Anniversary Weekend
To Go or Not to Go
Every year my husband I go away for our anniversary. Prior to my knowledge of this pandemic I had wanted to take this year to travel far and wide. Some place we had never been, all new possibilities. My kids are getting older and more independent and I thought it would all come to together like a perfect storm, not the Nicholas Sparks kind. When I realized a plane was out of our comfort limit for the time being, I booked a weekend at Hartstone Inn and Hideaway in Camden.
It might be more local than I would have preferred, but expectations are low in quaratine times and even a picnic can feel like an elite cruise. As the weekend approached we realized as all parents do, that our kids had activities and events that would need organizing and I considered more than once on cancelling. It’s only a weekend. These are her last two games. Who will look after the dogs.. All sorts of reasons to not go, But 12 years is a long time to be married and I am so sick of reading article after article about my doomed career , that I just needed a change of scenery, if only for the weekend.
We began the weekend by dropping the kids at my Moms house, forgetting half their stuff and driving it over. Then we stopped at Flatbread Pizza on our way to the Inn and enjoyed a carbfest in their patio area. When we arrived at Hartstone, we learned that our room is actually not attached to the main building, but across the street, which in all honesty works better because with all the amazing food you eat there, you need some time to walk it off. We had dinner reservations for 6:00 and while we waited, we sat outside drinking raspberry mojitos and solving all of life’s big problems. Below is a picture of me living my best life.
When it was our turn to go inside for dinner, I noted the ambience that I had waited for all summer long. I was not intimidated by the fancy plates, or Pretty Woman silverware lineup. I was excited by it. It pampered the hell out of my quarantine senses. The waitress brought us appetizers and soup, a steak entree and a souflee desert that I ate too fast to take a picture of. Chef Michael, as I think he is called, came over to ask how we were enjoying the food and I think I oogled him over in true appreciation of his culinary prowess. The fact that I was not at home, asking the kids if we should rotate our mac and cheese, quesadilla, burger line up was feeding my senses. I think the waitress could have brought us Cheez Its, followed by Nutella sticks and ice cream sundaes and I would have still cherished that dinner. I used to think Inns were uncomfortable and stuffy and geared toward rich extroverts. Then I decided I wanted to become a foodie and just really Eat, Pray, Love the crap out of my summers. I also cherish people asking me if everything is okay everything twenty minutes. My God, if I had someone to ask me that in the month of March I might not have bought that Tiger King t-shirt. I might not have prank called Jason Bateman so many times to ask if I could be an extra on Ozark. It really uplifts your soul.
When we finished dinner we headed over across the road to the French Thyme Suite. For Covid purposes, this is probably the best bang for your buck. You have your own entrance to your room, minimal interaction with other guests unless you are eating at the Inn restaurant and in that case, mask wearing is in effect, unless you are at the actual table. The French Thyme Suite has a huge jacuzzi tub, a fire place, a beautiful comfortable mattress, that feels new, but also slept in by someone famous. I’m sure Dax Shepard has been here before. If you are a slobby person like myself, the room is very spacious and has a seating area for you to discard all the shoes you bought, or the dark chocolate candy bags that you will ascertain along the way.
When we woke up on Saturday morning, we had a scrumptious breakfast at the Inn, complete with those sugar cubes that I thought you could only indulge on when eating with Queen Elizabeth. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. It is more important than lunch, dinner and Nachos and a lot of people ignore it. After breakfast we walked around downtown and explored these flower gardens and the tourist shops. We. followed that up by checking out the boats and walking to Curtis Point Look out.
I did call Cellardoor Winery on our walk, because no anniversary should pass you by without a proper wine tasting, but alas they were booked for the day! I did pivot quickly and we ended up driving to Rockland and going to Rockland Breakwater. It was gorgeous walking out along the rocks and so much less suffocating than sitting on one’s computer and reading comments about school being some kind of Divergent experiment.
Later in the day I made reservations for one of my all time favorite restaurants called Franny’s. Franny’s has wonderful outdoor seating, all the bread and oil for dipping and yummy cocktails to sips on. I can’t pronounce the meal that I ordered, but isn’t it beautiful? What place in Gardiner does this tablecloth make you think of? I love Mom and Pop, carrots were grown next door kind of places and this is IT! Highly Recommend.
As we ended the evening we walked around to look at all the boats that all the other people have and we named the boat that we haven’t bought yet and picked out which dock it would be attached too. We tried to get into a few outdoor seating areas downtown, but it became insanely busy and so we headed back to our Inn, for more raspberry mojitos and fire pit time. It was the perfect ending to a perfect weekend in which I stopped feeding off the emotion of other people and starting being in the moment of all the little sparks of joy. A dress that flatters you, a sip that delights, the contentment that comes from sitting by a fire pit, a compliment from a stranger that goes down your chest like a sip of warm hot chocolate, the smell of flowers that you don’t have to take care of, the space between rocks that your feet distinctly know how to step over. Whatever this fall brings, whatever happens for school for this teacher, I will be grateful for this July weekend and that uninterrupted time with my husband.
