Living The Life

Jerry here this week!!!  Giving Susan some extra sleep.  Well, she does all the editing, so who am I kidding?   Thanks for joining us!

Last Sunday we saw the movie Elvis. Now the reason I’m telling you this is because we may be on a RV journey, but we are LIVING like everyone else only our house has wheels. Now that we are retired, we actually are going to the movies more. Especially when it’s too hot or raining! And the best part is we can go whenever we want! Gotta get that early bird special pricing!

Back to Elvis.  We got chills from the actor Austin Butler, who played Elvis. His singing and Elvis mannerisms were incredible. Susan and I believe his performance is Oscar worthy. Then there was Tom Hanks as the manager of Elvis, Colonel Tom Parker! Ok we are convinced if Tom Hanks is involved with a movie you should see it! Tom Hanks’ performance was what we expect from Tom Hanks! The colonel was a manipulative greedy SOB and drove Elvis to exhaustion. At one point the only way Elvis could perform was from injections from a scumbag doctor! 

Susan got chills when the movie documented Elvis performing at the International Hotel (now the Hilton Hotel) in Las Vegas. Susan attended his show in 1973 at this hotel.  She was 16.  Interesting story.  She had a friend visiting from New York.  Her parents used to go to Las Vegas ALL THE TIME as they lived in Southern CA and it was only a 4 hour drive.  When her dad found out that the friend LOVED Elvis, he booked a trip to Las Vegas.  Now, her dad and mom had no desire to see Elvis, and 16 year olds were not allowed in without a chaperone.  So, her dad grabbed a single guy that was in line buying tickets and told him he would pay for his ticket if he would sit with Susan and her friend.  Seriously, what a crazy story.  You certainly can’t do that these days.

Susan said it was an incredible show even though Elvis was a bit fluffy at the time.  It was near the end of his career and now we know why. The movie is a must see with great music and historic reenactments of some of Elvis’s greatest performances! There was a scene that brought Susan almost to tears when Elvis walked on stage in his all black leather outfit for a television performance.  She remembers watching that special.

There were alot of home videos that brought back memories of when we visited Graceland this year. That was a really great tour and we are so glad we did that prior to seeing the movie. The sad and tragic part of the movie was Elvis dying at 42. He should have lived much longer!

What else have we been doing? Glad you asked. We took a trip to Pemaquid Point Lighthouse in Bristol Maine! Wow what a beautiful location! The lighthouse was built in 1812 and has been carefully maintained. We were able to climb inside to the top where the light actually is! Pretty cool!! Then on to Boothbay Harbor! Pronounced Boothbay Habar! Great town right on the water with lots of restaurants and tourist traps!  Had a great lunch outside facing the harbor. We have videos of this trip. Check them out below!

Susan found a fabulous top in a boutique that was right up her alley!   Susan has a rule, if you buy a piece of clothing you have to get rid of a piece of clothing.  Hey, there’s not a lot of room!!!  She’s doing a really great job of keeping to her rules.  

My thoughts on Maine! I know Maine is a small state which helps attitudes and how people treat each other! So far, everywhere we have gone; Clam, and Oyster festivals, farmer’s markets, brewries, various cities, people have been happy, friendly and treated us like long lost friends! People are happy with their lives. For example we met a local couple when we pulled up at a lobsta shack in Harpswell again on the coast! We ended up eating lunch with the couple and swapped stories! He is a pilot for UPS and has regular local routes he flys freight. We are meeting them for lunch this weekend to check out their area.

We learned some disturbing facts about the airline industry, when Covid hit there were massive retirements especially from pilots. Which is showing up today in flight cancellations and delays. He remarked that United has shrunk to less than 45% of its size prior to Covid! Tough times for the airline industry!

We had a great day this week visiting our new friends Glenn and Debbie at their beautiful farm not too far from us. They have chickens, and lots of veggie gardens and just overall beautiful property. We were sent home with fresh eggs and lots of veggies!! Debbie sent me home with 3 tomato plants. I have a garden again!!! We had a great lunch together and Susan helped them with some RV trip planning. Again, this is one of the great perks of traveling. Meeting such amazing people.

Next Friday we are taking the train to Boston with Debbie and Glenn to experience a food tour! It’s about a 2 hour trip. They have never been on a food tour and I have never been to Boston. Susan has and is so excited to be going back. Especially going on a food tour. More about that in next week’s blog.

We were so excited that Amy and Paul, our friends we met in Driggs, ID last August, came to visit us this week.  We ended up seeing them 3 times while they were in Maine!  We took them on a Brewery Tour in Freeport.  There are 3 Breweries here.  We had the best time with them.  We also took them to L.L.Bean as they had never been.  It was fun playing tour guide!  The great part is, we will be seeing them again in St. Augustine, FL in December!  

We are loving being in one place for all this time.  I am finally feeling more relaxed and enjoying life.  Especially as we continue exploring Maine.

Just One More…..Movie (more to come!)