Day One

Since we're spending all of our time cleaning the apartment, we haven't had a chance to go through and cull the 1100 pictures that we took on our honeymoon. I don't want to forget the little details, and some people have been asking how it was, so I'll give you the details and then supply pictures after our Open House.


Wedding Night

Oh, please. I'm not going THERE, I just forgot some end-of-the-wedding details before. Mainly that all of our dear friends decorated my car. Yeah, thanks, dear friends. First, the doors were all tied shut with gift ribbon. I think there's still some hanging from the passenger door. Then they filled the entire car with balloons. And I do mean the ENTIRE car. We had to pop a whole bunch before we could even drive away. We pulled over a few miles down the road and popped the rest of them because there was no way Jason could drive for an hour to the hotel with the balloons bobbing all over the car.


Day 1: Driving; Arriving in Maine; The Flies

After chowing down on our free Best Western breakfast, in which Jason truly amazed me with the amount of carbs that one stomach can hold, we set off for Maine and our little cottage on the shore in Cushing. On the way we listened to the CD of our ceremony and I once again felt so grateful for all of our friends who participated and created the beautiful music.

Since the leaves changed late this year that meant we didn't have a lot of Autumn color for our wedding, BUT the drive up to Maine was absolutely beautiful. So, you know, I'm sorry wedding guests, but I wouldn't give up the views we got during our honeymoon drives and hikes for anything.

When we arrived at the cottage, we were floored by the amazing view. The cottage looked out on a little cove of the Atlantic. Across the water we could see another shore, full of sweet houses and beautiful Autumn colors. A porch swing hung from a huge tree looking out over the water. Then we went inside and were charmed by the cute little cottage and the obvious care put into making it a perfect little retreat.

Then I noticed the bugs. There were two large windows on each end of the house and at the top of the windows I noticed a bunch of ladybugs and flies. Huh. I determined that we really needed to do something about that. We planned to go to the store anyway to get some groceries for the week, so while we were out we picked up some bug spray too. I figured it's a country cottage, it may have some bugs, but I don't really want to sleep with them.

We got back to the house and I set to work spraying the edges of the windows where I thought they were coming in, and any of the individual bugs who happened to light on a wall or a table. Fly bodies started littering the floor and the futon, but there still seemed to be so many of them. I started getting paranoid, listening for the telltale buzzing, and swore to Jason that I could hear them above us, in the ceiling, massing.

Jason grabbed a magazine and started swatting. I had to make a phone call so I ducked out to the car for 20 minutes. I could hear periodic *thwacks* as Jason wielded his magazine. When I came back inside, Jason, looking harried, asked me, "There are more, right? I'm not imagining that, right?" I looked at the light in the ceiling and gasped. When I left there were maybe 5 or 6 flies, and now there were at least 40 swarming around the light.

"We can't stay here!" I exclaimed, and teared up. My carefully laid plans, thwarted. I really wanted to stay in that sweet little cottage.

The owners lived next door, but they weren't home. I called and left a message on their machine, explaining about the flies. We went out to dinner, leaving a light on so the flies would still be swarming when the owners got home and they wouldn't think we were insane.

In rural Maine at a certain hour, you're kind of limited with your meal choices, and we wound up at Applebee's. While we were there, the owners called us and they were so apologetic and so appalled. They figured that the warm weather (it had been 80 that day, October 21st) had disrupted the flies' schedule and they all thought it was Spring. But the owners said that they had never seen so many flies. They kindly gave us $100 toward a hotel room that night.

After dinner we went to the Hampton Inn next door, which wound up being ni-ice. Okay, maybe not if you're used to the Plaza or something, but they had a big flat screen TV wherein we could watch the Red Sox in the playoffs, amazing smelling toiletries with names like "Purity", a fancy marble-topped cherry wood bathroom vanity, and a plush bed with high threadcount sheets. The Hampton Inn is our new favorite hotel.

Coming up: Day Two, Back To the Cottage.


PS Don't worry, we did actually get to stay at the cottage.