One of my favorite places on Earth is the Boothbay Harbor peninsula on the coast of Maine. My husband and I had vacationed in a few different Maine towns, but after our first visit to Boothbay Harbor, we never wanted to go anywhere else. We loved it so much, that after only a few visits we decided to buy a house there. Our daughter was at the, throwing everything she could reach in a restaurant phase, so it seemed like the perfect time.
We escape to our “happy place” as often as we can, and have made some of our happiest family memories there. Maine in general has the most beautiful coast, but there’s just something special about Boothbay Harbor with it’s working waterfront, and casual non-pretentious atmosphere that allows you to just relax. While the summers are when we spend most of our time there, the off-season tranquility just can’t be beat.
This past weekend it was just my daughter and I that headed to Maine. We got into town Friday night and headed to one of our favorite restaurants. Although The Thistle Inn was bustling with people and had a long wait for dinner, we were able to find two seats at the Dory Bar where we were entertained watching the bartender whip up fancy cocktails, while we munched on our truffle tots before heading home to lay out our jammies for the next morning. Yes, that’s right, for the morning.
Every year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, the shop owners in this quaint little town open their stores before it’s even fully light out for it’s Early Bird Sale, or “jammie day” as we like to call it. We’ve all had those days where we wished we didn’t have to get dressed to go out, and on this day you can walk around, eat, and shop in your jammies and it’s completely acceptable. Everyone is happy and festive, and it’s just so much fun to see some of the outfits people put together for this event. Since it’s always quite chilly this time of year in Maine, you can’t forget your robe and slippers!
I hope these women don’t mind that I snapped their picture. I gave them advice on which popcorn flavors to mix at Coastal Maine Popcorn, so it seems like a fair trade. Right??
It takes a few years to get used to walking into restaurants in your bathrobe, but then you get to the point where you almost forget to change into regular clothes before heading somewhere else later in the day. I will admit there have been times that I have driven my children to school with a coat over my jammies and thought “oh please don’t let today be the day my car breaks down”, but never in my bathrobe.
It seemed a little quieter than normal this year, but still had such a wonderful happy feeling. Everyone is smiling, every store has raffles to enter, and as usual we were each handed our annual Hershey bar by a friendly gentleman in his pajamas when entering Sweet Bay. We’ve gotten into a little bit of a routine after all these years, and were a little thrown off to see the restaurant we always stop at to enjoy a large warm cinnamon roll was closed for the season. It’s funny how huge something like that seems when you do the same thing year after year. After a minute of “what do we do now”, we were very pleased to see a sign outside of The Boathouse Bistro stating “Open for Brekkie, Come On In”. And that butternut squash and goat cheese omelet tasted even better in my comfy jammies.
With our bellies full of food and our arms full of shopping bags, it was time to change out of our jammies until next year. Well actually until that night, but you know what I mean. On the ride home we decided to stop in Freeport to do a little non-jammie shopping and guess what we found? The perfect jammies to “twin” in next year! And they just so happen to have one of my favorite phrases, Oh deer!
