So, I finally have a moment, or shall I say I am making a moment to share my trip story with anyone who cares to read it.
My original plan was for me and my girl to take the trip together leave Friday night, drive thru the night to Portland, get a room enjoy sat in Portland, drive over to the signing in Bridgton on Sunday morning, check out that town and head to Bangor after do all the SK related things there get a nice dinner stay the night and the following day drive the coast back home checking out breweries and other things.
Well plans change and we had to alter ours a little bit. The baby sitter feel through last min and on top of that my girl was told she had to work Sat. even though she requested it off, but could leave "early"
So we regroup tell the kids (two daughters) that they will be going on a trip to check out Maine, and we will be leaving sometime Sat, afternoon. To make a long story short, we didn't get on the road until late afternoon, like 5pm for a 9 hour drive, lol. We hit the road and it was smooth sailing, NY is always a mess to drive thru no matter what time, but that was expected. Got to Portland around 3am, yes, 3am the morning of the signing. So our goal was just to get a cheap but clean hotel for the few hours sleep we had left before making the hour long trip to Bridgton. Come to find out, peak season in Portland and literally every room booked at every hotel, and charging much higher rates due to time of year. after many calls and walking into hotel lobbies the Motel 8 (yeah not my first, second, third or tenth choice) said they had ONE room left. It was now 3:30am and we were all ready for a bed. I took the room. It was only for 4 hours sleep anyways so who cares right? Well, AFTER and let me repeat, AFTER I pay, fill out paper work, the lady Leaves and "checks" room for a good 20mins, I get key and we unpack and head thru lobby to room, as I pass the only lady working, the one who sold me the room, she says, "Ohh I didn't know you had kids, its a smoking room" UMMMM WHAT??
At not time during this process was this ever mentioned to me, ever. When I walked in and ask if there was an available room I should of been told, yes but it is smoking and I would of left and kept on looking. SO, with that said, we were not happy about that but decided how bad can it be for a few hours, we will just make best of it and move on. Well, I have to say, it was bad. We got in and obviously could smell it had been smoked in, a lot. but it didn't seem like it was going to be intolerable for a few hours. Maybe it was the fact that we were all tired, I don't know. We went to sleep and all of us woke up feeling sick to our stomach, like we had smoked all night. We got out as fast as possible to get some fresh air. By far the worst hotel experience of my life, and I have been in a lot.
So with that out of the way, lets get to the better part of this journey. Once we got in the car and started heading to Bridgton we started to see the beauty of Maine, and the hour trip there was a nice county drive. Came upon the town at about 9:30, the signing was at ten so I was a little worried about the line and not arriving early enough as my past experiences included waiting for many hours. This was not the case here, it was easy to spot the Theater where the event was taking place from all the people gathered, but there was still parking in the lot itself and not much of a line at all. Of course this was due to it only being 500 people.
We get in line, and its already quite toasty for the day, nearing the high 80's. We wait for awhile do some people watching and before you know it we are already moving in. They had everyone waiting in different theater's so we could be cool and off our feet. As soon as you walked in there was complimentary concessions, doughnuts and several drink options. I found this to be a very nice touch. People are already leaving with their signed copies in had, smiles on faces. I got my fist glimpse of Stephen for the day as the exit door opened repeatedly for everyone that was finished and there he was in the same red shirt I seen him wearing in DC. sitting at the table greeting and signing.
We are ushered into another theater to wait our turn, they have a large image of "Finders Keepers" displayed on the screen while we wait. they call use by rows to go into the actual theater Mr. King is in. Once in we sit again waiting for our turn, watching the Man himself sign and speak to everyone coming up all the while contemplating my plan for best photo ops and what I wanted to say. There was a nice gentleman that worked there that would take your camera and take as many photos as he could while you were getting your book signed, that was great for a lot of people, his angle wasn't the best because the signing itself was on a stage and he was not, but I gave him my camera, and then I went first so my girl could take better photos on the stage.
I walked up, said Hello, told Mr. King that I just wanted to shake his hand and tell him thank you for all the years of entraining stories that I had been reading his words since I was 12 years old and that he has been a big part of my life. He said Thank YOU, looked at me and Shook my hand, made some funny noise like I was squeezing to hard (I wasn't at all, on purpose I shook lighter) he was just joking. Then he signed my book, after he looked up and said to me, "wouldn't it be funny if I looked up and everyone was dead" "like on the walking dead or something" he was referring the all the people sitting in the theater seats just staring at him, lol. I laughed, thanked him again. And that was it. I stood and took a photo of my girl getting her book signed and we exited. I feel very lucky because I seemed to have gotten a few more seconds with him, AND I got a Handshake!!! I was hesitant to ask for the handshake because I mean who really wants to touch 500 peoples dirty hands. I mean my hands are clean but you know what I mean. But I seen a lady a few ahead of me get a high five, and I was like, ohh its on, I'm getting my handshake!! ha. And he seemed to have no problem with it at all.
We left after that, there was a lady standing outside with a signed copy of "Revival" offering to trade for anyone who got two copies of 'Finders Keepers" but I just couldn't bring my self to trade one of our copies mins after receiving them. I do wonder if anyone took her up on the offer though.
We went to car, blazing hot outside by this time, and drove through the town, I took it all in as Chester Mills, we went to the Food City for some "Mist" photos. drove the town again and then parked and decided what the next move was. I of course really wanted to go on up to Bangor, but felt bad for all I've put my awesome girls through so far. If it wasn't another almost 3 hours drive north we would of gone, but with a promise of next Maine visit we would do Bangor, I drove us back to Portland so we could check out the town, the shops, the waterfront and of Course the Lighthouse. We ate on the water at the Maine Lobster company, walked around to the shops and I went to Shipyard brewery and got some things to take home. Had a bluepaw on the water. It was 99 degrees at this point and everyone was way to hot. We drove to the Head Point Lighthouse, and it was Beautiful there!! exactly what I pictured Maine to be, except the insane heat!! The views of the rocky shores were absolutely beautiful. We enjoyed to fort and the park and lighthouse, took tons of photos and walked around, explored the fort ruins. and after a while decided to drive to Salem, MA. I have been several times before including for Halloween, but the girls never had and really wanted to check it out. So with it being so Hot we decided to leave Maine, get ourselves a few more hours closer to home and spend the night in Salem, and spend the next day checking that out. We got a great room, with two pools and it was smoke free!! I promised the girls a much better hotel stay this time around!! we drove thru Salem at night, got some cool pics and then ate and went to hotel to swim, shower and relax had a few beers and went to bed. Spent the next day exploring Salem in much better temperatures. Everyone enjoyed it and then hit the road home.
Overall a great trip, enjoyed my moment with Stephen, and the time with my family. I will be posting pics as soon as I figure out how.
Thanks so much for sharing your story! I loved what Stephen King said to you! How freakin awesome!
