After being here for only a few weeks, we have quickly discovered that South Portland truly experiences the rainy Spring season. So on Thursday, we decided to take a small road trip to Freemont and visit the ever-popular L.L. Bean to purchase rain jackets. We have heard people refer to this store more than any other even prior to our move, so we assumed it must be spectacular. Well, you know what happens when you assume, and yes, it happened to us. Let’s just say, we saw L.L. Bean and now we can move on with our lives. Anywho, we found great rain jackets at another store there in town and were super excited that the next time we took the dogs out in the rain, we wouldn’t need a hair dryer when we back came inside.
Of course, now that we had our respective rain gear, the weather on Friday was beautiful and sunny. Not that I am in any way complaining, it was nice to see the sun after so many dreary days. We did our usual, took the dogs to the park, ran a few errands, got a few groceries, and came home to rest for a bit. Later, we had decided to take a nice evening bike ride into Portland and visit the Art Museum as it is free on Fridays from 5-9pm (sweet!). We loaded up a backpack with the essentials, including Mike’s rain jacket and my windbreaker. My thinking was that we would be on the coast, on the highway, in the evening, and on a bike so I was worried about getting chilly. We biked through downtown, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells (think fishing community) of our new home. We made it to the museum and enjoyed a nice evening of fine art. As we exited the building, we noticed it was beginning to sprinkle. While we unlocked our bikes, we felt the raindrops getting bigger, more frequent, and colder. By the time we were ready to leave, we were in a full rainstorm, on our bikes, at night. Super. I should also mention I had decided to wear my glasses this particular evening and am blind as a bat without them. Awesome. We headed home with traffic, over the drawbridge, on the highway, in the cold, pouring rain. This actually wasn’t too bad until the combination of water droplets on my glasses and street lamps began to create a kaleidoscope effect making it difficult to see objects on the road. Then we got to the trail which leads to our apartment. It’s beautifully paved and well-kept, but there are no street lamps. Our ride quickly went from an abundance of light to using echolocation to try and keep up with my husband. Through it all, we still laughed and shivered the whole way as my husband kept yelling back at me, “I checked the weather! This was nowhere in the forecast!”
When we arrived, I ran upstairs to grab towels and close the windows we had left open in the apartment while my husband locked up the bikes. I had to peel my clothing off of me as I appeared to have actually been thrown in a pool with my clothes on. As we chuckled and dried off in the kitchen, I looked up to see my perfectly dry rain jacket hanging on the wall just as I had left it. I’m glad to know that my rain jacket served it’s purpose and kept something dry. Now, if I could just remember to wear the darn thing, I might enjoy those rainy bike rides a little more.
According to Holly 