Lest you assume the pattern must have changed by now, I’ll quote the mere three words in my summary for today: “RAIN! And pizza.” What more needs to be said?

Of course, there are details that made the day a special one in spite of the continuing deluge. We woke at 5:00am, surprised we had slept at all, to find the rain still pounding the car harder even than yesterday, if that was possible. And in this “year without a summer” the rain, especially in Maine, is not warm. We got soaked on our way into the rest area facilities to wash up, and we basically stayed soaked, and chilled, for the rest of the day. We were soon back on the road (or river), headed toward our yearly stop at L.L.Bean. There must be something about shopping at 6:45am; I always spend far too much money, but I at least I picked up a few items for the trail. We still haven’t bought a tent. It’s too bad Rich didn’t take a photo of me with my head in the “swim with the fishes” tank near the store entrance. There’s a “bubble” built into the underside of a large aquarium that you can duck into and see the fish up close (and your shopping partners can see your head “inside” the tank). I think it’s meant for kids, but I find it highly entertaining.

Before long the mooses in our bellies were grumbling, so we strolled (as much as anyone can stroll in pouring rain and wading through an inch or two of water on the ground) across the street and up a block to Isabella’s Sticky Buns Cafe. It was either the stellar reviews we’d found online or the spectacular sticky buns we’d had last week at Philly’s Reading Terminal Market that raised our expectations. I was hoping for an awesome sticky bun, perhaps with nuts, hopefully without raisins, to provide some sweetness and comfort and fortitude to get us through the next few rainy hours. Unfortunately, we were unimpressed. The buns had a decent flavor (and were raisin-free), but the dough was dense, the nuts were microscopic, and they were more wet than sticky, soaked through with an impossibly sweet, rich syrup. Perhaps Isabella was having an off day, or the humidity messed with the recipe. I might try them again, but this probably won’t become a traditional stop on our journey (like the famed Waterville McDonalds). I did enjoy my Japanese cherry green tea, and Rich didn’t wretch at the coffee so I’m assuming it was OK.

We slogged back to the parking lot on streets and sidewalks that were now quite flooded, and resumed our journey. We outran the rain literally by five minutes: as we crossed onto the island the rain let up and we even saw some weak sunshine for a moment … but the rain caught up with us again just as we reached the Hull’s Cove visitors center. We bought nothing at the visitors center this year, which is unusual. We cursed the rain and talked about pizza as we descended the steps on still-stiff legs. We were settled in our room by 1:00pm.

After the traditional early afternoon nap, we made our traditional stop at Hannaford for groceries and then the tradition we’d been longing for all year … Rosalie’s for pizza! Tonight we kept it simple with a medium plain pizza and two Shipyard Export Ales, and it was simply delicious, as always!

I’m not sure why, but instead of driving to MDI Ice Cream, we decided to walk in the pouring rain (I suppose we couldn’t get much wetter, or perhaps we were just preparing ourselves to be wet for the week to come). The ice cream (Mexican chocolate for Rich, and smooth blackberry sorbet for me) chilled us further, but it was as flavorful and delicious as last year. It was almost good enough to make me forget my disappointment over the fact that the blueberry basil sorbet wasn’t available tonight.

Chilled to the bone and beyond, we scurried back to the car and then back to our room, where we turned on the heater and the TV, and played “Laura Jones and the Gates of Good and Evil” on my new laptop for the rest of the night.