In My Backyard

Lately, I’m all about wandering via micro-trips – which (by my definition) are vacations of 3 nights or less.

While I love a BIG JOURNEY across the world, those faraway adventures can be exhausting, not to mention, outrageously expensive.

And with the emotional upheaval of our recent relocation, I’ve decided to stay close to home this summer and experience the beautiful state of Maine through relaxing (& economical) mini retreats.

I’ve already dropped in on Skowhegan for two nights… a historical Maine mill town on the Kennebec River which I’d heard of all my life, but had never taken the time to visit.

Coming up, my excursions will include the Rangeley Lakes, Mt. Katadhin, and hopefully one of the very far northern towns like Caribou.

But it’s possible nothing will top the last three days I just spent on Mount Desert Island. My daughter, Malou, drove up from Boston, met me in Portland, and together we meandered a few more hours up the coast, where we explored…
Acadia National Park

 

Cadillac Mountain

 

Northeast Harbor




Pretty Marsh

 

 

Seal Harbor

 

Somesville

and Bar Harbor

~ where I suddenly recalled visiting 40 years earlier in July 1975 with my parents and younger sister:
Malou and I were sharing lobster stir fry, grilled scallops, and roasted cauliflower upstairs at a lovely old restaurant with a view of the ferry station, when I noticed a middle-aged couple and their two young teen girls walking along the sidewalk below. The older daughter glanced up and caught my eye with a strange familiarity – as if, in that second, I had connected with my 14 year-old self . . . and I had to wonder if, four decades earlier, I happened to glance up at that same picture window and seen my much older self smiling down?
A world of undiscovered treasures lies in every backyard – literally and figuratively – you just have to know where to look.