June 19, 2008

• More About Maine

  I wanted to blog some more about my trip to Maine. I love the northern east coast of the U.S. and would happily live there, if it were possible. So, I was really looking forward to this trip! We flew out on a Friday, so we could arrive that evening, spend the night in a hotel, then drive from Portland, Maine to Castine the next morning. It is a 3 hour drive and we wanted to be able to take our time and not rush to get their in time for classes.

  Unfortunately, we had a layover in Chicago and we were trying to land while there was all sorts of wild weather. At one point, as we were approaching, the plane dropped like a rock, before the pilot recovered. Then the pilot was told to back off on landing three times, before we got a clear. We had to wait in the air for almost an hour! And then, as we landed, the wings tipped back and forth the entire time, till the wheels touched the ground. We had a fantastic pilot though, and he did it!

  But then, we got into the airport to find that flights all over had been canceled and the lines at customer service had like 100 people trying to get alternative flights. Our own flight kept getting delayed and delayed and delayed. Originally due to leave a 5 pm, in the end we didn't leave Chicago till 1 am due to all the wind and poor weather. Luckily, it was not till several days later that I learned there had been a tornado in the city of Chicago that day!

  We finally arrived in Portland at 3 am, and wearily got to our hotel and dropped into bed, only to sleep about 5 or 6 hour before we had to be up again. However, the drive to Castine was so pretty. The air smelled of pine, was clear and everything was so green and pretty. We had hoped to be there by 3 pm, but because of our late night and later start that morning, we didn't end up in Castine till closer to 4. That did give us enough time to get our dorm room and change for the opening dinner.

  The other interesting thing I learned about Maine is how often the weather changed! The first day it was cold! Then we got into heat and humidity that was really tough, especially since all the buildings didn't have AC of any kind. Luckily, about the 3rd day in, we turned to more reasonable days, with bearable temps. All the lilacs were in bloom and it smelled so nice!

  One evening they did a lobster bake for all of us and it was so yummy! There is nothing tastier than fresh Maine lobster!

  Anyhow, here are some pictures I took while there:

  

  The view from the dorm window

  

  The bay, as seen from the campus

  

  One of the beautiful, colonial style homes

  

  A lovely little shed tucked in near the lilacs

  

  This path led to a little garden in front of an antique shop

  

  Down at the harbor

  

  Another charming home

  

  I loved the character of this house!

  

  Lilacs

  

  Unknown tree blossoms. People though it was an crap apple tree, but the leaves don't match. Anyone know that this is? The branches were growing out sideways, in a gnarled manner.

  Hope you enjoyed!

  • 7:06 pm
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