My month in Maine

My take on Mainers

Mainers love their state - even those who don't stay here year round.  And actually, I didn't meet many of those, though I'm sure there are plenty of them - I met one of them in a state park in Delaware, in fact.  But I didn't meet one single person of any age who was not completely in love with this state.

What was odd to me was that, with one exception, every single young person (approx. age 18-25) I talked to loved where they lived, and most of them were living in very small towns.  I had trouble believing it, actually, but I heard it from person after person after person.  They liked living in their small town, liked not having so many people around, liked that people were friendly, that people looked after each other, thought that town was a good place to raise kids, and so on over and over.  If I hadn't been the one talking to them, I wouldn't have believed there were that many young adults in this country who preferred living in all these small towns.

And the one exception lived in Augusta, not in a small town.  He didn't like living in such a big place (population 19,000) and really wanted to move down to Bar Harbor where he had family.  But others who lived in cities said they liked their cities, so he seems to have been an anomaly.

Mainers are obviously aware of their dependence on tourism throughout the state, but I didn't hear anybody complain or say they'll be glad when they can get their town back to themselves or other things I've heard (and said myself) in tourist-dependent towns.

People are friendly without appearing to be - I mean, they usually waited for me to start but then just lit up if I so much as said good morning.

As far as I can tell in such a short time, Mainers like being independent, while knowing they're completely dependent on their neighbors.  It's a little like the feeling I got from Alaskans when I lived there.

I liked it here.  I felt at home much of the time.  Though I could seriously do without the extraordinary crowds of people.

What I missed that I wanted to see

I've noted some of the things in the daily posts - downtown Portland, for instance, and several of the lighthouses and their environs.

I'd like to go try again at Castine to find the Dyce Head Lighthouse and Fort George, both of which I missed, and it wouldn't hurt my feelings to spend a little more time walking through the town there, which seemed a lovely and interesting place to be.

I missed several places around Bangor - the Maine Forest and Logging Museum, the Mount Hope Cemetery, the museum at the Penobscot Indian Island Reservation.

I'd like to go back to some of the beaches and coastal areas in - say - mid-September, when there might be fewer people around and I can actually enjoy them.

The multi-building museum in York looked really interesting to me, but I just didn't want to take the time when we were passing through.

And mostly, I just enjoyed being along the north rim in the French-speaking area of the state.  And I enjoyed being in the Lubec/Eastport area.  Both places had plenty of people but seemed easy-going and unpressured anyway.  I'd like very much to go back sometime.