day trip: belfast

In my quest to see more of Maine then just The Camp, Sean took Duke and me on a day trip to Belfast.  It's a quaint little town on the coast.  We stopped at a couple of flea markets along the way and had lunch in Belfast.  What I'm learning fast is that you just never know what you're going to find on the side of the road in Maine.  I'd like one of these - if it actually worked!

On the way home I was feeling adventurous so encouraged Sean to turn down a random road.  It was called the Turnpike Road.  I don't know about you but all the turnpikes I've been on you had to pay to drive on...and were paved!  This one - not so much.  It just kept getting narrower...

and narrower...

We finally came across a woman that had been picking blackberries.  We asked her if the road actually came out anywhere.  It actually did - through someones driveway!  Once we got back on a "real road" (at least for Maine) we came across a Blueberry Farm.

Wild Blueberries are a big thing around here.  Sean was in a hurry to get back home (or more likely we were too lazy) so we didn't pick/rake them ourselves but we were sure to pick up a quart to go.  Some people came in from raking their berries so I got to see how they sort them.  It's really fun!  The machine has a fan and does a little shake and drops the good berries in the bucket and shoots the bad ones into oblivion.  Definitely makes me want to go back and pick my own.

Since it was our first time to the farm they gave us a little cookbook with all sorts of recipes for wild blueberries.  I've already made the cake and next up is oatmeal blueberry cookies.  We drove past the most amazingly beautiful commercial blueberry field.  The blue hues are all the plump berries just waiting to be picked!

What day trip have you gone on lately?  I know I find it so much fun to just explore, without a plan.  I hope you take time and explore around where you live too.

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Update on the last post:  Several people have asked about the Santa hats so I thought I'd provide an explanation - although there usually is no explanation for what Sean and his friends do!  The boys had been to town earlier that day to find light bulbs for the party lights they were putting up.  They actually found a store that still had Christmas stuff on sale - and of course thought they needed Santa hats.