'86ed

Erik spotted this on 57th St. between 7th and 8th:

Well, we can't ignore it any longer: The Brat Pack is back in town.

It's 25 years later and, yes, the kids are a little older now, a little crankier, and maybe they do have a little too much free time.
A few seconds before this act of vandalism, Mr. Estevez was heard to say: "Yo, I'm gonna tag this up like it's a glossy still from 'St. Elmo's Fire!' I'm crazy like that!"

He's not even the worst one. You know who the most hardcore of the bunch is? You'd think it was Judd Nelson or maybe Spader, right? But you'd be wrong. It's Andrew McCarthy.
I just blew your mind, didn't I?

Roadside Attractions, Part I

Another old fashioned small town attraction sullied by technology, why must everything be tainted by the internet!?!? (Mrs. Burg says this while angrily typing on her wirelessly connected laptop and watching streaming video from Netflix through her blu-ray player.)

Oddly enough,  a giant sexy cow sign wasn't enough to keep this coffee shop afloat:

I mean . . . the name alone seems like gold. How did this place close? For a brief moment I tried to talk Erik into buying the place. But I knew it could never be this amazing, so I gave up on the idea.

Sigh, the Burgs really love a good road trip . . .

Apparently "High Fidelities" was taken . . .

We bought a new camera. It has a pretty fantastic zoom. Erik decided to demonstrate its powers by taking shots of a boat out at sea while we were hiking along the water.

So many questions for that Captain, so little time. Karen thinks there's maybe at 50% chance the boat belongs to either Keanu Reeves or Michelle Pfeiffer . . .  they both seem like people who wouldn't notice a typo.

Another question: Who owns the boat actually named Dangerous Liaisons? Erik thinks the smart money is on Stephen Frears.

The Dock

We had our own private dock on the property (it was an amazing place) and it quickly became one of our favorite locations on the property to hang out. The only thing we weren't entirely aware of was how extreme the tide is in Boothbay Harbor. Case in point:

This was the dock around 1pm. The water is about 11ft high and ready for kayaking fun.

Same dock around 7pm. If Karen wasn't so afraid of getting sucked under by some random sand monster, she could've done some serious clamming! 

Tides are pretty amazing  . . .

Even more amazing? The decorating choices outside. Fake wooden seagulls? Really? Such a gorgeous property, such bizarre decor . . . even outdoors they found a way to squeeze a few knick knacks into the scene.  You know, for ambiance.

Burg vs. Burg

At the Maine Coastal Botanical Gardens, Karen engaged in one of her favorite hobbies, taking a picture of Erik while he's taking a picture of something. It's a fun thing she likes to do.

This time Erik returned the favor.

the tick!

Mr. Burg has a complicated relationship with nature. It loves him, a lot. But maybe a little too much. Case in point, this little guy was attached to Erik after our first day of hiking around the property.

It was a little disturbing. This sign didn't soften the blow at all:

Fortunately, his little friend looked nothing like this Lyme disease carrying specimen. Also, it was attached to him for maybe 60 seconds, it didn't even break the skin. (Mr. Burg will give you a much more dramatic story, but I assure you, we didn't need to burn it off or anything.)

Ahhh, the joys of nature.

Tonka

The beaches in Maine were oddly free of bottle caps, cigarette butts, needles and what we've come to consider "normal" ocean debris. Karen did manage to find some remnants of previous beachgoers, in Tonka Truck form.

See? That's a fun piece of beach garbage. And if it washes up while a kid is making a sand castle, no big deal. Syringes, on the other hand, well . . .