When we arrived back in the U.S., there were very few trees that had started to change colors but with the week of off and on cold showers, the colors are really starting to pop which adds another element to an already beautiful area. Unfortunately because of the constant over cast skies and fog which is prevalent almost every morning and evening, the opportunity to take some really good pictures has not presented itself.
One of the things that Deb wanted to do is to go clamming while we were here so last Thursday we set out to find a place to dig. After visiting the town hall in Harrington, we were told the very confusing rules that this town had just to get a license to dig. I would explain it, but there is absolutely no way that anybody could possibly understand what we had been told, including whoever the idiots were who wrote them.
The very nice lady at the Harrington town hall did give us the information that we needed. She told us to go to the town of Sullivan about 20 miles southwest of here. She told us that we could buy a license over the counter which is good for one year for just $11, so off we went.
I didn't know where the town hall was but all of these little coastal towns are very small so I was confident that we would easily find it. We drove thru Sullivan on the main road (U.S. Hwy 1) but did not see the town hall so I turned inland one block over and started back in the direction that we came from. About two blocks down, we passed a young family in their yard but decided to stop and back up to ask them the location of the town hall. After getting quick directions, I asked the man if he knew anything about clamming. A big smile spread across his face and he said that he knew a little bit. I explained that we were from NC and wanted to go dig some clams after we bought our license at the town hall and asked if he would tell us a place that we could go find some. As it turned out, he was the regional director in charge of shellfish for the State of Maine. What are the odds of that????
He told us exactly where to go, how big the clams would be in that area and then proceeded to tell us where we would need to go to find mussels. The clams were easy to find but hard on the knees and the back. After about 5 dozen, we decided to go down the road to where he said we could find mussels. Holy cow, did we ever find mussels! I could have filled the back of my pickup truck in about a half hour if I wanted to. They were everywhere and you could just walk along and pick them up two dozen at a time.
We collected about 7 dozen, went home and cooked them all up along with the 4 lobsters that we bought for $4.25 a pound. I never knew that a person could get stuffed on lobsters, clams, and mussels. Deb used the leftovers to make seafood gumbo the next night.
Tomorrow we move to another coastal community south of Portland so, despite the intermitant showers, Deb and I took off early this morning at low tide to dig a bunch of clams to take with us when we go. Jack and Laura Camaratta are flying in from Nashville to meet us on Thursday so we wanted to stockpile a supply for when they are here. After about 2-1/2 hours, we had the equivalent of about 4 gallons of clams in the cooler. Unforunately by then the tide had come in too far for me to collect any mussels to go with them.
We've been told that we can buy a "lobster car" at the next place where we are going for $50. For that, you get 13 one pound lobsters so I guess that we will have enough to stuff ourselves again!
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