It’s said lobstermen and lobsterwomen are born, not made. For starters, Maine is lucky to have a coastline, to be on the Atlantic Ocean. All those ragged, rocky juts of Maine land out into the
Maine Picnics Go Hand In Hand With Lobster Rolls. Potato And Pasta Salad. Corn On The Cob.
briny, misty water take a life time to discover as a tourist. The quaint Maine harbor towns and fishing villages are a big part of the Vacationland attraction.
This blog post about lobstering in Maine.
Like the agriculture farming and forest timber lifestyles, lobstering or any fishing coastal endeavor takes a lot of discipline. The stakes are high. Long hours too that start early, extend late. There is Maine weather delivered up good, bad and worse.
Fishing in Maine is like farming the waters off the coast using boats, buoys and lobster traps not field tractors and implements.
The Maine lobster market prices up and downs means you have to manage your money well. Your overhead continues no matter how many Maine lobsters crawl into the hauled up watery traps. Like many Maine industries, going bigger to monetize production is the trend. But this blog post on lobstering in Maine focuses on the smaller, family fishing operations.
Videos on lobstering in Maine are the easiest way to deliver the goods.
The promise of the blog post title uses your eyes and ears today. Like lazy man’s lobster where everything is steamed, opened up, cracked and buttered. Need a bib? You better put on a bib. Squirts happen around the lobster feed setting.(more…)
This blog post about adding to the midcoast Maine lighthouse collection, soaking in some coastal harbor life. Have done blog posts before on Maine lighthouses. Over sixty of them to collect and add to the lighthouse photo collections like coins you fit into the currency slots in the tri-fold blue holders. With over five dozen Maine lighthouses, it may take a lifetime to hunt down and capture the all on still film or digital video.
Watch this Mid Coast Maine Harbor Lighthouse Cruise Video.
Winter Maine lighthouse photos are even more memorable when focusing and changing f-stops, exposure settings when you can see your breath.
And your fingers tingle and your perch to shoot from is icy or snow covered. No problem with black flies or mosquitoes though in the dead of Maine winter solitude. Save your sunscreen too as you zip up the parka after you tuck in the wool scarf. This blog post designed to be helpful, to give you fresh content and leave you fed with more community flavor of Maine leaving then you had entering.
The Many Islands Off Maine’s Midcoast… Like Torn Ragged Fabric That Extends Off Bony Peninsular Land Fingers.
Not many tourists around the Maine lighthouses when white stuff is in the air or piling up on the ground.
Vacations during COVID19 are way closer to home now but being in Maine never makes a person feel stuck for travel. The circles you travel are safer, smaller, closer to home during the Coronavirus pandemic. But I can not think of a better place than Maine to be with or without the COVID19 spell that has transformed life as we know it today. We adapt quicker to set backs and work arounds in Maine due to the take nothing for granted with a stay positive approach to our day to day living.
Even ones across the International border into Canadian provinces. The life of someone living in a lighthouse carries a lot of mystic and sea shore history no matter where it is located on the blue and green marble. Lighthouses make you think of the keeper who tends it. But also the naval boat transportation going back and forth around it out on the open water loaded with navigation perils. The reason the lighthouse is located where it is to protect the mariner fisherman, pleasure boats and anything that floats for a boat.
The East Point Lighthouse In Prince Edward Island. One Of Many PEI Lighthouses Due To It’s Island Nature.
The lighthouse no matter where it is a personal passion and each if different for the take away experience.
Visit the same lighthouse but try not just summer and give the other seasons a chance. What a difference colorful leaves, white snow or the greenery make to the same Maine lighthouse visit.
We are lucky to live in Maine where social distancing is much easier due to our sparse population.
Less out of state or country tourists, no cruise ships of passengers crowding down the gang plank these days in the Vacationland called Maine. This past weekend Meg and I used Ocean Point Inn as the discovery point for mid coast Maine. This Me In Maine blog is a hungry child. The blog posts don’t write themselves and need new eye candy, more hunt and peck about new uncovered areas of the state. So lighthouses in Maine around the Boothbay region collected over the weekend to share with you on a blog post today. Take a gander of a few to relish and enjoy. Here is Perkins Island lighthouse located near the coastal town of Georgetown, Maine.
Perkins Island Lighthouse – Georgetown Maine. Pretty Red Lens To Warn Sailors About Rocks.Floating By Perkins Island Lighthouse ME On The Coast Of Maine.
The Kennebec River lighthouse tour promised up to seven of Maine’s finest. East Boothbay Harbor like other small Maine harbor towns quickly adjusted in creative ways to offer safe vacation packages. Everyone wears a mask. No one is crowded in tightly. There is a common sense system in place. Besides plexiglass barriers and hand sanitizers and latex glove stations everywhere you turn, people respect your space. You do the same in return. Here are some more Maine lighthouse images.
Navigational Helpers When Everything Came In And Out Of Maine By Water.Maine’s Pond Island Lighthouse. Helps Ship Avoid Colliding Into One Rather Large Coastal Rock.All Different, Built Uniquely And Over Time. Maine’s Lighthouse Collection Is Impressive. This Is Cuckold’s Lighthouse.Doubling Point Lighthouse… How Many Maine Lighthouses Have You Visited? Before I Leave Earth, Hope To Collect All Of Them. Maine Has Over Sixty Lighthouses To Sample Today!
Where we stayed in East Boothbay At The Ocean Point Inn was staffed by a dozen hard working, friendly trained professionals from Jamaican heritage.
It reminded me of a cruise ship’s International feel because folks from all parts of the World on a big boat are your vacation partners.Rain on Saturday so we zipped over to LL Bean which limited shoppers inside the mother store to just 275 people. The lady with the clicker says hold it, wait on the six foot spacing symbol until someone comes out so you can enter please.
The Famous LL Bean All Season Boot. A Big One At The Mother Store Of LL Bean In Freeport ME
Even without safety barriers, we were brought up in Maine to give other space long before COVID19 arrived.
Manners a big part of it and respect for other’s space is easier when your state’s population is sparse. Our geographic location this far north helps keep the crowds of tourist in easy does it.
With new rain coats, the under layers to brace some coastal winds, Meg and I were ready for Sunday’s cruise up the Kennebec River. The Maine coast line is like a worn out flag fabric. Broken, uneven, jagged and trailing off into the sea. We climbed aboard Cap’n Fish’s big sight seeing boat tour shortly after it floated into its berth at pier eight in Boothbay Harbor Maine. We were hunting for lighthouses, not whales this trip for a spin around the mid coast section of Maine.
All Aboard And Masked, COVID19 Spaced And Then Some. Cap’n Fish’s Coastal Lighthouse Adventures Was Fun And Fruitful. Eye Candy Collected For This Me In Maine Blog Post Edition.
The peninsular fingers or Maine land mass that jut out into the Atlantic Ocean where lighthouses live.
Each bony finger of land mass trails off from the Maine land heading toward over coastal 3000 islands. Those usually down a hill into a Maine harbor communities that are only connected by a water highway to those island jewels are vacation destinations that take eat up time. To wind and weave around twisting up and down narrow highways to access. Most not right off an Interstate 95 exit and not quick to access the further north you push up into the heartland of Maine.
On a map a tourist could think let’s hit a buffet style of several small Maine Harbor towns on each vacation trip.
Not on land you don’t behind the wheel using two, three or four wheels. The travel inland and then back out to sea a little south or north or east of where you start out takes time. Only so much daylight to waste. More precious vacation time chewed up when the weather is not just blue skies and sunshine simple. So plan that your coastal vacations in Maine will be one of many taken over your lifetime.
Some Lighthouses Are Great For Bird Nesting But Just Automated Without The History Or Charm.
To see more mid coast Maine lighthouses among the islands and along the shoreline means park your car.
Find a gang plank. Grab the pair of rails and climb aboard. Climb aboard a boat. Because accessing more than one lighthouse, seeing the sights of more than one island or harbor town in Maine can happen with ease. Your highway is marked by green, red floating buoy channel markers. Watch out for the lobster pots of many colors along the way to whatever the four color tourism brochure promises.
Vacationing along the coast of Maine.
Maine lighthouses are great bait that always catch a person’s interest. Make your target stop long enough to savor what each area offers that you don’t want to miss. And stay loose because the weather patterns in Maine are never predictable or boring. Change is a constant way of life in your Maine outdoor plans during both during work or on vacations.
What other mid coast Maine light houses did we see?
Let me show them to you, the new ones and different angles on old ones in the Maine lighthouse collection. That’s fodder for a future Maine blog post edition. Okay, you want more. Just one more Maine lighthouse. Two small twin ones. Doubling Point Lighthouse.
Take Two, Their Small Lighthouses. This Pair On The Kennebec.
Also saw a house on the coast of Maine where the Wicked Witch of the West spent her leisure time when the broom was turned off and propped in the corner.
She also was known for her coffee commercials. Margaret Hamilton AKA Elmira Gulch AKA WW of the West took her vacations in this red house with the American flag. The one flying in late afternoon we shot a picture of on the way by during our wrap up of the Maine sea cruise.
A Wicked Witch Of The West Spent Summers Here. Maine Cast A Spell On Margaret Hamilton. Who Also Pushed Maxwell Coffee Not Just Flew Blooms And Terrorized Dorothy, Her Little Dog Toto Too.
Vacations, short ones can happen when you live in Maine and are only a few hours away or closer to the peaceful places that enrich your life.
Hope the images from mid coast Maine lighthouses added to the collection and other coast captures planted into this blog post were a worthwhile experience. People are busy and something worthwhile when you take the time to stop by to read a Maine blog post is what all of us are after right? Fresh content on everything, anything Maine is the hungry beast this blog has grown to become. Thank you for following our post.
Let’s face it, there are lots of areas in Maine to love and return to through out the year.
Bath Iron Works, BIW Passed On The Kennebec River Sea Cruise Collection Lighthouse Images.
Many who make these familiar haunts in Maine a regular visit end up relocating to them full time.
Like the snow birds who flock to Florida or southern points to be free of snow shovel use, vacationers check out Maine the same way. You might discover a location in Maine that appeals to you because a friend already hangs out there. And they invited you to try it, you might like it too.
Maine’s mountain hiking and skiing or snow sledding trails are pretty vast and memorable vacation backdrops. The interior farms and lumbering enterprises are a big part of Maine’s heritage too. But coastal water where lobster hide, salty sea breezes and schooner ships gliding by Maine lighthouses are quite the memorable experience for all of us.
Thank you for sampling this part of Maine, around the Boothbay Harbor area like we did last weekend.
Lots Of Fishing, Tourist Boat Rides, Other Industry In The Maine Harbors Of Vacationland.
Hope the mid coast Maine lighthouse images, other photos from this region of Vacationland were enjoyed.
Taking them and writing about the experience sure was. The shoulder seasons are the best time to experience Maine. COVID19 just made the spacing even better for a tourist looking to avoid crowds to hog the surroundings without having to share any.
Everyone needs a vacation and putting them off too long during COVID19 makes a person edgy.
Maine has safe sensible vacation options to rest and relax but at the same time being very careful. To not spread or contract the Coronavirus to others or catch it ourselves. Thank you for staying aboard this long on our mid coast Maine lighthouse tour blog post.
It’s pure and natural and four season beautiful. But somethings are the same no matter where you hang your hat. Minding my own business and the phone in Maine rings. We get those interruptions too. Ever get a call where someone promises you this phone interview should not take long? They act like you are getting an important call you expected. Just a few simple questions and you are free to go. The whoever think tank public opinion pollster they work for on the other end on the signal is never sufficiently identified.
Because both sides of the hurried conversation just want to get it over with quickly.
You because you had other task plans that were interrupted by taking the phone call. The voice from the other end because maybe they get compensated the higher the number per completed interview. And extra points heaped on like the ice cream cherry on top. If they can sway and skew the results in the direction of whoever is funding this rate the following one to five or chose from the following two sides of the coin positions on some trending hot topic.
Working Together, Making Maine Great. It Takes Accurate Information About What’s It Like In Maine To Attract People To Move, Relocate Here.
You know the drill when the telephone is ringing and gotcha, you picked up.
Now what? When neither question options to select from really completely nails it on how do you really feel on this, this and one more question choice. You wonder where are they going with this line of questions? Who wants to know and how are they going to use the poll results?
The interview when it goes on too long can become a had enough situation.
Just get through the questions and you’re not even sure what they are asking after the slur of words as patience wears thin. How much longer? My life is on hold and I’m wasting daylight. That’s the way anyone living or growing up on a Maine farm reacts to costly delays when chores are waiting. Because the simple couple of questions in the poll is not the case. Too many parts to the all important poll questions that just keep coming your way. Had an interviewer doing the poll say “now we move into the part of the survey where we ask you blah blah…” ?
I thought we WERE close to the end and it was going to be like you tell the kids “quick like a bunny”. Whew, I’m off the hook soon. Trying to help the telemarketer pollster. But realizing with a bad taste developing in my mouth. That there is a pattern to the what is being asked and how it is being phrased in the progression of need your opinion inquiries.
The questions try to build a case for some kind of public opinion poll result position for whoever funded this exercise.
You are the witness being groomed for a case by your yea or nay response. Or could be cast away and deemed as not so fun, not so useful on the hunt to find those who are. I guess if 80 to 90 percent of respondents feel a certain way, that influences where you throw your support?
Small Maine Towns Where People Are Closely Knit, Often Times Related.
Mainers are pretty practical independent thinkers. When the end is near and you can smell freedom to get on with your life the answer box checker individual asks would you mind if a reporter calls you? Somehow your answers make you a good candidate for a talking head holding a mic with the bright light to saddle up beside you. For collecting a staged, distilled thought provoking little video clip and a catchy sound bite. Because you and I seem to trust the man on the street a little more than the wisdom of the one in the elected office.
Nothing can rub a true Mainer harder the wrong way either than some of the blog posts or media interviews that try to size up the state based on a very narrow viewpoint.
One that does not represent how those who live here really feel about the Maine experience. What is it like living in Maine. The power of the pen authority you don’t know from Adan applies their own template of good, bad, ugly Maine rating as they try to size up the biggest New England state. From what they find important that it is assumed every other reader agrees with who lives here. Or assuming the reaction they would have by this tour guide trying to save everyone a little heart ache.
But the images used in the post that they not take. Because never been here or it was a whirlwind trip for a few hours, parts of a day or weekend that does not help you size up the what do you think about Maine. The copy is a quick cut and dry that sounds a lot like the shortcomings in other rural state locations they also have a strong opinion on and are not timid about sharing it.
The size it up based on not very much real information from local experiences and lacking interviews with people from Maine that could share valuable insight. Instead, judging the area from a few comment trails in a forum. Filling in with what they don’t know by broad brushing the state of Maine is an overly critical spot light like they were a life long resident.
And they miss the mark about summing up what Maine is like horribly.
But those hunt and pecked electrons hit and run damaging pieces sure do make the rounds on blog posts circuit that continue to come up in search results as gospel.
Outdoor Jaunts On Foot, In A Wagon Or Sleigh Depending On The Season. Mainers Are Outdoors All Four Seasons Touring The Gorgeous Unspoiled Countryside.
Beat the drum louder, longer and remind the reader in search of where to move, where to vacation, anything Maine to make sure your authority is in the Pine Tree state and actually lives here. So they know what they are talking about from first hand grass roots experience. not repeating a myth and acting like an authority when they don’t have much boots on the ground. The landscape changes and gets reinvented so historical perspective helps the explanations you read about when someone is looking for the lay of the land first hand information to base their opinion on Maine.
What’s it like living in Maine and can we hear from those in the Vacationland region in the answers?
What is really important, what matters most for everyone does not come up with the same pat answers. Responses to FAQ about Maine. That shows someone has filled you with a lot of bull or you just need more accurate information to base your decision to move to Maine, to vacation here. Come see for yourself, do your own thinking, draw your own conclusions on Maine.
Points to remember about living here in Maine….
It’s more than quaint sea salt air and rock bound coastal harbor towns with a collection of lighthouses. Maine offers more than a moose sighting and a lobster roll and that concludes the check list of what you come for and then quickly leave. Back over the big arched green iron bridge on the southern end connecting it to the rest of New England and points unknown. Maine is rolling farms, virgin wood forests, wildlife of all types. It is hardworking families, mom and pop small businesses, Maine is small town grateful people. Maine is unspoiled and not over commercialized, the fourth lowest crime state. You don’t experience traffic or waiting around in Maine living. It is low cost real estate, uncomplicated simple living and more hands on DIY. Neighbors helping each other.
Keep your card in your wallet and save the yearly membership dues for roadside assistance. You won’t need triple A to jump start your dead car battery. Just put up the hood and watch five people put on the four way flashers and join forces to give you a hand. To stay with you until a solution to the problem is figured out like you have known them for years. You can trust the down to Earth Mainer who is upbeat and positive and who shy away from whining, complaint or snarky. Because you are wasting daylight, you are not squeezing out of life what is most important that you kid’s pick up and apply to their outlook to pass on to their young ones. What’s it like living in Maine?
Help others and add your talents to make things better than they were.
Meet Your Neighbor In Maine. Shy, Quiet, Usually Four Legged.
Mainers contribute, make themselves useful and don’t feel entitled, are anything but lazy. You will be rescued if ever stranded on the highways of Maine. You too will help others broke down to figure out solutions so they don’t stay that way. Small Maine towns are like that.
We don’t rely so heavily on money to fuel the experience. Mainers are more into using their imaginations, snow shoeing across the white blanketed farm field or through a woods trail. We have it all from clean air, fresh water, a sky loaded with stars overhead and no light pollution.
You will like all pure natural Maine for what she does offer and the even longer list of what you don’t enjoy where you live now in an urban setting. The best of both worlds is to live in small town Maine but plan a trip to a population center to sample and return to simple low cost living for the bulk of your day to day lifestyle pursuits.
The Internet lets folks roam freely and telecommute remotely to online jobs that once kept them limited and tethered to an expensive city locations.
Whether starting a family, retiring after a long career, opening up a business enterprise or just on vacation, you could not do better than Maine. The Canadian provincial connection just adds to the sizzle for a truly International bonus “two nation vacation”.
What’s it like living in Maine?
When you read up on Maine, go deeper than the only been to Portland ME or other coastal town contributors. Or avoid those who have never set foot in Maine nor have any personal experiences to draw from to make it an accurate representation of this great state with all the space, where you can entertain yourself so completely without using a credit card for the artificial retail therapy temporary fix. Here are some community videos of Maine to add to the homework assignment as you glean and surf the net.
Maine is not wall to wall people on top of each other fighting to get you out of their face and space.
Has the nearest city to where you live now outside of the state of Maine started the sprawl in your direction? Is your small town changing in how it used to be back when you enjoyed the community? Maybe it is time to consider where and when you are going to have to face the facts. To relocate to Maine, the way life should be. How much information on Maine do you have and where do you get it? This blog on what’s it like living in Maine tries to shed some light on the topic from a local that grew up here and loves the state!
It’s the little things and you feel the connection living in a small Maine town full time.
Like during a local movie, when you are at the snack bar as the lights dim. The movie coming attractions begin the splash on the silver screen. Before you can maneuver back to wherever you and your clan are sitting in the dark as the inside of a cow theater setting. As you slow to a creep on the tilted runway carpet when you ask yourself “isn’t it right around this row some place where I need to park?”
Maine, Drop Dead Gorgeous. Low Priced Property, Lacking Crime, Crowds, Traffic.
And then you hear a Psst… a whisper from the folks two rows back that nicely help you get your bearings as the lobby bright light wears off. “Andy, next row, one more.” Thank you to film patrons about to enjoy the same flick.
Or tragedy hits, your cat or dog is hit by a car, drowns in a swimming pool, something takes away the family pet. You get a call, neighbors rally to help you with the loss, know who’s cat or dog it is and help you with the arrangements on what do do now. They feel badly to be the one to announce what happened and continue to say a little prayer. To keep you in their thoughts in the tough days ahead.
Or months, years after a loss in a family out of the blue this and that community member who doesn’t need recognition for an act of kindness drops off tonight’s supper. Providing another meal next week because others surprised them the same way when down and out discouraged.
Energy, Promise, Exercise, Discipline, Entertainment In Small Maine Towns! Our Youth Provide It In Maine Communities.
The grateful recipient not sure who is responsible because so many doing the same meal time pitch in and help ritual. Because they have all been in a tough situation and out of the woodwork many hands helped to collectively pick you up from a life low point. And abundant gardens, making two casseroles instead of one happens in a small Maine town household. And someone else is taking care of desert, the bread or another side dish. Take what you need and share the rest. Amen.
Ask for directions when new to a small town in Maine way of living. Folks are super helpful, often say follow me, I’ll tractor beam take you there right now to avoid delay or chance getting lost. But other times the how to get there from here involves old businesses that are long gone. The former building owner is referred to and old names die hard.
In my home town where Western Auto was or Ames or Chain Apparel were located don’t help much in a search when lost. Hannaford is still called Shop N Save when you need groceries. Some remember it as Sampson’s or can mentally look further back because this is and has been their home town for a long long time. Even though University College now takes up that space, not aisles of groceries or Plaza Pharmacy that had a cure for what ever ails you. If your daughter was on birth control pills, a different pharmacy handled the prescription filling for the sake of appearances for your regular druggist I was told by one local who had more than one outlet for medications for a reason.
The Irving Big Stop though is still called Traveler’s with the green snack bar counter tops even though the Texaco brand of gas and diesel have not gushed in the fuel lines for decades. Whoever has been at a business location longest in your memory is who you associate the GPS coordinates giving directions to the tourists.
Where was Panther Fuel again… you know, the building on Bangor Street with the hand painted drawing of a black as midnight cat wearing a chain with the green emerald. The using landmarks long gone can work with a local giving directions. But telling a lost motorists to head past the Miss Aroostook Diner to the Gulf station at the triangle where you turn left to head past Houlton Truck Garage is not so effective when all the landmarks you refer to are gone or renamed.
Maine Community Bands, One Of The Many Perks In Small Communities That “Band” Together.
Small town community members know and trust each other.
They work on local events, some are relatives and attend the same weddings, funerals, family reunion shin digs. Folks know what others are struggling with and it’s not kept a secret. Working together on this activity forces you to know others on a personal level. You know who to call for anything needing attention because you have first hand experience with others in your small Maine home town.
You don’t just know their name, you know how many kids, their names, stuff about them. Who the third owner back was for this house, that home. What used to be in the empty lot that was lost in a fire or just wore out and went to it’s knees like a dinosaur.
Someone is stopped along the road, we slow and roll down the window to ask need help? Jumper cables ready and held in both hands like shocking paddles to get you back in the flow of traffic and moving. Had a mason tell me today about living in Rochester New Hampshire where on the way to a job there was a car on the side of the road with steam pouring out from under the engine hood.
We Should Take This Route Over By Bible Point When President Teddy Roosevelt Started His Vacation Day Hunting / Fishing In Maine. See? It’s Right (Squinting) There On The Trail Map.
He stopped to ask how he could help, what they needed, what was the problem to offer his assistance. The car owner cowered, did not roll down the glass to create the door opening to talk. And wanted him to go away, not trusting him to be of any help with a fearful leave me alone reception shared.
Trying to help lend a hand does not play well in areas where crime is heavy and your sincerity is questioned.
Don’t get involved becomes the order of the day to play it safe for your own survival. To avoid a set up in situations where everything is not as it seems.
Maybe we are naive, too helpful and trusting in a small Maine town. But I am glad we are and it is sad everyone is not no matter where they live on the planet. Always carry a set of battery jumper cables, have a willingness to share a cell phone to make calls. Hide a tow rope in the back to use pulling a vehicle out of a ditch or stuck in a snow bank. Let’s try a bottle of dry gas, pump the hood and let’s hunt for loose wires or an easy fix to the current vehicle problems.
You have front line first hand information on the lay of the land and everyone in it past and present in a small Maine town.
That makes it like David and the sling slot quick to fix and repair a need. To know who you gonna call. In city urban living you don’t know the others on the crowded sea of faces on the sidewalk of asteroids coming at you. And you hunker down, look low and don’t want to, don’t need to, don’t care to because it’s cold and impersonal rules the day.
People care about the individuals in a small Maine town.
The circles we travel are smaller so you bump into people you know more often too. The population is more spread out and the landscape slightly sparse in rural areas. Most of Maine are small, many teeny weenie. A little out of the way on the road less traveled. The locals know why the little league field is named the way it is. Steve Porter was a veteran lost in the Vietnam War who was a heck of an athlete. More than just a solider who gave all.
911 addresses are not used by all who still prefer to call the McSheffery Road the Hogan Road. Most back roads and town streets had another name or two or three in Maine communities. The locals knew the names, the standardization happened for those who did not in Emergency service providing.
Parades For Causes, To Increase Awareness And Show Support! Small Maine Towns Are Like That When Lucky Enough To Live In One.
Working on local fund raisers, sporting events, community projects makes the connection with others in your area even stronger. The connection increases the longer you live in a small Maine town. That’s your ball coach over there, that man in line at the grocery store ahead of you is the son of your town manager. The lady behind you gets a smile, nice day and you receive a comment back about community theater, the canoe race, the upcoming holiday.
Something is discussed with others you meet in your travels to the hardware store, popping into a local business for a product, service repair, whatever. And no one is ignored or avoided in small Maine towns. That would be rude when you do know each other right?
People let others go ahead of them in the banker teller line. They smile, wave, are friendly and seem happy. The elderly shut in are worried about, looked in on and you don’t want them breaking a hip and needing a pin because they slipped on glare ice hidden under a blanker of new white fluffy powdered snow that only makes it more polished and dangerous.
You serve on boards, rotate into new ones and know how small towns rock and roll. You face new challenges together when the economy dips. You share joy in hard fought battles to fix problems and belt tighten where there is waste in public spending. Frugal is not the same as cheap. Nothing sucks the life blood out of a small Maine community faster than duplication of services.
You feel the joys, the pain, whatever happens in a small Maine town as a group, as one unit in this all together.
You know who is driving many of the cars and trucks approaching you on a highway. And instinctively know old Mr. Jackins has poor vision and to give him a wide berth. Maybe pull over to let him pass by with an accident. Plus he is driving a pickup with an angled your direction bright yellow Fisher snow plow blade up front that demands your attention.
You Can Hear Yourself Think! Ever Thought Of Living In A Small Maine Town?
Small rural Maine locations also help you find solitude when loneliness requires it to heal from a loss. They knew your parents, you remember theirs long after they depart this Earth. Everyone pulls together, leans in to begin the steps to process grief when it arrives right on time as it will in any person’s life.
In small Maine towns, you share the joys, experience the low points and have historical perspective on the folks who live two houses over or the next road up in your country location.
You know others from serving on sports or music boosters groups. From capital campaigns to raise money for something very needed in the local area. Working behind the scenes makes you pulled deeper. As the investment in your local community tugs on each and every one of your heart strings.
Is it like that where you live? Do you have this kind of view? Lots of low priced real estate inventory to select from in your area? Do you lack crime, traffic, the sounds of airport jets or EMS vehicles where you call home now?
Hear the live music? Outdoor anything in Maine is memorable because fresh air, sunshine and blue skies are the perfect backdrop.
And the wide open space coupled with friendly people creates the setting for a fun experience in Vacationland. The American Folk Festival held on the Penobscot River Waterfront is one event that started off with a bang and just improves season after season. Several stages to make it a buffet for the two ears on the side of your head. Watch a video for highlights of this years American Folk Festival in Bangor Maine.
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Planning through out the calendar twelve months means the American Folk Festival is always evolving for the next installment in Bangor Maine. Which acts to book, what vendors for food and home made arts and crafts takes a lot of logistics. To create the right mix that tickles all the senses.
American Folk Festival Live Stage Performances! Did You Attend The Folk Festival This Past Weekend In Bangor ME!
I am still thinking of the build a burrito, listening to the blues in my head, enjoying the talks with Maine craft vendors.
Under a moonlit sky on the waterfront feeling a warm breeze shared with my best frien. As we sat on a grassy side hill looking down upon the big stages of performer after performing artist bands! The American Folk Festival is one major bright spot in the on going outdoor live music events to enjoy and to consider volunteering to help make it run smoothly. More images from the Bangor area American Folk Festival.
Thank you to volunteers who have to be tough skinned to keep up the grueling pace as crunch time approaches for another festival in Maine. Who take often more criticism than praise but that’s okay and not why they do it. Maine is hard working individuals in all they do and the local pride shines brightly at whatever event you attend.
Maine has so much talent from through out the state but helping to spread the word on what is happening means we all need to share the news. Festivals around a local community celebration are extra special. And make it more than just a musical performance to take in. Add the local food favorites and meeting the community artisans just adds to the take away from the mix. We all know lots of people on our gift list that need nothing or very little. Makes it hard to be creative until you start sampling the wares at a slew of local vendors of arts and crafts. Some claim to improve your health and the conversation alone is good medicine for the soul.
American Folk Festival In Bangor Maine! No Way It Could Be Kept Free Without The Local Volunteers, Local Sponsors Helping Underwrite The Performances On Stage!
Don’t pick them up the same Wally World or hurriedly order mail order same old same old this year.
Check out the local craft vendors for that one of a kind special gift that they don’t have. That will make them smile because they know you care.
Something to do for fun where many in a small Maine community pitch in and work together to pull it off year after year. It is a lot more fun working an event than just paying for your ticket, showing up with your folding chairs to hit and run done.
Get more involved, receive more out of the event by traveling behind the tent flap into the inner workings of a small Maine community event. Your talents are needed and the people who live in the small rural towns and our handful of cities in Maine are the event. Not the streets, empty buildings along Main Street. Be part of the excitement, the
Welcome To Bangor ME! Home Of The American Folk Festival On The Penobscot River Waterfront!
celebration and local home grown amusement!
Fiddling around. Don’t think summer festivals are over yet. Get outdoors, stay outdoors in Maine!
Check out the County Bluegrass Music Festival this weekend in Northern Maine as one more example of how the performances happen around the clock in the Pine Tree State.
And don’t forget the Springfield Fair happening this weekend too. The 168th Springfield Fair is September 1st and 2nd and is one of the longest running continuous fairs in the country. Thank you for following our Me In Maine blog posts faithful reader.
But her proximity to Atlantic Canada means crossing the International border is so easy and expands your visit to create a two nation vacation. Just roll down your window, ask a few easy questions and hand over the paperwork. Then you are on your way and in another country.
Climb Aboard. The Surf And Turf Guide Tour Of Nova Scotia’s Capital Halifax. The Harbor Hopper Guides On Land And Floats Out Into The Harbor Sea.
Too many blog posts on travel concerning Maine have tried to squeeze the most out of a quick dash 48 hours in and out of Southern Maine. But those blog posts that are directional tractor beam designed to pull from the Boston Metro forget what if you already live in Maine? If you don’t have to fight the traffic in southern New England to waste precocious off time to weave your way carefully in and out of stop and go traffic. To high tail it from a urban city setting to get to wide open rural Maine.
But when you live in Maine, say the center of the state around Brownville Junction, in the area around Milo or Dover Foxcroft, you can easily have some exciting day trips.
You are already in Maine. Not a lot of precious time eaten up just getting into the Pine Tree State and to reverse directions back out quickly. To sample Maine recreational outdoor entertainment before the return to the rat races outside of Maine.
Canada is our friendly neighbor. Mainers are related to those on the other side of the US – Canadian border and we grow up visiting our over home cousins.
Quick t
The Waterfront In Halifax Nova Scotia Canada. When You Live In Maine, Sample Atlantic Canada Is So So Easy, Right Next Door.
rips to PEI happen when you live in Maine. So does travel to Quebec City. And Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Maritime provinces is another international location to vacation as you share what both sides of the border offers.
In my day job I will get asked a lot is it dangerous being this close to Canada when you live on the Maine border.
Heck no. Fear of the unknown when you don’t grow up near Canada may be part of the uneasiness. That is usually caused by statements made by people who have never been to either Maine or Canada. But Johnny on the Spot anyway to give there two cents based on not very much actual knowledge.
“Public Art” … A Sample Of Halifax Nova Scotia. One Corner Of Atlantic Canada In The Maritime Provinces.
Try it out for yourself. Cross that Canadian border and see what awaits near Maine. And the same advice for our Canadian cousins who love to beeline to Old Orchard, Wells, the other beaches especially.
Remember, it is hard to be an expert on a new area if you have not stepped foot in the area. If you have no frame of reference or history to draw from and share with others.
Nova Scotia, New Scotland became self governing in 1848.
Nova Scotia Performers, Some Pop Up As You Travel The Harbor Boardwalk In Nova Scotia Canada.
A half dozen colonial wars created some neat forts and classy armaments to make them effective. More on the early history of Nova Scotia. Seems the Scottish headed to the Cape Breton Highlands and did not fill major portions of the early days if you got an impression from the New Scotland title that things would play out differently.
You’ll see the plaid kilts, hear the bagpipes and think of Brave-heart. When the military demonstrations in the enactments happen at the forts, but Scottish imprinting is not going to hit you everywhere you turn.
You may visit the Titanic wreck cemetery grave site, learn about the harbor explosion a couple years later that caused two thousand deaths, shattered so many windows back in 1917.
See the black and white photos of the heroes in the events that shaped Nova Scotia that are proudly displayed. And like many power
Peggy’s Cove, The Lighthouse Talks To Mariners. To Warn Of Rocks. Lots Of Smooth, Large Rock Formations Softened By The Incredibly High And Low Tide Action.
struggles when new governments want to control who runs a land, Nova Scotia Canada is no different. Had some back and forth pushing and shoving to exert authority among the usual cast of nations with strong naval forces. Read more than the skim that happened when you were a kid holding a history book. Get the page two, rest of the story with the local color, the background of the what, why, where, when.
Halifax, the capital features one very prominent star shaped Citadel used for efficient protection from attackers how tried through out history to take over the government.
The Harbor Sights, Dining Outdoors On The Patio. Sometimes Bikes With LED LIghts Roll Into View.
Victorian public gardens, a harbor boardwalk and ferry service to Dartmouth and other points are just part of the attraction to this area of Atlantic Canada. Adrian the tour guide working with the driver skippering the Harbor Hopper #6 said relations with Dartmouth across the harbor were a little strained.
In his mic presentation while hanging on in the sway of the street turns with his other free hand, he relayed the good news that both communities are lead now under a mayor from Dartmouth. Working together has taken a lot of work but is gaining traction. What was the initial cause of the cold shoulder between the two harbor towns? Something about a ratty looking European vessel that was not allowed in the Halifax Harbor. Turned away so it drifted across the channel, to be secured by thick boat ropes to pilings in Dartmouth.
The Bagpipes, The Drums, The Plaid Kilts, The Local Dress Of Historic Nova Scotia.
Beaches are an attraction in Nova Scotia Canada.
There are over 40 beaches to visit. Being a peninsula and have several offshore islands, Nova Scotia is a playground for paddling in a kayak, splashing in the waves while swimming or just admiring the lighthouses, puffins, seals and all the maritime activities out on the water as you soak up the sun on a sandy beach.
Crystal Beach, Peggy’s Cove are a couple destinations to make sure to visit. When you are a point of land, jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, parked in the Bay of Fundy and have a large collection of islands, you need lighthouses. Lots of them like the one at Peggy’s Cove for example pictured below.
Take it home. Capture it with your camera to help remember the memory making and post those images to entice others to red rover red rover come on over to the land of the maple leaf. Have a waffle cone ice cream and pick up a knick knack for your Christmas tree, a magnet for your refrigerator, a photo for your fireplace mantel.
Remembering The Tragic Cruise Boat Wreck Of The Titanic. Solemn Reflections At Fairlawn Cemetery Halifax Nova Scotia Canada.Peggy’s Harbor Nova Scotia For Sea Food, Rolling Smooth Rock Formations, Salt Air, Sea Breezes.
Sample the sea food, take in the coastal sights, fill your lungs with Nova Scotia harbor marine air. Extreme ocean tides happen in the Bay of Fundy too. Watching whales from aboard a tour boat is just one more vacation option on how best to spend your day in Nova Scotia. Have a tin of pop, some made by a local brewery and sit on a terrace or along the boardwalk taking in the sights. No thank you to the dulse.
Tour the sixteen acre park with ponds, a Titanic small scale boat, flowers of all colors as you sit and reflect on a bench. Tour the public gardens, consider what Nova Scotia was like, is now and where she is headed.
But never forget about the million immigrants who sailed to this new land, a better place. Learn about Pier 21, read and hear about the stories from historic records of those who thought of Halifax as an “Ellis Island” port of entry to a better place.
Lots to sum up and it takes extra time, more trips into Canada to absorb and collect. Which is easier when you are already deep into the heart of Maine for a jump off point.
Come to Maine to vacation but don’t feel you can not straddle the border. Go back and forth. Don’t let the customs and immigration border crossing process hold you back. From missing out what lies on each side of the line. The best of both sides of the international division can be combined for a richer experience when you make time to experience what each country, state, province has to offer.
When vacationing in Canada, feel free to include events and activities on the Maine side of the dotted boundary line too for a true two nation vacation. Post those pictures, share the experience online so others can know the true flavor of both sides of the two nation vacation.
