Maine Monday: Parking Tips

This public service announcement is brought to you by the letters W, T, and F. Insanity and total chaos doesn't even begin to describe the parking situation at our local Whole Foods as the calendar counts down to 2014.

A few weeks ago it was a war zone, thanks to the convergence of winter storm Boreas, Hanukkah, and Thanksgiving, and it's only going to get worse as the weather gets messier and the ball drops on New Years Eve. Until then, I've got the perfect solution to avoiding the madness, and you won't have to give up on your organic kale and Pineland Farms hot dogs.

I knew there were parking spots off to the right side of Whole Foods, but I didn't realize there are a whole bunch of parking spots hidden behind where they're storing the wooden crates filled with holiday wreaths. You'll see in the photo the crates take up a lot of space, but there are at least 5 more spots behind them that nobody knows about. If you're driving by it just looks like a storage area, but actually it's the perfect place to pull in and grab a spot and avoid all the parking lot madness.

Whole Foods has the best flowers

That top secret little area has been my go to spot on my grocery trips ever since I made the mistake of leaving the obscure organic ingredients shopping until right before Thanksgiving. Cars were parked along the side of the fence, in front of the entrance, and down a side street. But back there, there are no angry drivers riding your bumper in hopes of stealing a spot from you, no lines of cars waiting to push their way into the already crowded rows, and no cars blindly backing up assuming you and your kiddos will give them the right of way. Just a dumpster, some greenery, and plenty of space to do doughnuts with your shopping cart.