Food

Posing outside Cafe This Way, Bar Harbor.

Sherry and I recently ended a vacation that featured the very best food we've been able to eat on a vacation since the children were born.*

This development has been a few years in coming from the nadir that was the 2012 California trip. Truth be told, that was our best vacation. But the dining out? Awful. One fine Mexican place (where Caroline only ate the ketchuped bun of a kid's menu burger), a diner, a Jack-in-the-Box, and an In-and-Out.

In 2013 (Montreal) we ventured out to get poutine at St. Hubert and I got to indulge on Smoked Meat.

2013, Quebec, outside North America's most crowded zoo. 

2013, Montreal.

Last year, on our Great Lakes Odyssey, we really made some headway, too. On that trip we ate at a lot of non-chain establishments. Still, caution was the word of the day.

But in 2015, we hit gold. The only chain we ate at was Dunkin' Donuts. (It would seem as if there is some sort of Constitutional entitlement to having that chain nearby in New England. You couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting one.) Otherwise, it was all establishments with local flair. I look at the photos below and wish I could send them to Sherry and me in 2012 via a time-traveling DeLorean as reassurance that this will get better.

Sam assessing his feelings about lobster and crab spring rolls. 

Caroline with fish and chips at Thirsty Whale. 

Jordan's Snack Bar, Ellsworth, ME

At a Tapas Bar

Sherry insists the sweetness of the ice cream in these cookies stayed with her for days. 

gummi hot dogs

Woody's in Hartford, CT.

Sam's fish and chips at a brew pub. 

The only problem with this trend is the impact it will have on our wallets.

*Far and away our best eating trip was the 2004 trip to Quebec and the Maritime Provinces. Fancy dinners in Quebec. A place I couldn't stop going to for breakfast. Lobster in the Maritimes.