Two Sides of Maine

This is a report on our trip to Caribou, Maine. 

We left for the airport Tuesday morning (22nd) and made it home Saturday afternoon (26th).  We flew from coast to coast actually flying out over both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. (We had a connecting flight in LA on the flight over. (I know . . .but I don't make the flight plans.) It was a distance of over 6,000 miles by air and another 800 by car round-trip. . . roughly.

​Dennis and I were lucky enough to be able to share the whole row of 3 seats on the flight from LA to Boston so it wasn't too uncomfortable. We flew into Boston's Logan airport just before 11pm Tuesday night, (local time).

sunset at 3600 ft

We picked up our rental car (probably the smallest one they had) and drove to our hotel for the night, just outside of Boston. 

Wednesday we drove 406 miles in a little over 7 hours including rest stops and several toll roads. Gotta love those toll roads. Even though we drove up the "coast side" we didn't see much of the coast. We did catch the occasional glimpse between the thick trees but that was about it.

Pretty much what the whole drive looked like until we hit Highway 1

Yeah, it was a lot of time sitting on our backsides. There wasn't much fall color yet but we did catch a few bright colored patches here and there.  I bet next week is beautiful!! 

In Caribou we stayed both nights at a cute little B&B called the Old Iron Inn (not my pic).The owner collects old antique irons and he must have a couple hundred of them in the house. We stayed in the rose room on the north east corner upstairs.  It was nice and cool at night. The weather was so nice while we were there! It was really beautiful! 

not my pic

not my pic

sunrise from our room

Thursday morning Dennis had an interview with the Caribou city manager and a group of department heads.  I met up with him around 9:30am and Austin (the city manager) took us both around for a tour of the city facilities, Police and Fire departments, Library, Recreation and Public Works. We had lunch at a cute little Italian place with a few of the department heads Dennis met that morning. After finishing our tour we met back at the city offices for a little meet and greet with the city council, mayor, planning commission and other employees. It made for a very long day under the microscope but we did get to enjoy a nice evening driving around the area on our own.  

Madawaska Lake, ME

This. . . is the life for me!!

We learned that its not uncommon for people to own a house in town as well as a house at the lake.

rest area along highway

mist from off the lakes

Long Lake

Potato harvest in full on right now so we saw lots of little potato shacks selling "new potatoes'. Just grab a bag and leave your money in a coffee can. Lots of big red barns and farm equipment.

It is beautiful county no doubt. We drove out to a couple lakes past New Sweden, (There are about 7 of them.) and not far away from Caribou. It was so pretty!! I was a little disappointed that we didn't see any moose, even on "moose alley" a dangerous crossing road this time of year it being the rut, but we did see a black bear that ran across the road. . .way out in front of us. Lots of geese, crows, ducks and large grey squirrels. This time of year there are skunks and raccoons visiting their yards from what we heard.  Incidentally there are no caribou in Caribou. . . or anywhere else in Maine for that matter. The woodland caribou is extinct in Maine possibly due to over hunting and disease. Reintroduction attempts have been unsuccessful within the state.

One last connection to northern Maine is the popular children's book Blueberries for Sal. A very sweet picture book that we have read many times.  Yes there are blueberries patches in Caribou.

And now the other Maine. . .

One of the things that I learned is that there are two Maine's.  The one up in the north with the open area and forest, potato fields and moose with the "if you don't know where something is you don't deserve to be there" local mentality. And then there is the "Other Maine".This is the one everyone usually thinks about when they think of Maine with its beaches, lobster and lighthouses, that caters to tourism.  Dennis had never been to the Atlantic Ocean before so we found a beach in lower Maine for him to dip his toes into. That first step sure is chilly!!

We enjoyed watching the tide come in over some beautiful rocks at a lighthouse outlook in Cape Elizabeth. While we were driving we saw some wild turkeys next to the road in town that were about to make their way into someone's corn garden. We ate salmon and clam chowder for dinner before leaving the good old state of Maine behind us.  

That last night we stayed a total of 5 hours at a hotel 17 miles from Boston's airport. We had to be up around 3am in order to return our car and make our 6am flight. After a short layover in Phoenix we made it back to SLC a little after noon on Saturday and were finally home by 2pm. This was a mentally, physically and emotionally exhausting trip . .  for both of us. It was good to finally be home and to see the kids again!