One lone sea gull. On a rock off the point I live on at a Maine lake.
That white bird usually found along the coastal areas of Maine did not talk to himself. Did not have much for company while summer living is enjoyed by the happy campers on the Maine waterfront.
Maine Lake Loons, Many Other Birds Too On The Waterfront!
But this year was different. He has company. There is lots of chatter. The several sea gulls are very verbal. Or sometimes calm and even silent like Quaker’s meeting has begun another round. No in between. And other birds are visiting the rock reef breakwater jutting out from the peninsula location. That has become like a bird airport.
Different kinds of winged wonders are showing up to be social. To dive bomb fish together with the other birds that hang out sitting on the rocks during all kinds of weather. Low water is the rule of this dry summer where rain is in shortage. And the local farm fields, the streams, rivers, lakes and ponds need the water like the desert needs the rain as the song goes.
I am used to seeing the pesky white sea gulls circling and trolling over Maine beaches.
To eye spy with their little sharp pair of peepers a french fry, an animal cracker, a chip. To swoop, snatch and take it away in the blink of an eye. From a small child who is unaware their snack is under surveillance. These sea gulls don’t dive bomb the lake home.
Maine Lakes, A Resource Shared With Birds Of All Kinds Like Duck Families.
It is not like an Alfred Hitchcock black and white movies that were ahead of their time in suspense building inside the film viewer. You don’t worry about attach or being terrorized.
They don’t seem to care when you set up a pair of chairs at the point of the lake lot. To observe, to watch more closely the interaction and hear the spirited exchanges. That make you wonder what is the topic of communication that causes so much chatter among the winged wonders.
Just like when Maine loons cry a series of sounds late at night when you lay your head in the bed and enjoy the summer lake breeze. Dreaming about what to do tomorrow around the Maine lake setting. As you wait patiently for the sand man to deliver his magical medication you can not get over the counter.
Sea Gulls On Maine Lakes! They Don’t Just Entertain On The Coast Line.
The bald eagles flying by and fighting in mid air over a fish happens too.
One rolling over high overhead. Attacking with talons pointed up and hooking in underneath the other mid flight. That still happens. Fighting over a fish. Music and tunes of all kinds of Maine birds. The loons especially are famous for that lake serenade.
The mother loon with the babies growing big and strong as they glide by like the ducks quacking as the young draft. Paddling for all they are worth to keep up with Mom and hoping for a bread supper. From a camper not warned what happens when you start the habit of feeding them.
And what other kinds of lake birds add to the experience. Those pretty, graceful but dreaded Canadian geese that can plague a Maine lake lot. The birds on a Maine lake are a big part of the entertainment on the waterfront. If living there or just visiting the fun kind of h20 Maine has plenty of to share. The waterfront that is always crystal clear and uncrowded. Cormorants in pretty midnight black stealth colors touch and go land out front the Maine lake retreat too!
Herons On Maine Lakes. They Show Up To Entertain The Happy Campers.
The little brown sparrows, the barn swallows, the red breasted robins hopping for worms. The brilliant color humming birds too show up daily for sweet to eat treats of floral nectar.
All the aviators on their rounds like heron, other birds that made me reach for a book on the subject of water feathered fowl. The sea gulls surprise me this far north from a sandy ocean beach. Anytime I am used to seeing a number of them was in a coastal setting of Maine. Like say Wells Beach, Maine. Or at the local McDonalds hanging around the golden arches. Mickey Dee’s french fries are a crowd pleaser and a bird weakness addiction it appears.
The crickets, lightning bugs, the bull frogs tune up as the sunset turns the sky to dusk and then a velvet sky backdrop of millions of stars. No light pollution to spoil the sparkle as you sit and reflect in front of a glowing, snap crackle pop camp fire ring.
Maine is wide open space, vast woods, clear farm fields and rolling pastures. Clean water, fresh air, and plenty of unspoiled space. Not as many people, boat loads of wildlife. Heron pictured resting his wings as he surveys the Maine lake for fresh fish dinner prospects. Other birds compare notes, share the rock reef grapevine in front of where I am lucky to spend summers on a Maine lake.
The tourists who wander into your small Maine town.
Looking to see a Maine moose, dine on lobster or a bucket of steamed clams. To get a t-shirt or nick nack labeled Maine. There is more that your Maine tourist is after after they cross the big green bridge on the south end of the Pine Tree State. The shift from cookie cutter tourist traps with all the franchises, a sea of sameness is not what your traveler is after these days. Too many other places peddling that out there in the wild blue yonder. Slinging the hash with the same tired buzz lines on pick me, pick me to vacation.
Small Rural Maine Communities. The Lifestyle Day To Day, Culture And Heritage Are What Tourist Travelers Want To Sample.
Unique, fresh, real is sought after in every experience all of us seek out today right? Like watching re-runs, something new and different always trumps same old same old. Give me something new and different please.
Maine is all over “it is not like this anywhere else.” You’ve heard the slogan “Maine, the way life should be.” So preserving, capitalizing on the small Maine town rural lifestyle. What makes the small community special and stand out. It starts with the locals realizing how lucky they are to just live full time in a low crime, little traffic setting. With all this natural unspoiled beauty and friendly helpful people. There is an intimate connection in a small Maine town where folks work together to create the sense of community. People wave, smile, help out and know “if it is to be, it is up to me.”.
It is not like that in a city back drop where eye contact and personal interaction is avoided at all costs. Where underlying fear is just part of the stress of living with all these people in your face. Trying to negotiate a crowded sidewalk face with a sea of faces coming at you in all directions like asteroids. And road rage. Those hand gestures are not waves.
What’s the best way to create the local home town pride re-energized?
Two weeks of therapeutic living in a blighted urban population center. Get on the bus, round up the locals of Maine, make the wheels go round and round. Jam lots of people way way too close together in a smelly, noisy, too many shadows of a cold, not so friendly concrete jungle and watch out. Stand back. See what happens as tempers flare, respect is lost and personal living space is invaded. Then bring back those transplanted rural locals from the shell shocking of the city living. They won’t forget the contrast and count their blessings on what we do have, what we don’t that makes Maine a jewel. And the locals will be grounded. To begin again to count the reasons why they are country mice in rural Maine small towns. And making it fun, affordable, casual for those visiting it. Maine fun is outdoors. Low or no cost once you get here. That is what the high cost of living vacationers with strapped out of town finances want. What overbooked, worrisome travelers seek to unplug and recharge when they dial in the relaxation mode considering Maine.
Like anywhere, there are Mainers who will bitch and complain about everything from the weather to the cost of tea in China. Not the buzz to relay, not the signal to send to attract a tourist best. To convey the notion that this place is worth spending some time and money. Deep down in the gray matter they call themselves died in the wool Mainers with a strong constitution. To tackle anything coming down the pike. But they forget why they live here due to discouragement that dims the resiliency. Some natives just resist change as they cling to the past as they growing older.
What We Do For Fun, Tourist Want To Tap Into The Local Community Lifestyle That Is Refreshingly Real And Natural.
When you grew up and enjoyed prosperity in a small Maine town. Then erosion happen to the simple way of life. And you witness the hustling, bustling, thriving small Maine town rural economies drying up. Combined with the cost of living escalating. It is easy to lament and have a pity party. To wonder what happened.
Some habitually start to whine without knowing it. And without adapting, re-tooling mentally to approach the local economy differently. It is easy to forget what you liked than made you stay in the small Maine community. And when some of those elements are missing you can start humming the should I stay or should I go Clash song.
Where to put the energies collectively as a small rural Maine town, to be a good ambassador to the area.
Beat the drum loudly. What you want, what your tourist is after. It’s not always a topic where agreement on testy topics scores very high. What you want to see take place in a small Maine town may not be realistic. Due to small numbers in the population to underwrite expenses. And the need to have volume to monetize the endeavor. Everything runs on a business chassis and the small Maine town economy is no different. Otherwise, last guy or gal out shut off the lights on Main Street in small downtown communities.
Remember the joy of life as a kid on a school recess yard playing? Getting along and having fun should not be lost on youth. Our adult attitude, thinking about putting your best foot forward and preserving what we do have to brag up. Making a list. Preaching and seeing to it that everyone is promoting the same local attractions. Getting excited first yourself so it oozes out in all you say, do, fell. Adding to the list with anything missing that your tourist is after. Not just what you want but what they seek that other areas offer. Capitalize on that. What f you were in the moccasins of a new to the area, passing through your burg tourist. Become that character in the local audience.
Nothing like a steady flow of tourist dollars into the local coffers to improve a small Maine town community. As long as the down home simple nature of the small Maine town is not totally revamped. And the live and local is lost in the process.
No Walls, No People, All Real And Natural. Bask In That Vacationing In Maine. That’s What Attracts Maine Tourists.
The winds of change, what is today’s traveler to Maine now after?
What they have lost in their area and is no longer seen. An experience with agri-tourism is part of the splash. Heritage tourism. Re-living the past in farmers museums part of the show and tell to someone brand new to the area of Maine where you hail. The rich folklore of lumber camps, timbering vast forests when timber was king. The fishing and hunting haunts. The recreational trails of Maine that dot the map need to be easily found, heavily promoted. Interstate connections have to be as strong as possible for the tourist to stay in touch online.
Attracting Maine tourists. The natural lure to tangle and tease is the eye candy imagery. Promoting outdoor natural activities like a river canoe or kayak race that just don’t happen in pollution centers. Where the crowd of people have to spend their time staying safe, their heads above water financially paying for this, that and the simmering stress demanding some vegging out time in Maine. Where it can be so quiet that you do hear yourself think. Where wildlife habitats can soothe the stings and scars of the price paid for city living. That does not come without a cost.
The local food, the yarn stories shared with tourists about how the local turf runs, how the small Maine town got to this point along the way. History of the area is rich and rewarding if shared with a local person to person. Not a few lines machined and printed on the four color brochure that was not written by a local resident of the small Maine town. Tell me, show me why you live in the small Maine town. Let the tourist consider if they did and they will return when treated like they already live here. Brag up big wigs who for years have trot trotted from Boston and beyond to Maine.
Getting into the habit of really wanting to help the brand new to the community tourist. The ones who ask for directions or to get the insider tip on where is a good place to eat, to stay. Answering the “what do you do for fun” question with a slew of suggestion for the traveling through your area tourist. Give him or her, their families reasons for hanging around.
By saying and meaning it sincerely after you provide the local information. With a smile, “I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay in my corner of Maine.” A good habit if you really believe to have friends you need to be one. So the stranger is not one for long because of a gracious glad you are here feeling conveyed to them. That shows you the local are pretty darn happy and you know it. Clap you hands. Stamp your feet. (Now that song is stuck in a loop in your head. S0 sorry. Really)
It’s never been a better time to be a small rural Maine community that steps it up to attract more tourism dollars. Heck the bottom of the Maine license plate made at the state prison is the black and white reminder. “Vacationland” is thee nickname of Maine for a good reason, adopted many moons ago.
The Old Traditions Should Be Preserved And Promoted. Small Maine Towns Don’t Benefit From Forgetting Their Cultural Roots Which Helps The Tourism Dollars Bottom Line.
What made, still makes the small Maine town great? It takes critical thinking and getting ready for tourism to help the process along. And not trying to make the rural, sparsely populated placed thrown into the ring. To go toe to toe with a larger city approach to tourism. We are not in the same weight class and compete different. We hold different marketing cards to play in the game of tourist attraction. That many other small Maine towns are around the same poker table. After those same tourists to come see ME, my area of Maine.
We did have a number of Phish concerts in Northern Maine at the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone. But to attract those kinds of numbers to shake and grove to Maine on a large B-52 size runway through out the year is probably not realistic. Chalk Dust Torture in the winter with hands overhead swaying even with legalized pot is not going to happen.
Discussions locally on what we should be pushing for and what would or not work can go poorly. If you disagree and point out why. Not everyone respects your difference of opinion when discouraged and looking for a quick fix. A bandaid for a gunshot wound. Because they see the small Maine town as something it is not. Instead of what it is capable of sustaining with manpower and dwindling available dollars. Where the small town or regional area of Maine could shine brightly if a different, collectively agreed upon direction is taken. It takes many late night meetings and heated discussions. A plan Stan that gets launched and modified with tweaks along the way.
Jack Dempsey, Ted Williams, Teddy Roosevelt, Stephen King, Martha Stewart, The Bushes On The Compound At Walker’s Point. Lots Of Celebrities Pick Maine For Fun And Casual Vacationing. Play That Card In The Tourism Promotion.
Don’t wait for government to fix it or adjust the “sales” to foster more Maine tourism. It takes individual grass roots effort on the local level to step up and take on the volunteering. You have to have the locals buying in and knowing leadership is on the right path.
To invest in small tourism-fueled businesses to make the Maine rural town a destination starts with what are your strengths and weaknesses. What are you selling. And not for the entire vacation week or long weekend of the tourist. But partnering with other areas. To catch the traveler coming and going.
Maine is lucky to be next door to Canada, to make it a two nation vacation. Local food, local attractions and a connection to the lifestyles of local people is what they want. They get bored if they don’t get fed that. Share the tourist and building their trip with other in-state and out of country partners over home eh? To get them to return for more. It is more than one visit we are after right boys and girls? Make it a habit. Let the tug on the heartstrings of Maine be a strong one. That vacation falls in love with Maine’s allure hook, line and sinker. And does not care at all that they are powerless to stay away from her charms.
Know House Thomaston Maine Is One Big Residence With Rich History, Plenty Of Bedrooms.
They like it, they love it, they want some more of it like the song suggest. They don’t know why but the small town promoting it’s best features does.
The traveling tourist want to see the small rural towns, handful of cities in Maine the way they are. Putting on the tourism goggle to see the local area the way someone who has never been here before does. That critical look through the lens makes it clear where to push the tourism promotion levers.
If we already have visitors coming to fish, bike, hike, hunt, river raft, and relax, keep banging the drum geared for that audience segment. Keep spreading the word and tapping the social media channels about wildlife, clean water, fresh air and all this natural four season space.
Without that tourism lens put on, though, it is easy to miss the value and opportunity of the traffic that outdoor recreation already generates. To see the subtle differences all the areas of Maine offer to the tourist. Like what happens when you venture into say Downeast Maine. The culture, heritage and real day to day not something spun or artificial slick is what the Griswald’s are after to experience on a family vacation to Maine.
When you live in Maine, sampling the Canadian provinces are low hanging fruit.
Handy, so sweet of a connection to our families and traditional vacations is our Canadian neighbor because we are related on both sides of the International border. Tourism works best when promotion of what is around your burg is incorporated into the vacation message right? More to offer when you join forces with what is around you for attractions for new to the area visitors.
Vacations built around more than one stop like a cruise ship hop to three or more islands, a travel buffet never fail to excite in my opinion.
Prince Edward Island Flags, You See Many Waving To Show The Island Pride And Patriotism.
So when you are vacationing, off the clock and heading up into Maine.
To Houlton to connect from the Interstate 95 to the Trans Canada travel corridor or boarding a ferry to cross the Atlantic from a Maine seaport harbor, Prince Edward Island could be the province of choice. And be sure to hit the duty free stores near the border entries to save on taxes.
There are lots of taxes on top of taxes layered and attached to whatever you purchase for goods or services in Prince Edward Island, in all of Canada.
More on the tug of war for Prince Edward Island and where the heavy duty fighting happened. When the English took the island from the French and Acadians were driven from their home.
Surrounded by sapphire blue water, a level to rolling landscape of lush emerald green vegetation, the trademark fertile red ruby soil, Anne of Green Gables helped open the tourism door wide on Prince Edward Island. Writer Lucy Maud Montgomery had five publisher rejections before literary success. Her heart was broken when she left her home of Prince Edward Island and went to interior Canada.
Map Of Ship Wrecks Around Prince Edward Island Canada. Lots Of Lighthouses Too Help Sailors Deliver Their Goods And Passengers.Lots Of National And Provincial Parks. Celebrating 150 Years Of Independence And Free Access In Many Cases.
So Prince Edward Island Canada, what about a crash course to consider, what to expect with a vacation visit to the surrounded-by water Atlantic Canadian Province?
So here goes, the simple history, the highlights of what to expect if you hop from Maine across New Brunswick.
To travel across the Confederation Bridge, that’s eight miles long, spans Norththumberland Strait, and completed in May of 1997.
The bridge called by locals the “fixed link”, this engineering marvel cost a billion dollars. Removing the cumbersome and expensive ferry delivery of tourists and goods from the sea. The bridge is easier for the to and from the Canadian island that a tad bigger than Delaware. Population roughly 146,455 the last head count.
Chasing The White Dimpled Ball On The Golf Links Of PEI. Fore!
The concrete Confederation Bridge takes roughly twelve minutes to cross unless weather interferes with the traverse.
Prince Edward Island has several smaller islands. Is one of a trio of three Maritime Provinces.
The smallest in land acreage or hectares when a head count is taken or everyone in PEI asked to raise their hands.
An acre is about 0.4047 hectare and a single hectare contains about 2.47 acres. More coastline for building castles, reading a book or napping. For shoreline walks, a setting of red dunes, soft sand as far as you can see. Being a big island, with all this water, talk about beaches in PEI.
PEI has lots of nicknames, “Garden of the Gulf,” “Birthplace of Confederation” or “Cradle of Confederation”, the latter label referring to the Charlottetown Conference in 1864, although PEI did not join the Confederation until 1873.Which happened because the United States was crowding PEI to come on board in Uncle Sam’s Imperialism efforts.
In 1872 PEI became the seventh Canadian province. Taking on railroad debt, paying off absentee landlord expenses both helped push PEI into the Canadian provincial collection.
Life Is A Beach, Prince Edward Island Has One Long Continuous Beach With It’s Delaware Sized Island Design.
The big contributor to the PEI economy is farming; the island produces over a quarter of Canada’s potatoes.
Lots of strawberry fields too! Historically, PEI is one of Canada’s elder settlements and demographically still reflects older immigration to the country. With Scottish, Irish, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon and French topping the population mix. Tourism, fishing, farming all pour money into the local Prince Edward Island economy.
Lobsters and mussels in the deep around Prince Edward Island are pretty tasty. You have to have the waitress slide the plate order of heaping fresh caught fish and chips in front of you during your visit. The black and white cows create stellar dairy products. PEI tales the Holstein cows pretty serious.
The green pastures with red soil, cows grazing next door to cottage settings overlooking the dark blue water.
It creates the perfect surf and turf setting. Plenty of corn fields, strawberry patches too. With the latter providing the options of boxes filled to the brim or you pick the succulent fruit yourself.
There are roughly 231 islands around Prince Edward Island. Deep sea fishing is big when you are surrounded by water water water everywhere and lighthouses. The fresh sea air and visiting new places on your vacation to Prince Edward Island improves the appetite. The fiddle music helps your mood because I was brought up with half of the few TV channels available off air were beamed in from Canada.
Everything from Stompin’ Tom, Don Messer, Time For Juniors and all the new toe tapping musical talent.
Time it right and you get to hit a music festival in Prince Edward Island featuring local artists. More on PEI music and the link to see traveler photos. Which always makes the presentation authentic and so much more genuine. Maine has it’s own version of fiddle music.
The Inside Home Of Anne Of Green Gable Setting You Can Tour At Prince Edward Island.
After you take in a show, enjoy a sit down or take out meal, even buying a pack of gum or wire cart full of groceries.
The local service providers everywhere in Prince Edward Island are extremely friendly. They often say “enjoy your stay”. You do get the feeling they are glad you came to their Atlantic Canadian Island. That they enjoy, love it so much and sincerely hope you will too.
How do you get here questions, what should I do tomorrow suggestions are always provided as if you know the person. With the connection maybe because as a local Mainer, spending lots of time in Canada with two hockey playing boys, it feels like old home week. Familiar, maybe because our relatives did the same decades before and the traditional visit to Canada continue just as our red maple leaf neighbors come over to Maine through out the year.
The places to stay are many in PEI. The days of just camp grounds, tents before the abundance of cottages rental options are over. The cute cabins in a row down a hill with ocean view or near amusement parks like the Sandpit are many.
The view at dusk driving down Route 6 in the town of Cavendish and the feeling of being on top of the world, with a panoramic water enclosure around you is one you don’t forget.
The Value Of Sea Glass, Never Thought Of What Is Most Rare, What Is Common In Colors, Shapes Of Sea Rubbed Jewels.
Some places you travel in the World have amazing water views on a vacation down along the limited, over marketed beach sections. But it’s not like in PEI, should come as a surprise. When you consider it is endless beaches being one big farming island here is in PEI.
The views never let you forget, constantly remind you where you are. On the ocean front any angle you slowly pivot. Views not limited in PEI because of the center elevation. Added together with all the open level to rolling working cleared farm ground. Not just wooded land, endless forestry trees that can hide the water views if an area is lucky enough to have them to brag up.
The pride in the PEI landscape, around the neighborhoods makes everything appear ship shape tidy too.
You don’t see housing blight or messed up yards with trash and treasure littering it. There is bottle bill like Maine.
The average income coming in around $62,000. Low crime in PEI and the third highest standing for home ownership in Canada. Lots of construction housing and commercial building starts dot the island as you travel look around driving PEI.
The Circle Of Water That Showcases, Frames Your Visit To Prince Edward Island. Get The Picture?
The big new Confederation Bridge was a kick in the pants to crank up the economy several notches.
The bridge removed the standing around kink in the travel hose. The wait your turn on the ferry to get to the land of trademark red dirt. You see wind generators standing tall and straight just like in Maine but in Prince Edward Island, most of the power juice comes in from a submarine cable plugged in securely back in New Brunswick.
Anne Of Green Gables Home, Where The Red Pig Tailed Eleven Year Old Grew Up On A PEI Farm.
After seeing and touring the inspiration for all the Anne of Green Gables literary contributions, you can’t help but wonder if Lucy Maude Montgomery would have lived longer than 67 years if she had never left Prince Edward Island.
I think her heart was broken after writing about the place she loved so much, described so well.
Stroll through the haunted woods, silver lakes, study the black and white family images along with the farmstead setting that sticks in your head. Along with her original typewriter under glass as you meet the freckled character of Anne herself with her strawberry red hair in braids under her trademark hat pushed back on her head.
Lots Of Beaches, Plenty Of Red Sand Surrounds The Coastline Of Prince Edward Island.
I asked her trolling the barnyard before going into the media room of the cedar shingled barn to watch the video of her creator’s life how her day was going.
In character she quickly retorted “I imagine as well as anyone’s day, I suppose”. And then adding a zing question of her own. Firing back about how my day was going as if to say how do you like being interviewed by an eleven year old. Turning the tables. While on vacation on a hot summer day near the end of the calendar month of July.
The Anne Of Green Gables books set in 1908 were considered a children’s novel series but are loved by all ages around the World long after the death of Lucy Maud Montgomery in 1942.
And marketing of everything from golf courses to raspberry cordial around the Anne of Green Gable theme.
Anne Of Green Gables, Prince Edward Island’s Champion Created By Lucy Maud Montgomery.
More on Basin Head Provincial Park in Prince Edward Island. I was told at the lighthouse in Souris the town’s name is French, meaning mouse. The town had a heck of a rodent problem when first settled and the name stuck that described it best at the time. The kitchen crew and gift shop staff at both lighthouses were very informative and friendly. The locals share their home very graciously, in a low key no pressure way.
Help on planning your travel to PEI. Have an PEI blueberry ice cream or whatever black and white bovine themed multi scooped from Cows Creameries many locations around Prince Edward Island.
The head of government of PEI has its HQ set up in Charlottetown.
During our time vacationing in Prince Edward Island we stayed in Rusticoville, PEI. The location on the water in Prince Edward Island which was really New Glascow, PEI. Like small towns in Maine, many are packaged under the umbrella of one size fits all zip coding. Lower population small rural town areas rattle and hum like that.
There Is No Bad Time For Ice Cream. Moo Delicious When Fresh And Local PEI Cows Create It.
Deep sea fishing, taking in local musical and theatre productions.
All the national / provincial parks with hiking, biking, kayaking. Plenty of these red sand beaches protected by dunes with sea grass holding the terrain together.
Something for everyone and it’s your vacation to let go and rewind right? To unplug and recharge from the work work work.
Prince Edward Island, in the Atlantic Canadian Province surrounded by water, in the Gulf Stream, the St Lawrence. One extended stop to add to your travel channel if you dial up the Atlantic Ocean. When you make Maine a two for one nation vacation. Ask any Mainer if there have Canadian blood in their lineage and don’t be surprised test positive eh? And no, it is not dangerous being this close to Canada living in Maine.
Maine. Everyone wants the inside track when exploring a new unknown area right?
It’s pretty important. To become familiar with the lay of the land whether in Maine or wherever you roam. To avoid time frittered away and for the best experience in Maine to be enjoyed. So a guide to living, visiting Maine, one of those that is not full of ads and more fluff than substance. Who wouldn’t want one of those kind of guides to Maine? To connect the dots. Chart the course.
Sea Food Always Welcome With Hot Coffee, Mirco Local Brews, Whatever You Slurp Fixed The Way You Like It Best!
To develop the guide to living in Maine for the fast track and to avoid wasting time of a precious short vacation would be a popular post or publication.
If you follow the Me In Maine blog you will see in a scan of the posts that being grateful living here and why is part of the hunt and peck. But also, saving time and being a resource for new to the many moving parts of Maine is an ongoing approach. To be part of what is fed and added to the post channel of this living in Maine blog series.
But to post the ABC’s to new visitors to Maine means in what topic, covering what subject? The needs are wide and topics to cover are vast. Because only an insider, a local living in Maine could share what a stranger would want. And in the particular region of Maine that you are needing the information that is custom coded to that section of Vacationland. For example, Downeast Maine, what you would enjoy knowing early on before you arrive at the town limits could set expectations, would save time too.
One Beach Is Not Exactly Like The Next. This One In Maine In Kennebunkport At Dusk.
But simple things first when considering heading to great state of Maine.
If you moved to Maine, when do you have to get a license from the Pine Tree State. Thirty days to get your new Maine driver’s license. To convert the out of state one you have for the one you as a resident of Maine need to be carrying.
A travel guide to Maine. But not just for vacation in Maine use. If you are retired, the income follows you over the state line. If not you need employment, a page explaining jobs in Houlton Maine and where to look could save time and money. A different area of the state of Maine would need another portal post to update current employment options and listings. Maine is a big state remember? And most of it is small rural communities scattered around the Maine country side. And not all with fully stocked chamber of commerce local information portals that are constantly fed or updated.
No Motel 6, No Howard Johnson Or Day’s Inn Back When In Small Maine Towns. Lots Of Local, No Franchise Chain Hotels To Stay in Northern Maine Towns. Or Lake, River Cabins. Inns, B&B’s To Sample The Flavor Best Away From The Interstate 95 Corridor.
Travel guides for Maine would be the start to the hit or miss visits that could develop into longer more permanent stays. The local posts on blogs written by native and transplanted Mainers are much more helpful than the paid for, four color glossing flyers. That’s publication size depends on the number of advertisements that the copy flows around.
Looking for helpful information takes time. So many websites and blog posts but fluff. It means lots of time spent searching to get what you are after and coming up empty handed on travel guides that hit the spot quickly.
Visit Maine is a good starting point. The Maine.gov site is pretty helpful too for drilling down to get a good basis to your Maine 101 knowledge base. But helpful advice, tips from an insider to Maine happy to share what the locals know and the outsider misses.
I have had my fill of the commercial sites that preach the top ten this, the pick of the pack of Maine locations for that.
Most don’t get inland from the southern coastal regions of Maine. Or above Waterville or August Maine up the pike in the dots on the map that outline the best this or that. You have to travel further north, you have to head to deeper sections of the inland of Maine. To sample her natural richness, the genuine real Maine without the commercial spin.
Maine. To see first hand, up close and personal the cream of the crop, best of the bunch list you draw up yourself. For what you like best, for what you seek out over and over in Maine favorite spots you vote for… that you uncover on your own over time. Not the list some advertising editor who has never set foot in Maine . But makes the claims as if he or she has been all over Maine all their life. Like they trying to play off as a local Mainer chummy. Just a little too slick, a lot out of kilter to what being in Maine is really like.
Maine Is Real, Peaceful, Not Crowded. One Of The Lowest Crime States.
The travel guide to Maine. It better be the local perspective, the spin on any question posed about anything Maine from the insider who lives, works, plays here.
Wouldn’t that be the most helpful? Low key and conversational. Easy to digest. When nothing slick or paid for opens up the communication back and forth. And you get the raw truth on any matter that is on your mind needing attention for questions that should be answered better sooner than later.
The View At Your Picnic In Maine. It Adds To The Home Made Taste Of Whatever Is Packed Away In The Handled Basket.
Welcome to Maine. Learn about Maine history. I live in Northern Maine. But try to venture out to other sections in Maine for my own curiosity and to share what I discover. In say Kennbunkport Maine to sample some summer sea air and beach sand.
Or over to Sugarloaf USA to winter snow ski. Or take a spin to Bar Harbor Maine to see what you are missing. That will make you return again and again once the heartstrings are tugged on sufficiently, consistently. I know many families who pick Old Orchard or Wells Beach as their life long venue for vacations in Maine.
And this just in. Didn’t you get the memo? Don’t forget we border Canada here in Maine and are related to the over homers eh? Ever been to Atlantic Canada traveling through Maine for the two nation vacation? Or to Quebec. “new France” traveling via Maine? Heading to the red soil, the beaches of Prince Edward Island Canada in a week and will snap capture the images. Will be sure to post the local information about PEI! Right next door to Maine.
Welcome to Maine.
The people are down to Earth, hardworking, friendly. Explore Maine. I pledge to continue to add to the online knowledge to glean whatever you can to prepare for your next maybe your first trip to Maine. I love where I live and the state that is big, beautiful called Maine is my home. No secrets kept. Where I grew up and raised my four kids is an open book. This blog post series hopefully serves as a travel guide for Maine vacations, maybe more. Get to Maine as often as you can. That’s how you get to know her best. Spend time here.
Maine is known for her vast wide open farming operations, her immense wooded lumbering tracks that cover 91 percent of the land mass.
No one can forget the Maine rugged, rocky bound coastlines and her lighthouse collection. All these lakes, ponds, twisting and winding rivers. All that tasty seafood from the deep along the islands and harbor towns that put Maine on the map. Sample some. Visit the Old Port section, the only a handful of cities that offer more urban settings. To contrast her mostly rural ones in this great state of Maine. Stay tuned for more on living, getting around Maine easier. With an insider tip or two, with advice and posts from a native of Maine who likes to blog about life here. I promise to share the tourist information the publications don’t have space for and leave out that is critical for the deepest experience. To set your realistic expectations about your next visit to whatever region of Maine beyond the popular tourist trap haunts.
Baxter State Park, one beautiful gem that awaits the visit, return trip
I know lots of people who make it a habit to hike Mt Katahdin and the many other trails around the state’s highest mountain. That do the up and down taking different trails to make it new and different. That hike Mount “K” a couple times a year.
Baxter Park, Have You Hiked Any Of The Peaks? Been To The Top Of Mt Katahdin, Maine’s Highest Elevation? How Many Times?
There is something about seeing the snow capped mountain while driving a car and imagining the winding trails that lead to the top from a distance. Baxter State Park, Mt Katahdin like the state of Maine tugs at your heart strings once you get close enough and fall in love with the many outdoor facets of Maine.
Mt Katahdin is the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, was the pride and joy of Governor Percival Baxter who back in the 1930’s made it a life long mission.
To set up, protect and preserve this granite intrusion in unorganized Vacationland. That is far from the standard tourist traps of shop til you drop, so many eatery options coastal Maine is famous for attracting visitors. There are a slew of hiking options, elevations of all sizes and design. But Mt Katahdin that is the centerpiece of Baxter State Park.
To be kept forever wild. Baxter State Park was a gift from Governor Percival Baxter, starting with 6000 acres and ending up over 201,000 acres donated to the people of Maine. Baxter spent his personal fortune over 32 years creating the dream that became a popular vacation destination for many hikers, campers, wildlife enthusiasts. Baxter was a true public servant through his life. There has been an effort to make the state facility into a national park like Acadia is Downeast. More on the latest in the debate about Baxter State Park becoming a national park.
Baxter State Park, Local Jewel Created By Governor Percival Baxter Back In The 1930’s!
When the conversation topic comes up on whether keep the park the way she is or make Baxter State Park a national one, the same talking points are hashed over.
The land preservation plan if you want Baxter to become a national park promise a boost for the local economy. For Millinocket that not longer enjoys the steady rattle and hum of many paper making machines lubricating the open and shut of local cash registers. The high paying paper jobs, the trickle down spin off from them are gone leaving a one big sucking sound. One huge gaping employment hole in the region. All the employment eggs in one basket with little diversification did not help either when Great Northern Paper went to its knees.
Baxter State Park.
Forever wild, protected, deeply loved. Those against the move to make Baxter change designations from state control to national status will mean further government control shuts down local industry and hurts future growth. The land that makes up Baxter State Park in Picataquis County is a landscape that inspired early conservationists from Henry David Thoreau to President Theodore Roosevelt. It is a hotly debated topic, right up there with the legalization of marijuana for medicinal or recreational use. When you pull into a gas station to refuel. Running in to settle up and grab something cold to drink or a snack to munch on. You hear it in the grapevine in public places being discussed. The local newsprint and online recycled electrons media streams bang the drum on the subject of how best to classify Baxter State Park.
Baxter State Park, Ever Camped There? Hike The Trails And Explore Mt Katahdin, The Other Peaks.
Regardless of the park’s demise and whatever her designation status, plan that trip to Baxter State Park.
Take the little ones up Horse Mountain, 1400′ high and first on the list to cut your teeth. To develop the bug to hike for life. The Katahdin Loop Trail is over 9 miles long. You want to start early and keep in mind the clock is ticking. See the sights, the wild flowers, the long vistas along the way, all the animals that live at Baxter State Park.
But be prepared for a rugged Knife’s edge that sprewls granite boulders haphazardly to the sides. Creating the long narrow pathway at the top, after you reach the table land above the tree line. Where there is no place to hide from the wind, up high where the eagles soar.
The Saddle Trail has some steep sections too and the more tedious sections of your hike up Mount Katahdin will be above the tree line, where you are exposed.
Meet The Locals At Baxter State Park! Mister Moose May Continue To Eat, Ignore You Or Could Smile For The Kodak Moment. Everyone Wants, Needs To See A Moose When They Visit Maine.
Where everything is out in the open, windy, and a long way down as you crank your head around. The trail ascent and descent demand your respect, to watch your step. You won’t have trouble sleeping the night after the hike up and down Mt Katahdin.
There is nothing like reaching the top and watching the clouds drift by a mile up on Maine’s tallest peak. But stay hydrated, bring something warm and breathable for clothing for the trip up and down whatever peak you are determined to master every given day.
Baxter State Park.
Make the visit part of your family tradition for the exercise, the beauty, the memory making. Sample her outdoor clean air, cold clear water. And for the work out to capture the long jaw dropping view that awaits whatever elevation you decide to conquer.
Geese be gone, how to get rid of goosey goosey gander when they wander on to your property on a Maine lake.
At first, when a mom, dad, a couple kids in a Canadian geese family float by, folks are excited. In a good way. On shore the floating family of geese seem to be a neat sight to behold. Until they come ashore. When you are not at your lake property in Maine. And leave a calling car of not so bio-degradable cigar shaped calling cards. The waste is not fun. And the geese return to where the grass is green and rich to dine on. Like you and I at a favor restaurant in Maine haunt, the return visits are a hard habit to break.
Maine Lakes, More Fun When Geese Be Gone, Are Not Around.
Ducks on a Maine lake, everyone knows what happens if you feed those visitor that paddle by like free loading trick or treaters.
Looking for a hand out, some bread that the novice can figure why not. Those web foot paddlers do their business in the water. Swimmers itch is not part of a fun time summer at the lake past time. But the mother duck and the cute trail of drafting eight or more babies does pull at your heart strings. To think what could one little piece of bread hurt? Or some duck chow picked up at the local feed store to help them out like a goodwill food pantry.
You feel obligated to get along with the wildlife, to protect them. To share the waterfront.
Especially when we are talking the babies. When you are lucky enough to be parked on a Maine lake. Don’t use weed and feed for the green lawn competition. Let vegetation grow long and tall along the shoreline for a riparian buffer. To keep rushing water on the steep lake side terrain inclines from racing to the lake water with debris picked up along the way.
We all know about non-source point pollution and how man has to protect a natural lake resource or suffer the consequences. But geese. What is the right way, the lasting method to get rid of them without a bullet? Maine lake loons don’t get the negative press. You look out for them when boating and keep the speed down to avoid the waves that disrupt their nests on Maine lake islands. The uninhabited areas of the Maine waterfront.
Maine Lake Loons. They Stay Off Shore, Serenade, Keep To Themselves.
Google the topic “how to get rid of geese at your lake property“. And whoa. Talk about do this, don’t do that and what claims to work. You learn that many love the sight of Canadian geese until they see what they leave behind up close and personal. Here’s a video on what is claimed to be one method to get rid of geese at your lake property in Maine.
Pie plates that are shiny, noisy, flapping in the wind to catch the sunlight work in gardens that are unattended.
For awhile. Because like the plastic owl with the sinister glass eyes and the swivel bopping head, the initial shock wears off. Or what if no one had the talk with geese about owls are our natural enemy? Or they never encountered one? And how do you summons a bald eagle on a Maine lake to just run a couple passes to deter the Canadian geese from landing on your Maine lake property? Like many things, NIMBY happens. Folks love geese or ducks or anything wild as long as they don’t see the consequences of a visit to their property. Someone down the lake can deal with the free loaders but frustration can set in when geese won’t go away.
The drake hisses, will charge you the tax payer of the waterfront property.
And anyone with a small dog or kids could be afraid of attack. Blowing your horn when they visit when you are gone helps chase them away. But they will be back. The thought of taking out the Dad goose and the widow, those young kids left behind does make one feel guilty. What does the inland fisheries and wildlife, Maine warden service say about goose be gone using lead, bow and arrow or a trap?
Freeze Out The Canadian Geese On A Maine Lake. You Get A Break In The Winter Months.
Up on the lawn, hanging out on a wharf and the honk honk honk when you have company of the long neck floating, flying lake water front visitors. Large mowed lawns are attractive resort settings for a family of Canadian geese. The view that is unobstructed for predators helps the grazing time spend fertilizing the bigger mowed open areas around a Maine lake. Here is what the warden’s service suggests to deter the geese visits and return stops. No more welfare handouts. Food dumped in the tall grass to munch on is part of it.
Stop feeding geese: When the diets of geese are no longer supplemented with handouts and they have to depend on the natural food supply, some or all the geese will move elsewhere.
Install interpretive signs in public areas explaining the problems that result when humans feed geese. Signs might include the following information:
Please don’t feed the geese! Human food is not good for the geese because it lacks proper nutritional value. Feeding attracts more geese than the area can support naturally.
Geese in high concentrations are more likely to get diseases and parasites.
Goose droppings are unsanitary and unsightly. They harbor parasites that can cause human health problems, and they increase algae growth that, in turn, causes fish kills.
Geese eat plants needed for ground cover and erosion control.
Too many geese in one area may force the municipality to have them killed.
Goose-management costs residents money.
In your garden in Maine, fences, scare crows, loud music helps deter varmits from stopping by to snack. But when you are not around the lake property in Maine, the wildlife take over. Help themselves. They also say wait a minute. That’s a plastic owl, always in the same place. It’s not real. Let’s go ashore.
Colorful strips of reflectorized tape on string can help make geese keep moving along the lakeshore.
But how many entrances does your property have and what is to keep them from approaching from another angle on your lot or from someone else’s property? If the grass at your place is tasty for the come and get it.
Sharing The Lake. Paddling, Protecting The Wildlife Resource… Even The Ducks, Geese.
Getting a dog could help but now you have his waste to deal with too. Why don’t Canadian geese stay on the islands, off shore to nest and visit like Maine loons? I think the geese get more aggressive as the campers on a Maine lake who want them gone get more riled up and frustrated.
On the lake where I am, Baxter is a big old black lab who visits socially.
I wished he would trot over more often. But never does when the geese happen to make a sudden landing. Do you know of anyone with geese issues on a Maine lake and can you offer your spin on what works best to make them never return? I don’t want to use chemicals that make the grass bitter to eat because it could hurt the environment in other ways and leech into the lake water. The the fish will speak up and gurgle “hey. what the heck”. No more lawn and tall let it go grass is one option. Relocating the geese to another lake would not make friends with other waterfront campers. Geese on a Maine lake are a problem that makes you scratch your head.
