What I did on my summer vacation, part II
I had a great trip to some of the farther reaches of our beautiful state Labor Day week. My sister Liz and I went down east to Lubec for three days, then up north to the Crown of Maine — Aroostook County’s St. John Valley.
The only bad thing about going on vacation is coming back. I’m so loaded down with stuff to do, I’m going to let the pictures do the talking. I will say this though — I know I say it all the time, but I’ll say it again — I don’t think a day goes by when I don’t appreciate how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place.
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Lubec harbor with Liz on the dock. Hard to take a bad shot in Lubec.
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We stopped by the library, of course.
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And the Lubec Historical Society, which was hopping, and where I bought a book about the great gold hoax.
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No trip to Lubec is complete without a visit to West Quoddy Head, the easternmost spot in the US. We also visited East Quoddy Head, on Campobello, which is in Canada across the way there.
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Way up Route 1, in Grand Isle, in the St. John Valley, we took a look at the Musee Culturel du Mont Carmel, a former basilica. It wasn’t open, but it was still pretty cool.
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One of the cool things in the Acadian Village in Van Buren was this teachers desk in the one-room school, that has the signatures of the teachers who used it. Liz, who’s a history professor, took this photo.
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Lest you think our trip was all culture, we had a pint (or in Liz’s case a glass) at the First Mile Brewery in Fort Kent. Called that, as you know, because Route 1’s first mile is there. I had the red ale, and it was quite tasty.
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Before we boozed it up, we earned it by hiking up Deboullie Mountain in the Allagash region. This is the view from the top.
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Deboullie summit, complete with fire tower, which we did not climb. And guess whose book coming out October 31 has a plot point involving a fire tower? No, guess. Guess! That’s right, me.
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Another Aroostook County stop was Stockholm, home of fellow Maine Crime Writer Vaughn Hardacker. We couldn’t find the monument, though. Unfortunately this is the only photo that survived our visit. (taken by Liz).
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The absolute gorgeous magnificent St. John River. Hi Canada! This was taken in St. John Plantation. Or Township. Same dif, as we say in Maine.
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Sunrise over Eagle Lake on our last morning. We stayed at The Overlook, a nice motel that I highly recommend. While we didn’t see a moose, we heard the plaintive cries of one lovelorn lady every night. All night.
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We ended our trip by doing my favorite thing — we dropped down Route 11 from the top of Maine like a set of keys. It goes all the way to my town. Of course, no trip down Route 11 is complete without me shooting this Katahdin view in Stacyville (or possibly Soldiertown or Hersey Plantation), which I think I have a good dozen shots of by now.
