Maine

Yesterday was an excellent day. Clear skies, warm temperatures (70-80 degrees Fahrenheit), and amazing scenery along the Maine Coast.

I stopped by the Owl’s Head Transportation Museum which was really interesting, and stopped in Camden during the evening. I also did a 3.5-mile hike up and down Mt. Battie in Camden, which was very steep and probably not the greatest idea for getting ready for the Boston Marathon on Monday, but absolutely worth it from a surreal spiritual sense with the views from up above.

It’s also funny to say this, but I am in love with my rental car! Yes, a Ford… the sky blue Mustang Convertible I wrote about yesterday. What a fabulous machine! America can build great cars!

Off on my last drive in the ‘Stang back to Manchester, New Hampshire. Then, I should be in Boston not too long after hopping on a free shuttle from the Manchester Airport. Signing off from the beautiful city of Portland, Maine.

“How cool you’re in Portland, Maine,” wrote my friend Lisa. “I’ve actually been there once before, and it is really a cute town. I remember I accidentally parked illegally, and instead of giving me a ticket, they left me a note that said something like ‘we know you are from out of town so we won’t give you a ticket. Thank you for visiting Maine.’ It was quite nice of them.”

I had to agree with Lisa — Portland is a very cute town with a beautiful downtown, harbor, shops, and restaurants. The funny thing is I had a near-similar experience to Lisa for parking. You see, I had overstayed my meter time by two or three minutes, and right when I got to my car, a meter patrol guy was in the middle of tearing a ticket from his ticket pad and slapping it on the windshield. The split second after he did this I said, “sorry,” and he turned to me somewhat embarrassed and ended up apologizing in return. Continue reading »

“Camden,” advised my friend Melissa before the start of my New England trip, “is a nice, quaint little town to stop and shop, lunch, etc. We had a fabulous time there.”

As it turned out, Camden also made for a great stopping and turnaround point during my White Mountains to Blue Seas drive. Continue reading »