Alicia Jessop only had two things on her mind when she got to Maine – eating lobster and seeing a lighthouse.
Instead, she got more than she planned for when a seagull swooped in, stole her lunch and gave her the ultimate Instagram picture.
The Pepperdine sports law professor says although she’s been to 14 countries and over 40 states, she still had a few east coast states to tick off her bucket list. A work trip to Vermont proved to be the perfect opportunity.
Jessop says she often takes photos for Instagram when she travels.
When she arrived in York in southern Maine and found a picturesque lighthouse with a lobster shack within walking distance, she knew this would be the perfect spot to commemorate her east coast adventure.
What Jessop didn’t foresee was a seagull photo bombing her, stealing her lobster roll and giving her the ultimate Maine Instagram photo she never knew she needed.
Jessop admits she really thought about the photo op beforehand. “I can capture the most Maine tourist photo of the lobster roll in front of the light house,” she recalled thinking.
The heist
Just as she had framed the lobster roll for the picture, she looked up from her phone, stunned to see a seagull had swooped in and stolen her roll to feast on with his feathery friends.
Slightly embarrassed, Jessop retreated across the parking lot and began scrolling through her photos, defeated and lobsterless.
“I was super embarrassed when it happened because you hear stories of people falling off cliffs trying to get Instagram pictures,” Jessop explained. “I’m like,’Ooh my gosh I’m that person right now.'”
As she made her way over to the lobster shack for round two, she found that she had captured the unbelievable heist on camera.
“I must have pushed the button as he was swooping in because I didn’t realize that I had captured the picture as it happened,” Jessop said.
She posted it to Instagram and, while eating her second $21.50 lobster roll, watched the photo quickly go viral.