Limiting myself to a thousand words about Maine is next to impossible. Much is written about travel to Maine. Perhaps this article from the New York Times is the absolute best I have ever read. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/15/travel/maine-road-trip.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage But I am not going to try to replicate that type of information. “My” Maine (which actually includes a small Canadian island connected by bridge to Lubec, Maine) includes everything in the NYT article and so much more. It is the place I now call home and which you will find pictured on the “Homepage” of this blog.
I moved to Maine permanently in 1973 when I gave up teaching in Rhode Island and entered the University of Maine School of Law in Portland. After three years in Portland I went to Bangor for a one year stint as a law clerk to a local judge. I never left until 2014 when I retired and began traveling in earnest. In 1979 I married the love of my life, a fellow law school graduate and lifelong resident of Stillwater, Maine, outside Bangor. In 1980 our daughter was born, in 1986 we moved into our home on Kenduskeag Avenue and the years sped by. In 2001 we bought our summer home on Campobello Island and then spent a lot of time there each summer until Harold’s death in 2019. I still go there in summers when I can, but life has called me in many directions. Maine, however, is a wonderful place to call home and I still maintain my legal residence in Bangor at my sister in law’s house.
I landed in Maine because of my friend Linda, who pops up in many of the states I have visited, including Pennsylvania, West Virginia (on the water skis), California, Florida, Massachusetts and New Mexico. She and I attended high school together and have been friends for almost 60 years. In her younger days, when I was living and working in Rhode Island, she moved to Maine and settled into a “camp” on Sebago Lake (that is what they call summer homes in Maine). Beginning in the Fall of 1970, I would travel from Providence to Sebago on many weekends and explore southern Maine. Eventually I relocated to Maine permanently, but by that time Linda was long gone. However, she introduced me to Maine and caused me to understand how a place can call to you and become your home.
Unlike the rest of the New England States, Maine is a large puzzle of geography with many different pieces that can take a lifetime to visit and appreciate. The New York Times article does a good job of explaining it, but I will give my version of three separate Maines, (1) the lakes and mountains; (2) the coast from Ellsworth south to Kittery; and finally, most important to me, (3) Bangor and Downeast. These are the places where my happiest memories of all time reside.
Let’s start with the lakes and mountains. There are thousands of places to explore in what I call western Maine, stretching from the New Hampshire border to the St. John River on the Canadian border. I love the drive from Bangor to Montreal, passing through Coburn Gore, Eustis, Kingfield, and Sugarloaf. Route 11 in Aroostook County takes you by lakes and scenery that will take your breath away and Greenville on the shore of Moosehead Lake and near Lily Bay State Park should not be missed. But for me the lakes and mountains mean Katahdin, which translates as “the Greatest Mountain” from the native Penobscot language. It is therefore redundant to refer to the granite massif as Mount Katahdin and if you do, you are definitely not a true Mainer. Many say climbing Katahdin is one of the most difficult nontechnical climbs in the United States. It is steep and long and is the one thing I wanted to do more than anything else while in my forties. I tried three separate times, once defeated by wet and cold weather (snow falling in July) and once I made it to the “saddle” which allowed me to see down the other side of the trail. I was with my friend Linda and a couple of other women on that trip and they went on another mile to the peak. I waited in the shade. Finally Harold and I made it to the very top and posed by the pile of rocks that raise the elevation to 5,280 feet, exactly one mile above sea level.
The Maine coast is where most of the tourists flock, from Kittery to Ellsworth and then south to Mt. Desert Island and Acadia National Park. My two favorite peninsulas as you proceed north and east from the Portland area are the St. George Peninsula and the Blue Hill Peninsula. But that does not mean that you should neglect the Maine Coastal Botanical Garden and other interesting sites in the Boothbay Harbor area. On the St. George Peninsula you will find the villages of Port Clyde and Tenants Harbor. This is Jamie Wyeth country. If you cross the St. George River you can even visit Cushing, home of the Olson House made famous in the painting Christina’s World by Andrew Wyeth, Jamie’s father. https://www.travlinmad.com/blog/olson-house-maine For me, my time was spent in Tenants Harbor and Port Clyde for eight summers until we bought our own place further Downeast on Campobello. Port Clyde visits should always include a ferry trip out to Monhegan Island on the mailboat and a glorious hike around the island. Tenants Harbor and Port Clyde are quiet villages for reading, eating, hiking and generally experiencing a taste of Maine.
The other peninsula worth a visit is Blue Hill, extending across the bridge to Deer Isle and Stonington. This is a great corner of Maine and home of my favorite Mexican restaurant, El El Frijoles. If it strikes you that the name is some sort of pun you would be correct. http://elelfrijoles.com/ The other wonderful thing about Deer Isle is Nervous Nellie’s Jams and Jellies. You just have to discover that for yourself.
Let’s now proceed Downeast as we leave Ellsworth, Acadia National Park, and the hordes of summer tourists in the dust and head for Lubec. https://downeast.com/our-towns/lubec-maine/?fbclid=IwAR0PeQG04W8ovt4WCW0Dj5MaFBTLkJlr0whfGl7a3l0PGsHoiy_NRagV3xg As this article indicates, Lubec is a special sort of place and if you drive across the bridge you get to an even more special place, Campobello in New Brunswick, Canada. Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt spent many summers there, Eleanor visiting right up until 1962, the year she died. Their summer “cottage” is showcased in the Roosevelt International Park, jointly administered by the United States and Canada. If you are looking for great hiking spots, beautiful scenery, and little in the way of amenities such as resorts or fine dining, Downeast Maine is where you need to be. If you visit the end of July or early August you are sure to find lots of blueberries. There is no place like home.
Memories - A Second Chance at Happiness 