In the Kitchen: We’re on our way home from Maine - Part I

“All things must change,” as George Harrison sang, and that includes an idyllic summer in New England.

As Stella, the occasionally white standard poodle, and I left Maine behind, I had no idea what awaited us on the coast of Massachusetts.

We spent a couple of days in Gloucester with friends, and I was smitten.

Gloucester, on Cape Ann, is the oldest seaport in our country. Because of its location near the Grand Banks, it was also one of the biggest fishing towns, attracting lots of immigrants, particularly Portuguese and Italians, who leant to the rich diversity there.

One of the offshoots of the fishing industry was the ice business (for packing fish), which morphed into the Bird’s Eye frozen food packing plant, still evident on the harbor.

Gloucester is still a working port, and we took a great three-hour boat tour. One of the tourism notes is that this town was the location for the film “The Perfect Storm.”

As the guide pointed out, not only did that storm create terror at sea, it also caused devastation on land.

Now what one sees are beautiful beaches all around, and the same wild roses (Rosa rugosa) and wild blueberries grow along the shore paths that grow on the Maine coast. By sea, the two states are not far apart.

Then it was time to hit the road, and once we arrived in Connecticut, there were wild raspberries at the rest stops; the other major crops seemed to be insurance companies and “overweight vehicles.” Curious.

In New York, we crossed the Hudson River, and saw signs for West Point. In Pennsylvania, the message was “coal is the solution.”

In Ohio, there were signs for John Glenn and the Zane Gray Museum. Indiana’s signs announced Wilbur Wright, and an Amish cheese shop (there were some Mennonite folks in garb at a rest stop). In Illinois we passed by exits for Lincoln’s log cabin, Lewis & Clark Park, and crossed the Columbia River.

Kansas actually has an Oz Museum, as well as the Eisenhower Presidential Library. At a rest stop in Missouri, I found wild grapes.

In Colorado, the beloved Canada geese were in residence. Denver is on their flyway, and seeing them again brought back fond memories of the Mile High City, no longer a cow town, but a sophisticated area of a million and a half people. Denver is a theater town, and I celebrated that by going to a production of “Girls Only.” It was worth the cost of admission just for the part where the girls struggled into pantyhose to the Nutcracker tune “Waltz of the Flowers.” This performance supports my premise that pantythose were invented by men.

The other not-to-be-missed feature in Denver is the Botanic Gardens, 100 acres in the middle of the city, with prairie gardens featuring native plants, water gardens full of subtle water lilies, rose gardens that are nothing short of nose candy, Japanese gardens, a tropical conservatory, and edible plants interspersed everywhere (grapes, squash, greens, tomatoes, beans, fig and pomegranate trees, herbs galore).

Currently there is a Jurassic Gardens exhibit featuring life-sized dinosaurs and prehistoric plants.

Travel notes for this segment of the journey include: the audio book “The Lost Painting,” about a lost Caravaggio painting. It was so captivating that I looked forward to getting back in the car to hear more. Given the amount of time I spent in the car, that says a lot.

Inexpensive travel food: for me, along with home-packed hard-boiled eggs, nuts, veggie sticks and hummus, granola and coconut yogurt (non-dairy, and scrumptious), iced herb tea from a thermos, and fresh fruit, the $1 side salad at McDonald’s with Newman’s balsamic dressing; and the $2 nuggets from the same place for Miss Stella, to complement her usual dry food with single-serving size, quality moist packets from the pet store, and “cookies.”

Newman’s is making dog food now, too, and it is the usual high quality its other products are.

That ends this part of the return trip home. One more travelogue, then we’re back to what’s local and fresh in Green Valley. Hope you’ve all had a good summer.

Samaya Jones is a Holistic Nutritional Consultant and Natural Foods Personal Chef, who cooks for you and your guests in your home. She writes for health Web sites, newspapers, and teaches wine education classes. She can be reached at ncsamayaj@gmail.com.