Picnics in Maine.
What do those three little words conjure up in your mind? Family time out in nature? Romance gazing into another’s eyes, munching on grapes and admiring the view? Or just to get off the highway to recover from white line fever and the “10” and “2” on the wheel. There was a time in Maine when all kinds of secondary road rest area picnic stops were available to make travel easier, less expensive.
Maine picnics. Picturing a weaved basket with a lid to open? Kool-ade, twisting off the thermos top to pour hot coffee. Maybe a mason jar full of ice water to fill a paper or tin cup.
Feasting on home made egg salad or tuna or ham sandwiches, deviled eggs, pickle spears during a highway travel break from behind the wheel? (Pass me another drum stick, a little more potato salad would you please?)
Sampling something home made and not off a grocery store shelf. Tastes better, saves money and the roadside picnic stop made good use of your travel time.
Rewind to say picnic areas stops in Maine and see many outdoor roadside dining options.
Picnics in Maine pretty common place.
Some close to home on a weekend to head to a hillside or park it by a lake, pond, the ocean to take in the view. To enjoy outdoor scenic dining where the fresh air improves the taste of whatever gets fished out of the picnic basket. Why waste all this Maine four season beauty right? You get the best seat in the house so to speak.
Maine picnic outings to save time and money along the highway traveling somewhere.
Instead of turnpike rest stops along the Interstate highway in Maine, it was canopied picnic tables along all the US highways and less traveled byway routes. Here is a list of Maine picnic area rest stops during the hay day.
There is something special and memorable about open air Maine picnic dining.
Families all have a roll setting up and tearing down the impromptu roadside dining experience. Some Maine picnic areas feature fireplaces to grill up what you slide onto the paper plate.
Wood or charcoal for the outdoor sizzle adds to the picnic experience. So does the kids checking out the babbling brook on the edge of the picnic area. Exercise, getting out of the station wagon to stretch your legs, explore, fill your lungs with fresh air.
The picnic stop really was win win to silence the meal time bell, to offer face to face conversation taking a travel stop break.
Then pack up, douse the camp fire, any garbage carried out or deposited in a secured barrel that was black bear proof.
Do you picnic?
With tourist information centers dotting the state of Maine, there is still plenty of opportunity to outdoor picnic dine. Or have you fallen into the habit of looking for the knife and spoon I-95 or Maine turnpike symbol for food and fuel?
The I spy with my little eye the drive through window options and gas pit stop options.
All done NASCAR quick like a bunny in one major hurry racing from “A” to “B”?
The local tourist information center had a small playground and several grills, canopied picnic tables.
Used to take the four kids and invite the grandparents to meet us for a picnic lunch or supper.
You did not have to be a road warrior only to picnic in Maine.
Picnicking was something different, a habit while the Maine weather cooperated to dine socially outdoors. Corn on the cob, baked beans, grilled hot dogs all courtesy of a Coleman gas stove set up to prepare sometimes a more elaborate meal.
Picnic spots in Maine abound.
You develop your own perfect outdoor venue for finger food, a trail side snack as you drink in the amazing views unspoiled four seasons Maine can provide if you take the time.
Outdoor Maine scenery improves the taste.
Take a break from trail or highway riding and open up the carefully prepared picnic snack or meal. Remember to not create debris or to litter. Carry in and carry out. Tread lightly.
Picking potatoes or raking blueberries growing up taught us all how tasty fresh air dining bathed in sunshine can really be when mixed with manual labor.
Vy Flewelling if memory serves correctly had over ten children in tow during potato harvest. Area potato farmers during the three week harvest break from the three R’s depended on area youth to pick ’em clean. The four baskets in the potato barrel needed to securely slide your numbered ticket into a tight crack on the stave’s groove.
Her lunch time break ritual was no brown bag with Vienna sausages lathered in mayonnaise, ring dings, chips and Mountain Dew.
No no, it was boiled New England dinners, like Thanksgiving holiday spreads served on the vehicle tailgate. Vy definitely knew the joy and economy of outdoor picnic style dining in the Maine potato fields and blueberry barrens.
Trail hiking, mountain climbing all offer a different form of Maine outdoor back pack picnicking.
Gorp and expanded trail side snacking is healthy and quick energy finger food.
Apples, bananas, grapes and oranges taste better outdoors in the middle of Maine’s majesty. Be considerate of the packaging and waste but there is nothing like munching on peanuts, raisins, oats, granola.
Maybe with some chocolate sneaked into the mix atop Mt Katahdin or your favorite hilltop or waterside perch.
Winter does not stop the Maine outdoor dining experience either.
Snow sledding stops at a simple woods camp where a 55 gallon drum is converted into a charcoal wood chip grilling machine is common place.
Dressed in snowsuits and removing the face shield helmet, take off the gloves. To hoist a barley pop and chit chat about the twisting woods trail ride behind and ahead of us today.
Visiting an Maine lighthouse in winter.
The photo and video array is so different yet the same from your last different calendar month visit.
Get outdoors and bring along a specially packed picnic lunch. Hike, bike, cross country or downhill ski. Take in the sights, fill up your lungs. Feel alive in Maine and figure out life’s mysteries. Those secrets are found outdoors in Maine.
What outdoor recreation event do you like to do in Maine?
Visit the woodlot, paddle across a Maine lake in a kayak? White water raft down a Maine winter? It all awaits and maybe a picnic lunch enhances and extends the fun outdoors in Maine. Picnic blog posts are nothing new on the Maine blog channel.
Fruit in season, an apple found and polished to crunch on along the Maine outdoor trail.
Wild blueberries, strawberries, raspberries. Nature has a way of providing finger food for all her creatures. I’ve seen and heard birds sampling the fermented berries and failing to miss a lake home picture window. They get stunned and then back in the air.
Note to self ” Get those bright colored plastic tape to string and protect the giddy birds around Maine lake home.
You got to eat and the time you provide to pack the picnic lunch, the folks you are with or if you just travel solo or a couple. Enjoy outdoor picnic lunch dining to stay outdoors and to enhance the experience. There is nothing like it and traditions are started.
How do you think the cowboys did it out west? Dining under the stars settled in around the camp fire leaning again horse saddles and a bed roll. Too much time inside dulls the experience. Dress accordingly but exercise and drink in all that the Maine outdoor four season lifestyle offers those wanting to partake!
Lucky to live in Maine and I bet you Me In Maine blog post readers feel exactly the same.
Off to finish banking the Maine farmhouse and wrap up the putting away outdoor items at the lake place today. But enthused today about memories of past picnic lunch travel stops and often Sunday afternoon rituals growing up in small town Maine.
I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |
MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA