Camden, Maine

Camden, Maine is a small town near the Penobscot Bay, about an hour south of Bangor (where I currently am located).  It's known for being a cutesy town with lots of nice places to shop and walk around.  My first stop, obviously, was a place to eat.

I had brunch at Boynton-McKay Food Co.  Ordered the Skillet Breakfast - some scrambled eggs with home fries, jack cheese, tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms, and onions.  The eggs were underwhelming, but the home fries with all the other veggies were quite scrumptious.  It was a little heavier than I would have liked, with all the cheese, but it was still a good meal.  The 7-grain toast with jam ended the brunch well.

Walked around the town a little - this is the main street in downtown with lots of shops and restaurants.

The harbor area.  Great place to sit and enjoy the weather and views.

There's a drive from Camden to Rockport that's supposed to be one of the most scenic stretches of the Northeast.  This photo may not do it justice, but this part of the drive was incredible and looked so peaceful.  The kine were just munching on the grass without a care.

I went to Camden State Park to do some hiking.  Took the trail to the Ocean Overlook, which wasn't bad compared to the trails in Acadia, but was still an uphill battle.  These wooden planks were neat, though - they were there to help travel over the bogs.

This was the view from the Ocean Overlook.  Great view of Camden below and the harbor.  It was a little overcast that day, and it started to sprinkle when I was up there.  So I headed down, and the timing was perfect because as I got into my car, it started raining harder.  That's when I decided to hang out at a cafe for a while until the rain died down.

Had my first part of dinner at Camden Deli.  I ordered the Grilled Tuscon Sandwich - grilled chicken, mozzarella cheese, greens, tomatoes, and pesto mayo on focaccia.  The sandwich was pretty normal, but the pesto mayo was the highlight - added a nice basil flavor to the sandwich.  Since I heard they made good desserts, I checked out their selection and settled on a Peanut Butter Jelly Time - it's hard for me to resist desserts with peanut butter in them.  Basically, it was a tart-like dessert with a peanut butter base, topped with what tasted like raspberry jam and a delicious crumble.  It's not surprising that I liked it.

Then I headed down the road to Cappy's Chowder House for a bowl of their special of the day - Seafood Chowder.  It  had haddock, salmon, shrimp, scallops, and clams, all in a creamy base with chunks of potatoes served with a biscuit and oyster crackers.

Up-close view of all of the contents.  The seafood was so good - all of it.  I mean, when you're located right next to the sea and all your ingredients come fresh from the ocean, it's really hard to go wrong.  I liked the various textures that each ingredient offered - the clams were chewy while the fish were tender and would just fall apart when I stuck my spoon in them, not to mention the tasty shrimp and scallops.  The potatoes were melt-in-your-mouth soft, and the soup had just the right amount of cream and butter so as not to be overly-thick or heavy.  I also really enjoyed the biscuit - dense and buttery - great for dipping in the chowder.  The seafood here really is delicious.