Pet Food Pantry in Maine needs your help!

I just read this article on WCSH6 Portland’s website: Volunteers create a pantry for pets in need.

Too many people are ignoring pets in these tough economic times.  A lot of places won’t even help you with food or anything else unless you have human children.  But if your single, or if you have pets, you are often out of luck.  Even if you can qualify for food stamps, you still can’t buy pet food with then.  Too many people feel forced to surrender their pets to shelters, because they can no longer afford to feed them after a job loss.

The financial situation in Maine is kind of rough these days.  Maine is known as “Vacationland”, but with the recession, many people can’t afford to go on vacation.  So where does this leave workers whose jobs rely on tourists?  Existing hotels, restaurants, and such are struggling to stay afloat, I doubt if there are many good franchise opportunities up that way.

Thus, the Pet Food Pantry,which serves Kennebec, Somerset, and surrounding counties in Maine, was founded.  The fourth Friday of each month is distribution day, held at the Victor Grange in Fairfield Center, MA.  Needy pet parents can not only go there and pick up pet food, but als supplies, such as kitty litter.

The Pet Food Pantry is run 100% by volunteers, and relies completely upon donations of pet food, supplies, and cash in order to survive.  They will even take your returnable deposit soda, beer, and other cans/bottles.  Please see the website for information as to where you can drop off your donations.  If you are not in the area and still wish to donate cash, you can either do so via PayPal, or by mailing them a check.

So, whether you live in Maine or not, please consider helping tem out in any way you can!

Happy Holidaze!

Here’s a very unique Christmas tree…it is made from those old-fashioned wooden lobster traps, and decorated with lobster trap buoys.  It is currently on display in front of Fox’s Lobster House in York Beach, Maine.  Someone posted a pic of this in Facebook the other day, and I so wanted to drive up there to see it in person.  And we did.  We got there when it was just getting dark, and the lights were turned on.  You can click on the image to see it bigger, will pop up in new window.

Fox’s has excellent food, at least it did the last time we ate there, several years ago.  The reason we stopped eating there is because the place has, or had at the time, all of the atmosphere of a day care center.  The last time we were there, we got there wicked early, because we knew the place gets super crowded quickly in the middle of the summer.  We put our name in for a table, and waited…and waited.  And noticed that people with kids were getting preferential treatment, being seated before parties with no kids in tow.  There was absolutely NO reason for this, they could not even use table size as an excuse, because all the tables were two-tops.  If a big party came in, they just pushed as many together as needed to make one big table.  So if the next people in line were a party of two, they could just as easily move tables apart, right?  First-come, first-served, is the way it should be, when a place does not take reservations.  But we noticed that larger, adults-only parties were also being made to wait in favor of families with kids, who came in later than they did.

Mike has Type 2 diabetes, and as such, can’t be waiting to long between meals.  That is why we planned ahead and got there as early as we did.  Going to another restaurant was not really an option by this point, because then we’d be in an even long waiting queue by the time we got to another place.  We were tempted to play the diabetes card and say something to the hostess, as we had been waiting a long time, and we did see the childed people being seated constantly before us.  But then we finally got our table.

They had smooshed as many tables together in the dining room as possible, in order to seat more people.  This meant that I was about three inches away from some little kid behind me, who screamed in my ear the whole time.  The whole place was packed with screaming kids.

The service was lousy, probably because they had too few servers taking care of too many people.  In order to tolerate the screaming, I wanted to drink…I got one glass of wine, but never got another one, no one came back to ask, and flagging someone down was impossible in that mob scene.

We finished up our food, paid, and got the hell out of there.  No, we didn’t stiff the server, none of this was her fault, we knew, she was doing the best she could.  We felt sorry for her…one day on that job for me, and I’d be on the road to drug rehab. No way could I deal with all of the screaming kids ll evening!

But now we may consider giving Fox’s another chance.  I saw on their website that they had completely renovated the place, and put in a bar, which they didn’t have before.  They even have beers on tap, and a TV!  Does that mean that they now wish to cater more to an adult crowd?  The place has two dining rooms, one on the ground floor and another upstairs.  How nice it would be if they made one floor the family area, and the other the bar area, designed for adult-only parties!

Fox’s is open on a seasonal basis, usually starting sometime in April and closing after Columbus Day weekend.  I think we’ll try it again in April, before all of the summer crowds start coming.  Then we can see what it’s like, before deciding whether or not to come back in the summer.  If we see stuff like children sitting AT the bar, that’s a good sign that we shouldn’t go back.

Actually, that’s something I should check on…the legality of kids sitting AT bars in Maine.  I’ve seen it at other places in the state, as well, such as at Federal Jack’s in Kennebunk.  Maybe I’ll dig around at Maine.gov to find out for myself what the laws are about this.

Fox’s has good food, and breathtaking views of the ocean and the Nubble Lighthouse…and now, with the renovations, it might be worth a second look.  We shall see!

Happy Holidaze!

The Encyclopedia of New England

So we went to the Candlelight Stroll thingy at Strawbery Banke Museum on Saturday night.  It was a fantastic time in Portsmouth, NH…before we went to the stroll, we went to the Portsmouth Brewery for some great food and craft beers.

Although it was freezing cold outside, the stroll was great.  It would have been a bit much to have had to walk from the big parking garage in downtown Portsmouth, but thanks to the free trolley service that’s a part of Portsmouth’s Vintage Christmas events, we didn’t have to.

The bookstore at the museum was offering extra discounts on stuff this weekend.  This ginormous book, The Encyclopedia of New England, caught my eye, first of all because of the cool clam pic on the cover.  Yeah, it’s a huge book and a bit pricey, and I was debating whether or not to buy it..but the book won.  And what helped win it?  This blurb from Boston Globe sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy…

“What took so long? It”s amazing no one thought of this before. No library in the six great states will be complete without The Encyclopedia of New England.” – Dan Shaughnessy, author of Reversing the Curse

Hey!  I have a blog called Six Great States (you’re reading it now!), and I’m sure I thought of that name before I read anything about anyone else calling New England that!  I seriously busted my hump trying to find a good domain name for a blog about New England.  Glad that Mr. Shaughnessy thought of it, too…but no, he can’t have this domain, it is mine, ALL MINE!  LOL!  He probably doesn’t want it, anyway!

In any case, this is an awesome book, from what I’ve seen of it so far, and no doubt it will make for great blog fodder here.  But not now…I am wicked tired, getting dark circles under eyes, need to sleep already!

Anyhoo, both the Strawbery Banke Candlelight Stroll, and the Christmas by Candlelight (at Old Sturbridge Village) holiday events will run through one more weekend, so if you want to enjoy the holidays in a unique and fun way, don’t wait!  Tickets for both events are available online at the museums’ websites, or at the door.  Enjoy!

Candlelight Stroll @ Strawbery Banke

Last weekend, as you know, we went to the Twelve Days of Christmas event at Old Sturbridge Village.  If you haven’t gone to this yet, good news…it will still be going on this weekend and the weekend after, Thursday-Sunday evenings from 4-9PM.

This coming weekend, we hope to go to the Candlelight Stroll at Strawbery Banke Museum, in Portsmouth, NH.  This is similar to the event at Old Sturbridge Village…in fact, just about every living history museum does an event like this for the holidays.  But there are some differences…while OSV depicts life in the 1830′s, Strawbery Banke depicts life in the Puddle Dock neighborhood of Portsmouth from the 1700′s through the 1950′s.

You can download a complete schedule of events for the Candlelight Stroll HERE (.pdf file).

Portsmouth is an easy day trip for us, so we’ll not be staying in a hotel this time.  But if you are coming from further away, why not consider one of the Strolls, Shows & Stayovers packages?  These include lodging at a downtown Portsmouth hotel, tickets to the Candlelight Stroll, and tickets to a holiday show at The Music Hall.  It’s all part of the Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth program.

You can see the entire Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth schedule HERE (.pdf file).  This document also includes a map of the Vintage Christmas Trolley route, which is free, and it will take you around downtown Portsmouth.

This is especially great for when it’s cold out, as it’s expected to be this weekend.  If you are just driving in to town to go to the Stroll, you need to know that the only parking available at Strawbery Banke for this event is handicapped parking.  But if you’re not quite collecting social security disability yet, you can park in the big garage downtown, and hop on the trolley. It’s not that bad of a walk, either…but, as I said, it’s gonna be cold! The trolley will take you right from the garage to Strawbery Banke.

Tickets for the Stroll are $20 for adults, $10 for kids 5-17.  A family ticket for two adults and their kids 17 and under goes for $40; this is a good deal if you have more than two kids.   Tickets can be purchased in advance, online, to save time.

If you are a member of Strawbery Banke, though, just show up, show your membership card, and get 50% off of admission to the Stroll.  Membership also gives you a discount at the museum shop, which is an excellent place to shop for some unique holiday gifts!

Looking forward to going this Saturday night!

Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel – STAY AWAY!

Well, we did have a lovely weekend in Sturbridge…as I talked about in my last post, we were in town for the holiday festivities at Old Sturbridge Village.

On the way back yesterday, Mike wanted to stop at the Royal Plaza Hotel & Trade Center, in Marlborough, for the New England Model Train EXPO.  I don’t like being dragged to these things, as they are about as exciting for me as watching grass grow, also, they tend to be full of screaming kids.  But I normally don’t mind being dragged along to this one, as the hotel has a sports bar/restaurant, the All-Star Bar & Grill, where I can chill out, have a few beers, while I wait for Mike to come back from the show.

Well, not this time!  We arrived at the place right before noon, Mike left me there in the main hotel building, while he went to the train show, which was in another building which was a bit of a hike away.  I saw that the bar was not open yet; upon asking someone at the front desk, I learned that it was set to open at noon.  Okay, I could wait a few minutes, so I sat down in a chair in the hotel lobby, near the restaurant, and waited.

There were six million screaming kids running around in the lobby area.  Apparently, there was some kiddie party event going on in one of the banquet rooms, with professional picture taking in front of the big Christmas tree in the lobby.  Wonderful.  Well, I thought, at least the restaurant would open soon, I could get a beer and relax.

Noon came…not open.  12:30 came…nothing.  1PM…still nothing.  I tried to just read my book, but more and more screaming kids came in, I really thought I was going to go insane.  I was stuck, here was no place else to go, nothing that I could easily walk to.  I had no choice but to wait for either the bar to open up, or for Mike to return and save me from hell.

It would have been nice if the lobby had free WiFi, but they didn’t.  Would it have killed them to have a wireless router someplace, for the convenience of the many people who visit to attend shows, conventions, and such at this dump? Oh, well, at least I could rant about it via Twitter from my phone.

I finally overheard some hotel employees saying that the reason that the restaurant wasn’t open yet was because the bartender did not show up.  Hmm, maybe s/he KNEW about the screaming kid-fest.  If I were that person, I’d not show up either, not if they wouldn’t let me drink.  And by then, I sorely needed that beer!

So they had to call in other bartender, and by the time she showed up and got the place set up to open, it was 2PM.  So, after two hours of waiting, I finally got the beer I was needing more and more by the minute.

Mike showed up at about 2:15, while I was still on that first beer.  It was REALLY a good thing that they opened up at all, because Mike was feeling shaky with hunger.  He hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast at around 9AM, he’s diabetic, and needed to get food ASAP.  They did have food over in the train show building, but he passed on it, describing it as “bad, overpriced junk food”.  He knew that the food at the All-Star sports bar was much, much better.

Screaming kids and all aside, though…how unprofessional is it to have a restaurant in a big hotel that has to open two hours late, because one bartender didn’t show up?  Was there not ONE single food & beverage manager on duty who could not have opened and worked the bar until a substitute bartender could get there?  This makes me wonder how well this place is actually run…obviously, not very well.

Just for the hell of it, I looked up this hotel on TripAdvisor, to see what people thought of it.  I was not surprised when I saw the reviews, and that 69% of reviewers did NOT recommend the place.  It’s just a good thing we weren’t staying there.  Imagine if we were staying there, counting on being able to go downstairs to the bar for lunch, only to find it not open?

I will never set foot in this place again.  They always seem to have some screaming kiddie-fest on the same weekend as the train show, there is no escaping that.  But the fact that they couldn’t even be arsed to open their restaurant on time, means that Mike will be going to future train shows at this place by himself.  I refuse to go through the two hours of screaming kid, beer-less HELL that I went through yesterday!