7/20/08 Celebration Tour #3 Begins in Belgrade, Maine

It's a rainy, drizzly Sunday afternoon and Rod calls to say, "What are you doing today?" :-) And so began Celebration Tour #3. We were actually in the car driving out of Wilton and still didn't know where we were going. We just knew we were going. We decide to head to Belgrade on the way to Augusta and see where destiny leads us after that.

Belgrade is a cute, quaint little town in the Belgrade Lakes region. It's definitely an area of some fancier "camps" . . . it's more of a destination for "persons from away" and "flatlanders" (mostly rich people from Massachusetts), though some locals do live there year-round. We went to a gallery of arts and crafts that had really great stuff and then to a great tourist trap that had a mix of locally-created stuff and stuff made in China but painted with lobsters or blueberries or lighthouses, thus making it appear to be local. I had a field day but was very good to only pick up two things for the new apartment and the rest were Christmas gifts.

I took a picture of this item to send to Dr. Mari because she collects cows. I've stopped buying her cow items (for the most part) because her house is overflowing with cow things and she really doesn't need any more so I just email her the photo to let her know I was thinking of her:

I took this photo because I actually did buy something made by this artist, who also works part time in the store (but I can't tell you what it was 'cuz it's someone's Christmas present and I don't want to give it away). When I give a gift from somewhere special made by a local artisan, I like to put the business card or a paper explaining who made the art and where it came from. But this artist didn't have any such information on paper that I could include, so I took the picture of her display and will create my own paper.

I know these photos aren't too exciting, but I got so caught up in having a blast in Belgrade that I forgot to take any pictures of the cute, quaint town! I'll pretend that I didn't take any because it was rainy/drizzly and the pics wouldn't do the town justice. Or even better, I'll have to go back to Belgrade (and I think I will) in order to take photos on a bright sunny day or on a beautiful snowy wintery day.