Category: Things To Do in Maine

Wilderness In Maine, Welcome To The Allagash Waterway.

Maine is pretty sparsely populated.

You and I have not debate nor need to split hairs on that statement. But within the stretches of remote wilderness, some areas stand out more than others. Usually waterways were the first prerequisite of any early settlement in Maine or anywhere. If there had not been the Allagash River, probably the plantation with the same name may not have gotten off the ground. Or earned a dot on the Maine Vacationland map.

Allagash ME, Vacationland’s Largest Township Land Mass. Almost 3 Acres Of The 42 Is A Famous Stretch Of Water.

Allagash, the community itself is a collection of Scotch-Irish DNA.

Located at the end of Route 161 and the French Acadian Saint John River Valley, this corner of Maine has a pretty unique history. The Saint John River is what brought settlers to the Allagash’s wild timberland regions up here in the upper regions of the Crown of Maine. The population of Allagash Maine is 220 souls.

But the land mass that is dubbed Allagash is 42 square miles.

Whoa. Way way larger than the 6 by 6 miles that the bulk of Northern Maine townships that show up as on the systematic square rows of township this, range that tout for their size. Allagash Maine is the largest land mass of any town in Maine. (Almost 3 square miles of Allagash is water.) Famous water called the Allagash Wilderness Waterway that is over 92 miles long and comprised of lakes, ponds, rivers and streams in the North Maine Woods. Canoeing, fishing, hunting, camping in the Allagash River Wilderness Waterway is on the bucket list of anyone with affection for the state of Maine. Images, pictures of Allagash Maine.

First organized in 1885, the town of Allagash was not incorporated until 1966.

Take Your Time! Welcome.. We Really Mean It In Maine. Come On Up… Way Way Up And See It All.

Slim fast is happening. Sadly the town has about fifty percent of the population now that it did in the 1970’s. The Allagash Maine large land mass is T16 R10, T16 R11, T17 R10 and T17 R11. More on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway and a detailed map to show the regions: that explains the size of canoes and kayaks, other regulations of this protected natural resource to abide by when you are paddling down this wilderness liquid highway.

Henry David Thoreau visited the Allagash waterway in 1857 with the help of a pair of Penobscot native American guides. The most publicized section of the Allagash wilderness waterway is Chase Rapids located just downstream from Churchill Dam which is classified a class II rapid. Don’t expect wall to wall cell phone coverage and plan that it will be spotty.

Make sure to pack a first aid kit on your up to 92 mile trip. And as you plan your Maine vacation adventure on the river, be sure to build in extra days for a buffer. To absorb unexpected weather that may keep you off the water.

Guide services for hunting, fishing and the river adventure are the mainstays for the micro local economy in Allagash.

The town office has a lot of uses to be the most efficient and because there are not any other options to house them. Route 161 literally makes this the end of the line in Maine. There is a Maine beer named Allagash too. They employ around 130 workers and are growing like a lot of Maine based breweries. They are filling bottles with a variety of secret brew recipes in the Portland area, not in Aroostook County. Yet. (Smile).

The Allagash Wilderness Waterway is one of the premiere canoe trips in the Eastern United States.

There is no argument fro anyone on that statement. Watch, listen to some Allagash River videos. Get in touch with nature. Be outdoors in Maine and not limited to the space that four walls provides for a prison. Paddle a pristine series of interesting water components that you may or may not have been aware of up until now. You will not be bored; there is variety and something new every trip down the waterway because the season may be different, the weather not the exact same or the wildlife you see will vary. You are not the same either as you plan, paddle, reflect and connect with unspoiled nature.

Often the images of large Lombard steam log hauler timber locomotives are what many recall as the huge idle dinosaurs left still standing out in your journey down the connection of waterways. A rusting reminder of the not silent buzz of lumbering activity that the Allagash area of Maine was back in the days of large cross saws two man metal saws. Long before chains saws motor driven saws were reached for to use before hollering “Timberrrrrr”.

Between 1900 and 1917, 83 of the steam powered locomotives were welded and brazed and bolted together in a Waterville Maine plant. Sadly, only 3 of these iron horses designed only for logging not passengers or assorted freight are still alive and running today. Watch number 74 of the Lombards hauling logs and in action. As it does what it was made to do years ago in the woods when it jumped the iron rails to hit the twitch trails plying the vast timber tracts in Maine.

Forget the paddles and life jackets and black fly repellent? No sweat. Put on your mittens or gloves, slide on a full coverage helmet and gas up. Hang on. Take the groomed trail trip by snowmobile. Two impressive train locomotives still rest off the shores of Eagle Lake in Piscataquis County in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

Your journey by canoe, kayak or maybe snow sled, hiking and hoofing it will be memorable. But be prepared to assure you have a safe and enjoyable trip to the Allagash.

The Little Black River joins the St John in Allagash. The St John is the dividing line between Canada and Maine for most of the crown called Vacationland. Waterfalls, a series of lakes, places where at certain times of the year portaging around what’s up around the next corner could be prudent.

The smallness of the Allagash community like most low number towns and plantation settlements brings those that do live there closer. When a birth or death happens it is a big deal. There is hope or a deep loss and both are felt by the locals in different but powerful ways. Small towns or villages or settlements are pockets of intimacy and creative industry. Glowing brightly when the circle of life calling the small Maine community home is small, tight and depend on each other. Is that the take away where you live now? “Maine, the way life should be “is more than a catchy state motto. Come see for yourself and sample some pure Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

March 10, 2019
Maine, Tell Me A Story Collected From Your Travels.

Story telling in Maine, the art form for weaving a tale has not lost its appeal.
I am lucky to have had parents who exposed all four boys in the farm family to many endeavors. Some like to hear about the yesteryear story of trailer trucking potatoes from Maine to the city market. I try to write about what I know. This past Friday I listed a house for sale in Maine owned by an owner operator who used to be one of the Prem Pak truck drivers.
Sonny Howe told me about taking Ole Elmer, a gas job single screw conventional trailer truck tractor minus the sleeper, a White Mustang model across the Canadian border.
He was donkeying over to across the US border in Houlton Maine to Hartland New Brunswick Canada. To pick up a load of potatoes that would be hooked on in Houlton to a larger twin screen more powerful diesel trailer truck tractor. But getting the loaded trailer through the longest covered bridge in the World in Hartland ran into a little difficulty. The loaded trailer could not make it up the hill on the west side of the Hartland New Brunswick bridge that spans the St John River. Old Elmer was named for Elmer Snell who was the mechanic back at the Prem Pack truck terminal shops.
Part Of A Family Owned Trucking Company, Prem Pak Hauled Potatoes Down Country, Paper Products As The Return Haul Load.
Old Elmer was bought and only supposed to be used to move boxes around the yard and not go out on missions on the hilly terrain of Northern Maine.
Dopey, a diesel not gas engine truck with the dwarf painted on it was supposed to do the to and fro of getting a trailer box set, loaded and returned to base. To unhook and let a larger, newer more powerful White, Peterbilt or International Transtar slide up, hook up and shoot down the highway to market.
Luckily, in small rural areas of northern Maine and into the Atlantic provinces, if you have a problem the village rallies together to find a solution out of a tight spot.
A local Canadian potato farmer who had an old Ford tractor with the transmission welded in third gear old was hooked to the front of the bumper that said “Ole Elmer” . The truck bumper like the side doors were hand lettered by Houlton Maine sign painter Allison Britton… no vinyl peel off decals in those days in early 1960’s in the transportation circles. The old Ford probably 8N was all the extra muscle needed. To pull and guide Ole Elmer up over the steep grade you have to conquer leaving Hartland New Brunswick, Canada.
Sonny drove a white White truck which we called “#3”, a cab over with sleeper, 250 Cummins diesel motor plant. He told me listing his house for sale that the truck was brand new, had a shorter wheel base and was armed with “velvet ride”. So after his story, and because my Dad is gone, I Googled velvet ride to see what I could find. It was a patented suspension and not just a sticker promising something empty to whoever purchased the over the road trailer truck tractor.
Maine, A Fun Place Inside And Out. Drive The Back Roads. Outside And Discover Much About Maine, Yourself. Hit A Play Production Inside.
Velvet ride was supposed to protect the cargo, to reduce fatigue on the driver.
Who back in the days of using your ruler and a blue pen filling out a driver’s log book when it was not all computerized and not so transparent. Not so up to date or quite so precision accurate. Not all the Interstate systems were in place either for those involved in the second largest industry in our country… transportation.
I remember my Aunt Ruth who ran a horse riding camp and was a high school music teacher had a partner named Freeman Taylor.
He drove a Mack B series truck was rolled off the assembly line from 1953 to 1966. Freeman was like a big kid himself and had a memorable loud laugh that was infectious. Freeman would tell stories about hauling freight the only way, the back way down US RT 2A called the Bangor Road. The one where in Haynesville all the truckers are lost and buried in the lonely stretch of woods. Where if you count them off, there would be a tombstone every mile with the graves populated by all those missing long haul drivers.
Santa Claus Hill is one famous steep grade of black top below Haynesville. Malcolm Hill in Topsfield Maine is not bowl of cherries either for the early over the road long haul truck driver to navigate.
And without the power of today, and traveling overweight, the only way a trucking company could make any real money was to watch
Bigger Than Life. Majestic, Constant, Challenging Mt Katahdin Maine. The Interstate 95 Was Started In The 1950’s. Benedicta Is Still Shy One Of The Pair Of Exits.
the engine RPM’s and to down shift with perfect timing. To get the load of Maine spuds to the produce market expecting them early the next morning. I think Freeman’s tractor trailer truck was a B-61. No sleeper. When you were tired you pulled over, just leaned your head down on the wheel propped up by your arms. For a little cat nap. Or you stretch out over into the passenger sheet to bag some ZZzzzz’s.
Bad weather but at least no drivers around you texting and causing accidents.
No super Interstate highway everywhere you had to make your stops for pick up or delivery of the freight. No electric fifth wheel pin and you hand cranked your landing gear up and down. You carried your own lunch, changed your own flat tile. Eventually you had your CB radios to work your way around the state police weight stations that set up in various places to keep the drive guessing. You also had your west coast mirrors, your chain drive wallet and your eight track stereo tape player. There might have been a few girlie magazines under the bunk mattress. It depended on the drive.
With an assortment of Charley Pride, Charlie Rich, Buck Owens, Tammy Wynette, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Jon Anderson, Patsy Cline, Red Sovine lined up in the music library.
The Moose Is Loose nd He Or She Is The Last Thing You Need To Hit As A Trucker Or Small Vehicle Driver. They Make A Dangerous, Large Hood Ornament On Maine Highways.
Arranged just so on the doghouse that was insulated and sat on top of the diesel motor under the cab over that turned the twin screws of the eighteen wheeler. Some of the singers especially really related and sang about truck driving. Hank Snow, Dick Curless, CW McCall, Roger Miller, Dave Dudley are just a few that come to mind from days in high school as a record spinner DJ at the local radio station.
Country Jamboree on Saturday night had a lot of hard core country fans and the station even opened up studio B for live music during one segment of the C&W programming.
On the radio station owned by Howdie Doody (Buffalo Bob).
There’s your story for today from rural Maine and just in time to wrap it up with over 1300 words. The mission in blogging about what’s it like, what was it like in Maine trucking down the highway as the newest installment in the Me in Maine blog post this evening before time for shut eye.
Thank you Internet fans for being such faithful followers. It is most appreciated and the logs show which posts are the most popular. We will keep hunt and pecking, cranking out more as they ideas present themselves to hammer out as time allows. I love living in Maine and hope it shows.
I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |
MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

March 3, 2019
Winter Means Cross Country Skiing In Maine.

Cross country skiing in Maine, one of the best ways in winter to get exercise and lots of eye candy at the same time.

What Exercise Do Your Do In Winter Outside Your Maine Home?

This Maine blog has highlighted outdoor recreation of all types for any of the four seasons. But right hand raised high, I admit downhill skiing has over shadowed the posts about the cross country strapping on the boards kind.

The elevation of your spirits being chair lifted up and away to the top of a Maine mountain is pretty darn awesome.

It allows your focus on what’s really important in life to come into sharper view. The conversations on the lift, the laughter in the lodge getting rigged up before or back into your street clothes afterwards energizes a person big time. You can do more when you exercise in Maine, a place with so many options that are no cost or low charge readily available. That let you unplug and recharge get revitalized.

Sugar Coated Maine, Don’t Miss A Season, Make Winter Sparkle Part Of Your Vacation Plans.

But cross country skiing where no high priced lift ticket is involved because none of the machinery an alpine ski facility creates is needed for use of these boards.

It provides the cardiovascular work out and places you smack dab in the middle of wildlife and natural surroundings in Maine. Without the need to slide the plastic with the magnetic strip. With narrower cross country skis waxed to match today’s temperatures, you not limited to the same trails that are limited on a down hill mountain course. Head out over an open farm field, an abandoned pasture, across a frozen lake and up, down, around twisting pathways through wooded sections.

Outdoors, Maine Is All About Being Outdoors Any Chance You Get All Year Round! Kids Play Outside, Adults Don’t Forget To Do The Same In Maine!

All the senses get a work out. You see the new sparkling snow pulling down the pine or fir tree limbs like they are defeated and shrugging their shoulders. You smell the fresh clean crisp air that your lungs call for the harder you work.

You hear the crunch of your skis on the snow compaction and as you lift one, push off with the other with poles planted to help guide the glide process.

You are getting a work out but don’t even realize it because all the senses are being fed with Maine outdoor beauty. It’s like manual labor working on a farm when you can have a good conversation at the same time. It is humbling and you realize how grateful you are for the chance to hit the trails whenever you can. Not much sharing needed or bumping into people involved.

Like kayaking, the lack of spending money just adds to the take away sensation cross country skiing.

Hitting The Snow Sled ITS Trails In Maine. Some Move You Fast Like Old Railroad Beds. Others You Can Poke Along And See More Countryside And Wildlife. You Can Cross Country Ski On These ITS Trails But High Tail It For The Woods When Those Ice Rocket Whine And Pass Your Wrap Speed. Side Trails Work Best For Cross Country Ski Adventures To Avoid the ER Visit.

We are so so lucky to live in Maine where outdoors, wide open space, beautify surrounds us year round. So many options to tap into when recreational is needed to shake up the routine and blow away the cobwebs when stuck inside too long. Cabin fever is a real illness if not addressed with doses of outdoor fresh air fun and bright but not as strong sunshine overhead mixed with the cobalt blue skies. Winter intensifies the scenery. You are not cold because you dressed with layers and did it with the right gear.

Cross country skiing with moonlight under the stars so brilliant overhead lighting trail.

Opens up a new World which is one of the best workouts that is take your time not tuck it in and whip down a mountain side like a speeding bullet. If your hands and feet are properly protected you won’t be cold from the vigorous work out cross country skiing. Take your time, set your own pace.

So cross country skiing in Maine. My local Rotary club raised thousands of dollars to purchase an enclosed trailer, to fill it with cross country skis of all sizes for kids to use. To learn the beauty and fun of sliding, gliding on cross country skis beneath your feet. In areas like Stockholm and New Sweden you see lots of local folks preserving the Nordic outdoor traditions. Many even have a sauna, that they race out of to roll in the snow. I was told you pronounce sauna by thinking of a female pig… “SOW and your expression for indifference when you don’t want to do something someone else does and you utter ” …nah”.

Animals, Pets Can Cross Country Ski With You Too! Just Remember To Pack The Dog Biscuit For Their Snack When You Are Munching On A Lunch Trailside. The Family Dog Works Up An Appetite From The Fresh Open Air Workout Too!

This blog post should also include snow shoeing and ice skating that are all designed to get you off the couch and to turn away or lay down your screen time device. But those two pastimes will be hashed out in greater detail in future posts on the winter recreation options in Maine. Pond hockey, ice fishing, who says not much to do outdoors in Maine during winter? Humbug. We’ve covered snow sledding to a higher degree previously.

What you need to know to lease or buy for cross country skiing in Maine?

What will it cost to do either? Renting vs buying cross country skis debated at this link. In Maine, there are lots of outlets to buy cross country skis and let’s tap into the LL Bean channel as one local place to shop if you are bent on buying cross country skis.

Bean also like other recreational sports has clinics and gives helpful advice on the topic. Around the state of Maine there is lots going on when you Google the topic of Maine cross country skiing. Like this from the Outdoor Center news in Fort Kent. Or Maine is one big honking state, let’s check in with available Bethel Maine cross country skiing options.

Maine Moose Jogging By A Maple Syrup Tapped Grove. Spring Air Stirs The Wildlife. He Won’t Hurt You… Bring Your Camera Cross Country Skiing to Capture Some Eye Candy.

Check Uncle Henry’s, Craiglist for cross country ski equipment that was purchase, outgrown or never used. Pre-owned appeals to the frugal nature of living in Maine.

You will fall cross country skiing.

But lots of people zinging by you like at a Maine downhill ski course won’t be a concern. Not a lot or any people watching you to feel embarrassed about when you do lose your balance and wipe out. Learning to turtle to get back up. Unlike using the gravity of a hill after a motorized lift to the top of a Maine ski mountain, cross country involves way more effort and higher calorie burn.

Getting up hill and dale with your own power not a low idling diesel doing all the work adds to the work out and the endorphins released in the gray matter. The trail is not often groomed silky smooth and flat. Ridges from past skiers can help or hurt the sliding your feet to keep moving along the trail.

Downhill skiing is like lazy man’s lobster where you are transported up the hill over and over.

Limited by the number of slopes and whether you are double black diamond or blue square or green circle rated. Cross country skiing is like cracking open the Maine lobster you boiler, crack each joint to get to the sweet meat. Does that make sense? It will when you trade in the fat wide skills for downhill powder for the long skinny ones to carve trails across a picturesque pasture setting.

Working Close, Dedicated, Dependable, That’s Maine. Small Towns Are Super Connected And Care About Each Other Dearly.

Many cross country ski areas are only groomed if at all occasionally. But you can make your own course if one is not close by or time just does not allow that big a chunk of it to get to and from the trail loop layout you really want to use. Many farms in Maine are converted to cross country ski slopes that are mild not wild and with warming huts adding to the comfort level. Snacks around what’s grown on the farm are part of the fun. Agriculture tourism is just starting to get its sea legs and really helps to prop up the economical health of any area in Maine.

The World Cup Biathlon helped take cross country skiing to a whole new level in Maine and was watched by millions worldwide. Here is the woman’s video snippet we shot and uploaded. Another of the World Cup competition of the mens division. Where you shoot a gun, are timed and go round and round a crowded course off cross country skiers with competitors from around the globe.

Are you up for back country skiing in a remote setting in Maine?

Bring your sleeping bag, a cook stove, a first aid kid and go off grid. Get below radar in a hidden section of Maine you can not get to by car where there is not rumble strip sound or engine jake brakes heard because highways are missing. Listen to winter sounds, the pine and fir needles vibrating and humming in the breeze. See snow releases from trees that make mini white outs like flour explosions.

Maine Winter, Less Colors Than Fall’s Explosion Can Still Be Dramatic Too! Ever Climbed Mt “K”?

Studying the tracks of animals that share their habitat with you in the silence of the season called Maine winter. Other cross country skiers have hit the trails before you or maybe you are breaking your own path in the new fallen white soft blanket of Maine snow. Like cutting into a new hot out of the oven Maine pie you can feel a little guilty or very fortunate getting the first slice of whatever is home made delicious.

Moving your arms forward and backward diagonally. Your feet and legs ahead then flowing behind you in back and forth synchronization with those arm glides. There is a rhythm. You’re settled into it.

Except you are not on a Nordic track staring at paneling in a cellar rec room.

No no, you are on an exciting path outdoors that is familiar or brand new exciting. It’s social when you see others cross country skiing as a family. And you stop for a lunch at a diner along the trail or open up the meal you packed. Unscrew the lid on hot tomato soup or whatever is in the thermos to quench the thirst. Sometimes you see no one on the trails except signs of animals that hurry and scurry leaving their foot print in their forage for food. You stop at a brook or lake to listen, to reflect, to rest. Then looking around ask is everyone ready? As you slide the gloves back on, reach for the skis with the straps on your hands to keep from loosing them down an ravine or just sliding down a hill on crust.

No motor, just your own two legs are what you ride on cross country skiing.

Two arms planting the poles too is an important part of the propulsion on the snow trail that is varied to be interesting.

Maine, Making Our Own Fun. Wake Up, Get Outdoors And Slide, Laugh, Spill. We Ski, We Skate, We Don’t Hibernate.

As you go at your own speed and get better at the art of cross country skiing the more you make time to do it. Here is another easy, all established trail system cross country ski option at Pineland Farms that has 5000 acres of outdoor living attached to it. All ages can do the cross country skiing and the pace is set on an individual basis.

The New England Outdoor Center in Millinocket Maine offers lots, not just cross country ski recreation. Anytime Mt Katahdin is in the backdrop of whatever your are doing in Vacationland, her majesty adds to the experience. Her look changes with the season when fall colors explode around her and snow caps her crown in winter. This is just a taste of where you can cross country ski in Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

December 30, 2018
American Folk Festival On Bangor ME Waterfront!

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.

Looking for more indoor, outdoor music venues in Maine?

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.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730

August 29, 2018
Kayaking A Maine Lake | No Motor For A More Powerful Experience.

Under your own power, not twisting a throttle or pushing a foot feed on one of Maine’s many lakes.

That’s the best way to see, hear, smell, feel Maine under your own speed with self provided paddling power. Keep the motor boat, the jet ski, the pontoon party vessel lashed to its mooring post. And slide on a life jacket, grab a two sided paddle to dip and push in alternating motion. To play a Maine lake.

Lake Kayaks, Cover The Shoreline Of An Entire Maine Lake Easily! See The Islands, Discover The Many Interesting Coves!

Hop in, push off, see how much easier a kayak is to cover the surface of a Maine lake than the paddle boat where you work your guts out.

To end up not getting very far from out front a Maine waterfront property. Maybe you want the kids to stay handy and if so, promote the paddle boat option. But when you make time to explore the perimeter of a Maine lake, all the interesting coves, islands and the wildlife, it is a habit you will repeat through out your life.

The lake loons, their babies sharing the Maine lake.

The jumping fish that sea gulls and other hungry birds of prey circle over head looking for a chance to dive and grab. Without a loud motor, you can talk with your mate too. Exchanging what each is seeing as you study the shoreline, the other kayaks or water fowl you come up on as you paddle slowly.

Fish For Young Lake Loon. Mom Knows How To Angle For Them Best. Until Junior Learns The Ropes For Catching His Fish Dinner!

Like riding a bike, you can coast with a kayak with little effort paddling and you glide and coast. The sea kayaks are bigger, longer, heavier. And with two holes for a co-pilot to paddle too, you often need a set of dolly wheels to center the craft that takes two to launch and remove from the Maine ocean front.

Paddling out to a close Maine lighthouse on a calm sea day is a sure way to capture some great images. And to work up an appetite for Maine local home grown food. To sample whatever is in season from the garden, the deep sea or farm field.

You are in another’s home when out on the water in your kayak that glides in close.

Where’s My Mom? Baby Loon Wonders To Himself.

The fish swimming beneath you jump. You see little minnows hanging out of a mother loon’s mouth that she is taking

Come And Get It. Fish For Free Are Fresh In A Maine Lake. Adult Loons Are Excellent Anglers To Feed Their Young!

back for junior to sample. The young loons no where near as pretty or decked out as the mature adult loon. Or the full grown duck that paddle by in one direction as you head in another. Bald eagles, hawks, herons, otters, beavers. You see them all, even hitch hiking dragon flies that flit and bask in the sun just like you.

Do you own a kayak?

Like A Parked Helicopter, A Dragon Fly Sets Down, Parks It. As You Keep Paddling Around A Maine Lake In Your Kayak.

The pair of LL Bean Loon 111’s are a neat pair to invest in. Some of the kayaks are completely open, others have a oval cockpit hole with comfortable seat and foot pegs. To push down as you dig in to move the water backwards as your kayak propels forward. Pack a lunch, bring some sunscreen, don’t forget your camera.

See how easy two or three hours can burn by as you relax, bob, drift on a Maine lake. The exercise is easy, the scenery so interesting you forget you are paddling. Especially as you get close to wildlife without disturbing them.

Kayaking makes you think about the watershed, how man helps or hurts the waterfront.

Wave to other happy campers on shore or out on the waterfront with the same idea you had on a sunny summer day in Maine. Fishing, sight seeing, pulling a tube or some loved on on a set or single water ski. See the lake slowly and under

Young Boys Camp Out, Tent On A Less Populated Part Of A Maine Lake.

your own steam in your trusty kayak.

The travel paced nice and easy or digging in to work up a hunger. As the wind comes up, the travel difficulty cranks up a couple notches. Hopefully not one angry black cloud in the sky to spoil the blue, white and sunshine. Big swanky vacation homes, small quaint colorful camps. You see it all as you study the shoreline. The water level outlined on rocks to show like an engine oil dipstick where the line usually is when a summer is dry and someone turned off the rain.

Hunger improves the taste too remember?

The longer you kayak, the more a snack seems like a good idea. Smell the outdoor fires cooking summer time food on the grill. The pines, lush forest around the lake, the smell of the water itself too that just jacks up the sensation. Along with the rippling water off the back of your kayak, the little spray when the breeze picks up as you paddle around your waterfront paradise in Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com | MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

August 12, 2018
Nova Scotia Canada | Traveling Across The US Border To Another Atlantic Maritime Province.

Maine offers so much for vacation fun by herself.

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.

I’m ME REALTOR Andrew Mooers, Maine Real Estate Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

July 29, 2018