Hiya, nutty people and those who prefer to be referred to as "eccentric", and welcome to the quaint town of Belfast, Maine! Belfast is the county seat of Waldo County (we were hoping to ask Waldo a few questions, but I'll be darned if we could find him anywhere...), and it's also here in this village of 6,381 that you'll find Perry's Tropical Nut House, where everything is exactly as it's cracked up to be.

So as you can tell from the condition of our beloved can in this photo, it appears that they had the squeeze put on them while here. Silly Perry -- you won't find nuts inside our can -- although a couple of the beans are a little loopy...

Perry's Tropical Nut House actually opened way back in 1926, when Irving S. Perry began selling pecans from a stand near his house in Maine. (He bought up a bumper crop of the nuts from down South - hence, the "tropical" part of the name.) Since nothing attracts a crowd like a bunch of taxidermied animals and hand-carved exotic oddities, Perry began filling his shop with fun curios such as stuffed alligators, ostriches, water buffalo, and an elephant or two, plus a nut museum that couldn't be beat (or beaten into nut butter, for that matter). Naturally, tourists flocked, and the rest is - as they say in these parts - nutty history. Nowadays, a nice fellow named Dave owns and runs the joint, and he obviously has as much fun doing so as Perry did way back when.

And since we're in the land of Paul Bunyan, it's only fitting that the beans pose with the biggest darn rodent they've ever seen - and that includes Mickey! Yep, this is the slightly-irritated looking Nutzy, whom the beans wouldn't want to come across while lost in a dark forest, that's for sure. Fortunately, Nutzy pet pink flamingo was cool, and tipped the beans off that loitering too long in Nutzy's territory could lead to a messy lunch disaster, so the beans were quick to make a hasty retreat to somewhere safer.

Frightened after their encounter with Nutzy, and in desperate need of some friendly affection, the beans stopped off to have a bear hug with this nice wooden bear. (He was warm and smelled like walnuts, if that matters any.)

If you were to drop into Perry's today, you'd find a colorful shop filled with gag gifts and toys, several varieties of homemade fudge, a selection of local Maine treats (how about a little blueberry syrup on your frijoles, anyone?), and enough nut related souvenirs to keep the little rugrats quiet in the back of the minivan all the way to Vermont. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? And if you can't make it in person, you can always squirrel away some goodies from their Web site. Who says you can't take it with you?

Anyway, the beans did have a great time at the Tropical Nut House, and hope that you all do yourself a favor the next time you find yourself in Maine and stop by for yourself. Have a look around, pick up some nuts, (be sure to avoid the ticked off Nutzy...), and tell them that the beans sent you. It's crazy, but it might just work...