My Journey of States-38 Maine

A WRITER'S WIT
In the life of each of us, I said to myself, there is a place remote and islanded, and given to endless regret or secret happiness; we are each the uncompanioned hermit and recluse of an hour or a day; we understand our fellows of the cell to whatever age of history they may belong.
Sarah Orne Jewett
Born September 3, 1849
South Berwick, Maine
Died June 24, 1909
South Berwick, Maine

S. Jewett

MY JOURNEY OF STATES is a series in which I relate my sixty-year quest to visit all fifty states in the U.S. In each post I tell of my relationship to that state, whether brief or long, highlighting personal events. I include the year of each state's entry into the union and related celebrations. I hope you enjoy my journey as much as I have. This is the thirty-eighth post of fifty.

Maine (2008)

Ken and I drove from our outpost in Massachusetts to Maine in the autumn of 2008, just prior to the election. It seemed like quite a distance, at first. Could we really make a day trip of it? Turned out to be a little over a three-hour drive, what we consider a short jaunt in Texas. A friend from the area had told us we must indulge in a lobster roll or two, so for lunch we stopped at a large establishment that seemed to specialize in it (large lobster sign). Meh. It wasn’t anything to write to Washington about, but we enjoyed it and moved on to the Acadia National Park, where we climbed Cadillac Mountain. And then onto Maine’s magnificent coast and charming lighthouses. We spent the night in a motel, and on our drive back, half the political signs seemed to be for Obama and the other half for McCain, a prescient view of our present situation.
 
Maine, the twenty-third state admitted to the Union, will celebrate its bicentennial in 2020. 

HISTORICAL POSTCARDS & TRUNK DECALS

If you missed earlier My Journey of States posts, please click on a link:
1-Kansas                13. New Jersey     25. Michigan     37. N. Hampshire
2-Oklahoma        14. Delaware         26. Wisconsin
3-Texas                   15. New York        27. Minnesota
​4-Louisiana         16. Connecticut     28. Iowa
5-Missouri           17. Colorado         29. Hawaii
6-Illinois               18. Arkansas        30. Georgia
7-Indiana              19. California       31. S. Carolina
8-Ohio                   20. Florida             32. N. Carolina
9-Pennsylvania    21. Mississippi    33. Alabama
10-West VA        22. New Mexico     34. Kentucky
11-Maryland       23. Tennessee      35. Massachusetts
12. Virginia          24. Arizona            36. Vermont

NEXT TIME: My Book World, Susan Faludi's Memoir, In the Darkroom