 miles from Farmington) just around dinner time. What better dinner than a Cyclone (a local version of the Dairy Queen Blizzard)?

I kept saying that summer 2009 was going to be the Summer of the Ice Cream Quest but I think I need to start early and this is a great stop on that quest. There are a LOT of local ice cream places in Maine. They're all only open in the summer (typically Memorial Day to Labor Day but some open at Easter time and some stay open through "Peeper Season" which is autumn when all the tourists come to "peep" at the changing leaves), so it will be a short quest. But oh, what a yummy and fun quest!

You know you're a New Englander when . . .

Forget Rednecks, check out this list of New Englander characteristics. And they're true! I would've laughed at this when I was in Texas but now I'm ROTFL 'cuz I know for sure that each and every one of these is waaaaay too true.


If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May, you live in New England.

If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you live in New England.

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in New England.

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you live in New England..

If "Vacation" means going anywhere south of New York City for the weekend, you live in New England.

If you measure distance in hours, you live in New England..

If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you live in New England.

If you have switched from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again, you live in New England.

If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in New England..

If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you live in New England.

If you carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you live in New England.

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you live in New England.

If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're going 80 and everybody is passing you, you live in New England..

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you live in New England.

If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction, you live in New England.

If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you live in New England.

If you find 10 degrees "a little chilly", you live in New England.

If there's a Dunkin Donuts on every corner, you live in New England

If you actually understand these jokes, and forward them to all your New England friends & others, you live in New England.