First Day in Maine

The drive into Maine is so reminiscent of Oregon, made all the more so by the mist like weather that permeated the air. After it being really hot and humid the day before, the weather change was a welcome relief.

Mapblast almost has us lost when we got into Ellsworth but Min-aha's maps saved the day!! Larrance and Jen's house is right off the main road into town but Mapblast had us going into town and making turns and traveling five miles out of our way. Min-aha's map and little post-it notes put us back on the right path.

Jen and Larrance's house is a big grand old house built in the early 1900's. It's got beautiful high ceilings with crown molding, hardwood pine floors, and nice big rooms. Our bedroom is upstairs at the front of the house. We get a nice stream of sunshine pouring in.

After dropping off our stuff, we headed into Bar Harbor to check in with Jen and see the theater. They've done a fantastic job of rennovating the space. It's a nice, cabaret style theater, with it's own deck on the second floor. There's a small kitchen and bar and a separate dressing room/warmup area. They've obviously put a lot of sweat into the space and it shows. Beautiful, just beautiful.

Jen was just about to conduct the first staff meeting with the wait staff when we arrived so we got a chance to meet them and then we headed out to check out the town. Again very reminiscent of an Oregon coastal town, except that every restaurant had lobster on the menu. We ended up eating at a place called West Side Cafe which was a bit more upscale place. We both contemplated ordering Lobster which came straight from the cooker on your plate. I just couldn't do it. Someone told me right before we left that Lobster's were the cockroaches of the sea. So when I saw these well dressed, manicured people digging into their lobsters and sucking the meat from the legs I got kind of grossed out. I went with fish and chips instead. Fresh haddock and cooked to perfection.

After dinner we came back to the house and watched a movie called Best Boy which won best documentary in 1980. I would highly recommend this touching movie.

This morning we woke up around 10:00 and got ready to go down to the theater for some press photos for a local paper. Afterwards we strolled around Bar Harbor, had lunch in this wonderfully little deli and took some photos. Afterwards we drove over to Acadia Park's visitors center and picked up a map. After climbing 52 steps up to the visitors center we both decided we'll need to start with some easier hikes before trying to conquer Cadillac Mountain.

The drive back to the house is usually about 40 minutes but traffic off the island was completely backed up to road construction so it took over an hour. Oiy vey, I couldn't wait to get out of the car. The weather today had heated up to around 78 degrees and we were still in our show clothes from being photographed.

Tonight Abby and Mike arrive. I'm going to make a big salad and Jen and Larrance are supplying the pizza and beer. Maybe we can convince everyone into a game night.

Tomorrow is our first rehearsal, then we have a show for a sold out house as our final dress. Improvacadia formally opens on the 10th and we're ready to go!