“Prompt and reliable” are the least of the selling points for a Taxi Tour with Panama Geddy and his rescued mutt from Cuba, “Starr”. As Geddy, a Maine local who sailed the Caribbean for two decades will tell you whether you want to hear his life story or not, Starr was so desperate to leave Castro’s Cuba, she stowed away on his yacht, aptly named Opportunity. The sweet but gamey little lady is part of every ride with Geddy, and she has no compunction about taking the window seat for herself.

On the comfortable three-hour drive from Bar Harbor to Rockport in his air-conditioned '70s-style van, Geddy asked no questions but spoke rapid-fire about the lovely countryside of Maine (pretty as its pictures). He became even more animated when speaking about a day he spent as personal driver for Barbra Streisand (“a little anxious, but a nice lady”). And he loves to tell the story about how he started, ran, and then sold the famous Bar Harbor lobster- theme restaurant Geddy’s (it's still there). And now he’s planning on opening a beach resort in Panama, where he lives part of the year (thus, his name).

Rockport was a bit stodgy after bohemian Bar Harbor though the Samoset Resort was playing host to their first annual Wine Festival (free booze seems to follow me around). The wine expert the night we arrived was an Owen Wilson "Butterscotch Stallion" lookalike named Seth Box, a young winemaker who worked in New Zealand and Italy, and now represents the Italian portfolio of wines for Moet Hennessy. The ladies of all ages at my table had a go at flirting with Mr. Box, who was very attentive and answered all of our annoying questions. The wines were also very thoughtful and well-paired with the resort chefs cuisine, and really, after five or six glasses of the stuff, who isn’t having a grand time?

We had to skip out early to have dessert at the much-lauded restaurant of superstar (and supermodel) organic chef Melissa Kelly (CIA grad, 1999 James Beard Award winner, etc.). Her backstory is romantic if a bit controversial: After her huge success at the Old Chatham Sheepherding Co. Inn, she ran off with the pastry chef and the place shut down. Now she has her own restaurant, Primo, in an adorable country house in an obscure location in Rockport. I thought her food was smart and her food values were terrific, except for her unfortunately titled book, Mediterranean Women Stay Slim Too. The title was very likely forced upon her by the publisher, but I was so repelled by the utter unoriginality, I’ve yet to crack open my autographed copy.

And the last gem I found in Maine was not the 24-hour LL Bean store in Freeport, with a giant boot sitting out front, but the unassuming Farnsworth Museum. The contemporary space had an exhibition called Factory Work: Warhol Wyeth Basquiat that blew my mind. Apparently James Wyeth had a summer home in Cushing, Maine, so he and his Dad (Andrew Wyeth), are the local heroes. The thread is a little thin – the idea is that Warhol influenced both James Wyeth and Basquiat by inviting them to paint in the Factory (though Wyeth was there in the '70s and Basquait in the '80s). But as a dedicated Warhol and Basquiat fan, I was thrilled to see paintings I had never even seen written about before, including Dos Cabezas, Basquiat’s side-by-side portraitof himself and Warhol, set up as a negative/postive dichotomy. I tried my best to sneak a photo of it, but to no avail.