So the reason we chose to go to Maine for vacation is because it's Joe Sudbay's (of Americablog's) birthday, and why not celebrate and get precious time away from political blogging by spending time with political bloggers, lol. Joe and his amazingly generous partner Carlos took us sightseeing.

One of the highlights was a large dinner at Portland, ME hot spot Local 188, with Joe's family, along with a few blogworld-related colleagues. I also met PHB barista Louise offline for the first time along with frequent Blender Dawn, and talked to barista Keori on the phone! It was a ton of fun, and Louise gave Kate and I a big bag of Maine-related goodies, including a quite bizarre local beverage called Moxie. I haven't tried it yet.

But one funny item stood out -- I was given a bag of Cheetos to go with my blogger PJs, ostensibly to stain the garments in order to have an appropriate outfit in which to opine.

I have more pix in a Facebook album.