Bangor is worth the visit!

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Bangor here we come.   Lots to do and see, including family. Don's nephew Michael and his girlfriend Sarah live in Bangor.  We'll see them towards the end of our stay.  Donna's cousin Alan and his wife Maxine live near Bangor in Ellsworth.  Alan reserved a time slot for us to drive up Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park.  We also drove around the rest of the park including Schoodic Bay.  What a beautiful drive!  Alan has a second home - a remote one room cabin - that he frequents to get some quiet time.  So peaceful there!!

View from Cadillac Mountain with Alan...and Harry and Hermione, of course!



People were everywhere.  That explains the need for reservations!

At Alan's cabin, we even talked to Alan's neighbor - a real lobsterman!

Interesting facts I learned about my cousin Alan for the first time:  Even though he grew up in Illinois, he had a wanderlust in his early 20s.  He quit his job and moved to the coast of Maine for awhile.  He'd never been there before, but he thought it would be beautiful.  He was right.  After that, he traveled Europe with his buddies until he ran out of money.  They mostly got by on ten dollars a day per person.  Alan bought a plot of land in Maine, put up a cabin, and visited every year until retirement.  Now, in retirement he lives in nearby Ellsworth.  Like me (Donna), he has also read the Harry Potter book series.  Kindred spirits!

Ice cream again?? There is always room for ice cream...If you happen to be in Bangor stop at Giffords. Many flavors and a lot of it.  Went twice in two days.  Donna ordered a medium soft serve one of the days and it was huge - a foot tall from the tip of the ice cream to the base of the cone.  Wish we had thought to take a picture..... Don't get too jealous at the picture of us eating a two-scooper of Maine Maple Nut, Maine Blueberry, and Sea Salt Caramel.

We drove by Stephen King's house in Bangor....We weren't the only tourists there.  By the way, he also owns a rock radio station (100.3).

Went strawberry picking after seeing the many signs for U-pick.  Best we've had in a long time - way better then grocery store purchases.

On one of our hikes there was a bog boardwalk.  Loved it so much, we went twice to Orono Bog.  Learned a lot about it.  The bog is cool!


The trees got shorter and scrubbier as we walked deeper into the bog,  Some of the short trees are over 100 years old!  The soil gets more acidic and more infertile.



Around the edge of the bog was wetter and had lush plants including this skunk cabbage.  Smells like skunk if you break the plant.  Ewww!


Cottony grass plant


A pitcher plant entices insects and other small animals into its rain filled bowl.  The slippery surface and downward facing hairs prevent them from crawling out and they drown.  The bodies decay, are digested, and the nutrients absorbed into the plant.  How gruesome.


Went sight seeing for moose in the north woods around Moosehead Lake, but didn't find any.  Wrong time of day I guess.  Instead we hiked around Big Moose and Little Moose Ponds - saw moose tracks but no moose.  Again a very pretty view, though I jumped when a snake slithered across the path.  It turned out to be a garter snake.  Cousin Alan told me another interesting fact about Maine.  It has no native venomous snakes.  That made me feel better as several more snakes slithered across our path during our hikes on subsequent days.

We sandwiched our sightseeing between family visits.  The first days with Alan and the last day in Bangor with Michael and Sarah.  Had dinner with Michael and Sarah at the Sea Dog Brewery along the Penobscot River.  Yummy seafood and beer! Had a great time catching up on each other's lives.  The evening went by so fast.  Life couldn't get any better!


Next stop is Concord, NH for a whole nine days. 













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