What I Love About Summer in Maine

While it would make sense for me to say something like, "the lobster," or "longer days," that's of course not what I'm going to say.  I love the tourists.  For a long time, I totally hated them. They do stupid things like walk out in front of your car or stop right in front of you on the sidewalk to proudly open their city map to figure out where the hell they're going.

But now, it has become a perverse form of entertainment for me.

I've noticed that they all think that, because LL Bean is nearby, we all love LL Bean, and want to dress in LL Bean every single day.  And they talk about it like, "Oh, you know, I like to dress comfortable like all you folks do, in that LL Bean stuff."  I don't even bother mentioning that it's only been a recent occurrence that LL Bean started carrying some cute stuff. And that is still primarily in the sensible shoe category.

I've enjoy that, since they think we all dress in flannel and khaki most days, they go out of their way to wear as much designer gear as they can.  They have no shame mixing designers, and they proudly don their D & G sunglasses and their Prada wedges with short-shorts; even if their varicose veins and cellulite are standing in clear view. They are overly tan and complain loudly about how hot it is, "I might just melt right here."  

The Maine sun must be much warmer than the tanning beds in their home states.

Finally, I love that they have no problem asking questions when they wander the Old Port.  "Do you know a good place to eat?  How's the seafood here?  How do the people that live on the islands get over here?"  

Like, do you not see the gazillion restaurants lining the streets?  Did you miss that the ocean is right there and there are lobster boats coming in? How do you think the seafood is?  I'd say it's fresh.  Those folks on the island? They don't come over here.  Why? Take a guess.