Last day in Maine,:o( then Homeward bound tonight after this Marathon trip full of wonders and friends and incredible (great) meals amd wine!! as opposed to incredible (bad) on a previous occassion involving a Roy Rogers doughnut place on I95 in New Jersey and the WORST Coffe and Doughnuts in the Universe.
To borrow from RtS's travelogues and his descriptions of some of the delightfully eccentric characters he meets on his travels; There is one character here in Portland ME that is larger than life and memorable. I went in a specialist wine store a couple or 3 years ago and got talking to the owner, Jacques (pronounced Jock) and he was proudly showing off his wines and reccommended a new to his store (and to me) wine and promised me my money back if I didnt like it, and asked me to e-mail him my tasting notes and a short review (good or bad) when I tasted it!!! This I did (BTW it was excellent) and forgot about it. This trip, Jacqui and I are in a different part of Portland and manage to find a parking place (no small feat along the waterfront) and right by us is a Wine shop, since the main object of our shopping trip is to find some wine for Marys Birthday dinner (which I was cooking Friday night) we popped in ,just to look, Jock came out of the office and Yelled down the store "Micca" and advanced and gave me a big hug, and carried on like I was his long lost brother!! we talked Wine for the next 45 mins, (leaving Jacqui standing by in amazement) Found what we wanted and paid, with a nother of his New Discoveries (which was AMAZING on drinking) T\Remember, this guy had met me on Two occassions, a year apart, this was the 3rd time, he had moved to larger premises ,but we picked up as if I saw him every week!!!
A true Highlight from this trip and the wines were, of course , Outstanding!!!