Bangor Area

Beyond the Capital Area and Waterville Area is Bangor.
I've visited one time when visiting brother in college.
Just past Bangor/Brewer is the Orono campus.

Community links:
Bangor - Brewer - Orono
Hampden - Norridgewock

Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce

Waterville Area

Previously I linked communities in the Capital Area.
The next big city up the interstate is Waterville.

Waterville - Oakland - Winslow - Fairfield - Belgrade

First Park - said to be Maine's Premier
Business and Technology Center
It's on the Waterville-Oakland border

We are learning a lot about Maine towns and cities!!!

Maine City-Data

I've used the City-Data site before.
Maine Bigger Cities (population over 6000)
Cities/towns between 1000 and 6000
Towns/villages with fewer than 1000
I just found cool feature for house hunters.

Check out "Recent Home Sales" section.
Once on state/city/town page ...
just put address and then request to
have it selected by sale date or distance.
It is slightly outdated but still interesting.

Capital Area

We are looking to move to the Capital Area of Maine.
There are many smaller communities around Augusta.
Thought I would post city/town links ...
as well as county and state government.

Augusta - Hallowell - Farmingdale
Gardiner - West Gardiner - Pittson
Randolph - Chelsea - Vassalboro - Sidney
Manchester - Winthrop - Readfield

Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce
Kennebec Valley Council of Governments
Kennebec County - Sheriff's Office
Maine State Government

LL Bean

Cathy sent me down to LL Bean in Freeport to spend some of our wedding gift certificates. I probably spent nearly 4 hours there. It is quite an adventure! I ended up getting a pair of shoes from the Outlet store!

Visit Maine

I found the Maine Office of Tourism Visit Maine site.
The Where to Visit section includes Mid-Coast
and Kennebec & Moose River Valleys.
Other sections include Where to Stay, Where to Eat,
Things to Do, Plan Your Trip, and Event Calendar Search.

Main(e) Street

My mother sent me a link the other day to
Visit Bath.com regarding this weekend's Mayfair.
It is Bath's Citywide Yard Sale to partially benefit charity.
It was the first time I had seen that site and surfed around.
I see there were some other Maine "main street" cities ...
including Gardiner and Waterville (both around Augusta).

Visit Bath Community Links
Gardiner Downtown Business Links
Waterville Area Links (includes state orgs)
State Link: Main Street Maine Program
National Link: National Trust Main Street Center

Maine Business Trends

Focusing on Maine trends since we are looking to move.
Trends 2008: A look ahead at Maine's economic future and key business sectors
These articles are from Feb 24th, 2008 but should still be valid.
FWIW - I am only posting links for some of the articles.
* Home prices may bottom out this year
* Retail, distribution sectors taking off
* Retail growth generating hundreds of jobs
* Projects help offset Navy base's closure

Nubble Lighthouse

During our Belated Honeymoon Getaway we visited Nubble.

This lighthhouse is located off Cape Neddick in York Harbor.

Read The History of Nubble on their official website.

That site also has a page listing Maine Lighthouses.

For lighthouse enthusiasts: New England Lighthouses.

Even more links to Maine Lighthouse at about.com.

Considered M, R and E of HUMORE

Getaway Day 3

• Packed up and left hotel around 10 AM
• Stopped at Yummies which was next door to the hotel.
• Down the road Randy took a picture of "When Pigs Fly" sign.
• We took the scenic route home
including Route 1 and Route 1a and Shore Road(s):
Kittery -> York -> Ogunquit (stopped at main beach)
Wells -> Kennebunk -> Arundel -> Biddeford -> Saco
Scarborough -> South Portland -> Portland -> etc
• We arrived home around 2 PM and took a nap
*** Also checked out Nubble Lighthouse

Getaway at Coachman Inn

For our belated honeymoon getaway we stayed at Coachman Inn. It's not part of a chain just a single discount hotel which easily competes with national chains. I had read a lot of great reviews about this hotel touting its spacious rooms and bathrooms and spectacular continental breakfast. I was concerned as to whether the bed and toilet would be high enough for me (and my arthritic knees). We were given one of the two handicap rooms because the toilet was higher and it had a king sized bed. The bed was 20 inches high and the toilet was 18 inches high. Both ended up working for me just fine.

The room truly was spacious. The bathroom had hand rails around the toilet. However, even though this was suppose to have been for someone in a wheelchair (which I am not) it still only had a tub/shower enclosure which would have been too difficult for me to bend my legs to get into. They had remodeled recently even replacing the carpets and all the bedding. I actually wrote down the specifics on the bedspread and king size blanket to see about purchasing from the same company.

Across from the front checkin desk was a sit down area with small tables and chairs ideal for comfortably partaking of your continental breakfast. They did also provide a complimentary USA Today on weekdays. Coffee and hot water for tea and cocoa was available 24 hours a day. For breakfast there was bagels and pastries, fresh fruit and cereal. It was decent enough - comparable to other hotels. I took the opportunity to eat bagels and cream cheese.

Weird Games of Maine

March 9th Maine Sunday Telegram:
Let the (weird Maine) games begin
I doubt that we are any weirder than others.
Just different people from different areas
do different things for fun and sport.
What some Mainers do by season:

Winter: Belt Sander Racing (2:04)


Spring: Maine Mud Runs (2:49)


Summer: Lobster Boat Racing (3:03)


Fall: Giant Pumpkin Regatta (no good video worth sharing)

Considered U, M and O of HUMORE

Everywhere in Maine

I found this MUST POST video over at YouTube.
Especially the beginning with all the snow!

Maine Movies

We love movies and thought we would mention some Maine movies.
Randy has seen all from the top 10 list but I have not.
I'll mention some I liked or are on the "to see" list.

On the "to see" list:

Cider House Rules
filmed partly in Bernard and at Sand Beach in Acadia National Park

In the Bedroom
locations included Belfast, Camden, Rockland, Rockport, Wiscasset

Twelve Monkeys
One list says it was filmed in Maine - not sure.

Empire Falls
locations included Augusta, Waterville, Skowhegan, Kennebunkport
Like The Man Without a Face (below) dad drove their car in it.

Stuff we've seen:

The Man Without a Face - we have both seen
Rockport, Cape Rosier, Bath, Brunswick, Portland, and Rockland.
My parents were hired to drive their 1961 Plymouth Valiant.
It was an old push button model from the right time period.

Peyton Place - celebrated 50 years in 2007
filmed in Camden and Belfast

Casper - I did not realize that it was set in Maine!!!
filmed in Camden even though story actually set in Friendship.

Steven King often sets his novels in Maine
and some are filmed here like Pet Sematary.

Links:
Top Ten Movies Filmed in Maine
Top Movies Filmed in Maine

(Considered M of HUMORE)

Anadama Bread

When Randy was out today he picked up some Anadama Bread at Wild Oats Bakery and Cafe. Anadama Bread is one of the breads it makes on Saturdays. I've had it before and liked it so wanted to share it with Randy. We used it for our sandwiches for lunch.For those that do not know Anadama Bread is a traditional bread on New England. It is made with white flour, cornmeal, molasses and sometimes rye flour. It's "very hearty, nice & dense, and just sweet enough" bread.

There is no clear cut answer as to where the name came from or when or where the bread originated. The most common story as to the name "anadama" is ... a fisherman, angry with his wife, Anna, for serving him nothing but cornmeal and molasses, one day adds flour and yeast to his porridge and eats the resultant bread, while cursing, "Anna, damn her."

While I have repeatedly read anadama bread "traces its roots back to colonial New England, the northeastern part of the US. It is characterised by its inclusion of cornmeal and molasses, which are two very American ingredients" I also read a story that suggested it came from California and it was miner's wife that was "damned".

Update Sunday: For breakfast I like it lightly toasted and buttered.

(Considered MO of HUMORE)

Maine Earthquakes

Yes, Maine has earthquakes!
We have blogged about it twice now ...
We didn't do it!!! and Again, it wasn't us!

Most are hardly noticed and do no and little damage.
Although I do remember when in high school ...
having a relatively big one that had aftershocks.
It caused a crack in the living room wall.

Here are some great links:
Maine Earthquake Information
Last Earthquake in Maine
Recent New England Earthquakes

(Considered MORE of HUMORE)

Again, it wasn't us!

But I felt the earthquake this time! It happened at 4:21 this morning. But all felt was a little shaking of the bed. It was a 1.7, barely noticeable and was centered only a few miles away.

Went to LA

Saturday afternoon we decided to take a ride.
We went to LA, Lewiston-Auburn, the twin cities.
We stopped by the Auburn Mall and its surrounding stores.
The "surrounding stores" did not exist when I was young.
They are your box stores like Kohls, Best Buy and Walmart.

Noticed a Logos Christian Bookstore at the Shaws Plaza.
Their official name is The Bible Bookstore.
They use to be called Bible Bookstore and Gift Store.
They use to be at a different location past the mall area.

In Lewiston we did go downtown and I noticed "tree" streets.
All parallel streets are named after trees like Spruce and Birch.
When young we use to visit my grandmother on Ash Street.
We turned around so I could go back and look at building.
Randy was happy to see a new variety of stores.

Disturbed

Another snowstorm today. Trying to stay warm.
At this writing I'd say we have over a foot of snow.
I cleared the porch area this morning at about 6 inches.
It was fluffy snow so just used a big garage broom.

We just got done watching the video Disturbia.
Shia LaBeouf plays the role of the main character.
I remember him on the tv series Even Stevens.
And the bad guy was played by David Morse.
I remember him way back on St. Elsewhere (as Boomer).

A couple of the other characters I thought I recognized.
But when I checked with imdb could not identify ...
what movies or shows I thought I knew them from.
They were Sarah Roemer and Aaron Yoo.

Maine Computer Terms

1. Log on - Make the wood stove hotter
2. Log off - Don't add no more wood
3. Monitor - Keep an eye on that wood stove
4. Download - Getting the firewood off the truck
5. Floppy disk - What you get from downloading too much firewood
6. Ram - The thing that splits the firewood
7. Hard Drive - Getting home in the winter
8. Prompt - What the US mail ain't in the winter
9. Window - What to shut when it's cold outside
10. Screen - What to shut in black fly season
11. Byte - What the black flies do
12. Bit - What the black flies did
13. Mega Byte - What the BIG black flies do during trout season
14. Chip - Munchies for TV
15. Micro Chip - What's left in the bag after you eat chips
16. Modem - What you did to the weeds growing in the driveway
17. Dot matrix - Old Dan Matrix's wife
18. Lap top - Where the beer spills when you nod off
19. Software - The dumb plastic knives and forks at McDonalds
20. Hardware - Real stainless steel cutlery
21. Mouse - What makes the holes in the Cheerio box
22. Main frame - What holds the house up, hopefully
23. Enter - The only way to win those magazine sweepstakes
24. Web - What a spider makes
25. Web site - High corners of the ceiling
26. Cursor - Someone who swears
27. Search Engine - What you do when the car dies
28. Screen Saver - repair kit for the torn window screen on the camp
29. Home Page - map that tourists keep in their pocket in case they get lost in the woods. Real Mainers never use them
30. Upgrade - Steep hill
31. Server - waitress
32. Mail Server - male waitress. Damn few in Maine
33. MS DOS - Some new disease they discovered
34. Sound Card - One of them gall darned technological birthday cards that plays music when you open it
35. User - The neighbor who keeps borrowing your stuff
36. Browser - A problem moose in the Blueberry patch
37. Network - Mending holes in the gillnet
38. Internet - Complicated fish net repair
39. Netscape - What haddock do when you don't do your network
40. Online - good sign there'll be clean clothes this week
41. Off line - the clothes pins let go and the laundry falls on the ground. Next week, get biggah pins...

Thanks to our teenage friend Jo that shared these with us.

(Considered HM of HUMORE)