Quick Thoughts about Maine

I'm home. Lots of pics posted to my flickr photostream. Just click the flickr badge in the sidebar to see 'em.

Bar Harbor, Maine is such a nice, tourist-friendly town. The bus tour of Acadia National Park was loads of fun. We had one misty, rainy, foggy day and one bright and sunny day there. Dinner the second night was wonderful, a yummy NY Strip Steak in balsamic sauce with mashed sweet potatoes (the starch of the day) and mixed veggies. I can still taste it!

Portland is an old city with more brick than I've ever seen in one place before. In the old port and surrounding areas, the sidewalks are brick. There are even some cobblestone streets and many hills and narrow streets. We went on a very nice boat tour of Casco Bay at sunset.

This morning, before we left, we went over to Fort Allen Park overlooking Casco Bay and saw the war memorials, including the after mast of the USS Portland. My father served on her (she was known as Sweet Pea) during World War II, so I especially wanted to see the mast. It was the main reason I wanted to stop over in Portland.

Other reasons to like Maine:

• Gorgeous rocky coast.
• Cars must yield to pedestrians.
• There is, apparently, only one traffic light on Mount Desert Island (where Bar Harbor is located).
• Lighthouses!
• General cleanliness and recycling.
• Friendly people.
• Lots of non-smoking. In Portland, we had to sign something at the hotel that said we understood it was a no-smoking allowed hotel.

One not so nice thing: Fancy hotel in Portland had a bed turn-down service with milk chocolate lobsters, or you could pay for a rose petal bath and other romantic or relaxing amenities, but the hotel didn't provide a hair dryer! In the last decade, hair dryers have become so ubiquitous, even in little cheap places, that I don't bother asking anymore and I don't carry one, to give me more room in my suitcase for phone and camera chargers, the power brick for the laptop, etc. This was the first time hubby saw my hair when it wasn't blown dry. I think I scared him. Let's just say my hair is wavy and can get rather frizzy when damp (as it was on Saturday from all the mist and fog) and allowed to dry on its own. ;)

Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
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