Summer officially arrives Friday, and I'm headed north for the sweetest assignment of my career! I am honored to be a judge at the Maine Whoopie Pie Festival, which was named Best New England Festival in this year's Readers' Choice Awards. I'll be judging Whoopie Pies in three categories: Best Traditional Whoopie Pie, Best Non-Traditional Whoopie Pie and Best Healthy Whoopie Pie (really!). There's a People's Choice Award, too.

Follow me on Twitter for updates from the festival, or better yet: Meet me there! You won't find a better way to spend 5 bucks in New England this Saturday, and kids 12 and under get in free.

Suddenly Craving a Whoopie Pie?

• Make Whoopie Pies from Scratch
• Red Velvet Whoopie Pie Recipe
• Video: How to Make a Whoopie Pie

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_{Whoopie Pie picture © 2013 Kim Knox Beckius.}

New additions this week to Kim's New England Deal Sheet:

• Head to Zoar Outdoor on Massachusetts' Deerfield River this Friday through Sunday for free paddling mini-clinics and demos;
• Hear the United States Coast Guard Dixieland Jazz Band play during free concerts on the waterfront in New London, Connecticut, this summer; and
• Enjoy a full week of free live music during Middlebury, Vermont's 35th annual Festival on the Green.

All Current New England Travel Deals

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_{Media photo courtesy of Zoar Outdoor.}

The Penguin Encounter program at Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut, is so intimate... you'll get to touch a penguin's webbed feet and listen to her heart beat. And you may go home wearing a souvenir... if you catch my drift. So, leave your black tie attire at home, but don't miss the rare chance to interact with and appreciate these endangered aquatic birds.

More of New England's Best Animal Adventures

Also in Mystic...

• Connecticut's Most Famous Pizzeria
• Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea

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_{Penguin Encounter photo © 2012 Kim Knox Beckius.}

I'm not embarrassed to admit it: I woke up wearing lobster pajammies today! How will you be celebrating National Lobster Day? New England offers so many temptations, whether you want to munch on lobster corn dogs or order lobster for breakfast!

Stop & Shop here in Connecticut has lobster on sale for $5.99 per pound, so I'll be cooking lobster at home. Just have to decide whether to boil lobsters, grill lobsters, make lobster sliders, cook lobster egg rolls, or maybe... in honor of Father's Day... we'll steam them in beer!

_{Lobster photo © 2010 Kim Knox Beckius.}