Oh, Maine!

The first office outing, and what an outing it was! Happy hours and christmas parties pale in comparison to the celebrations of Machado and Silvetti, for we celebrate with travel and lobster and beautiful countryside. Leave the indoors indoors, and the exploration of the northeast to us...



8:00 am this early morn, everyone wise enough to attend hopped into a caravan of cars and ventured northwards along the coast of Massachusetts and Maine. Met with a perfect day for a scenic drive, we drove for 2.5 hours until we met the town of Brunswick, Maine, the location of Bowdoin College and M&S's near-complete project--the renovation of Bowdoin's arts museum. Jorge Silvetti took the entire group on a tour of the building, and we witnessed the beautiful interiors, freshly outfitted for the art that is now currently being installed. Essentially, the main historic building was maintained, but the downstairs basement area was excavated and dropped a significant number of feet downwards which involved the dredging of the foundatin-not a simple task! Also, two new entrances were added onto the building and a lot of light was brought inside through the opening of doors and skylights.

Years in the making, it was wonderful to experience it first hand with its architect!

Photos: Top, Mid:Bowdoin Art Museum; Bottom: Machado & Silvetti in Bowdoin




Before everyone got sleepy again, the group headed northwards once again to enjoy the local foods. In about a half hour, we pulled up to Five Mile Lobster Shack on the coast of Maine, and as we watched live lobster being pulled from the ocean we were simultaneously served fresh steamed lobster and mussels. It is hard work to crack those things open, but after a bit of coaching, I was pulling lobster meat like a champ--even though I really don't like it all that much. Nevertheless, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to eat fresh lobster on the coasts of Maine...




With stomaches full, most opted to head back to Boston--but not our car! We headed over to the Crimston Bridge, which is apparently the only one of its kind in existence. Built solely of granite hunks piled into a "cribwork" formation, it provides a pattern spaces to allow the tides to pass through. We skipped some rocks, walked across, enjoyed the sailboats, dreamed of living in Maine, and then, reluctantly, got back in the car and headed back to Boston. Photos: My great co-workers!



A glorious day...just my kind.