Maine - Day 20 - Augusta

Augusta/Gardiner KOA
Monday, 20 August 2018

today's route

Heading for Augusta, Maine's capital, I stumbled on Maine's version of Randolph, which I hadn't seen on the map.  Turns out it was on one of my maps and not the other and is so close to Gardiner, which is so close to Augusta, that I missed it completely.

Randolph, Maine, is too small for a post office, an older lady told me and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get a picture of anything with the town's name on it.  But luckily I kept stumbling and found the Randolph hardware store.

I drove into Augusta, as usual getting on the wrong road and finding myself on the opposite side of the Kennebec River, that runs through town, from where I wanted to be.  Still, that vantage helped me see across the river to the capitol building that I was headed for, and I accidentally drove under a bridge that crossed the river, so it was easy from there to get on the bridge and over to the capitol.  Then my luck stopped.

my photo of the capitol

someone else's photo

As often happens near state capitols (I’m learning), the surrounding roads here are narrow, one-way, with cars parked along them in reserved spots (so no chance of finding a place for me), and with enough traffic so I couldn’t just stop to take a photo.  This one I took was the best angle I could get. Turns out it’s the same angle somebody else put online.  I thought at first the color of the dome was a trick of the light but, once I realized it really is brown, I looked it up.  Turns out the copper dome was redone in 2014 because the previous copper had deteriorated badly.  They say it will look brown for about 35 years before it oxides to green.  I don’t know why they don’t just get up there with a boatload of copper polish and really spruce it up, but they didn’t ask me.  That dome, by the way, was designed by Bulfinch and built in 1829.  The gilt statue on top is actually gilded copper and represents Minerva, goddess of wisdom.  Hope she helps them.

this is what the whole thing looks like, again someone else's photo

I drove around for a while after that but couldn’t find a park or anyplace I could stop and walk the dogs, so then I tried to head out of town.  That would have been easy except for the detours around road construction.  I guess it’s reasonable there’d be a lot of road construction now, given Maine’s long winters and probably very short construction season, plus the snow and ice being hard on the roads.  But it’s not always easy dealing with the construction in an 8’ wide vehicle.

Anyway, this time the detour sent me by a business called Panacea School for Integrative Health and Yoga Studios.  I was sure it couldn’t be real - “panacea”? - really? - but I looked online and it appears to be completely real.