Maine Summer Bucket List
This is my first summer in Maine and for a while there, it looked like we might not get any real summer since it has pretty much been raining cats and dogs (by the way, who ever sat around and thought of an expression like that, I wonder? ). So I was told by many Mainers that so much rain by this time of year is not the norm. Obviously, I have no idea what a real summer in Maine is usually like, but I had heard about the humidity to which my first reaction was “You mean like Texas?!”. Because friends, like many of you, I have experienced the heat of Texas once in my life and quite honestly, it was enough to last me a while. So now I can say I’ve officially experienced the humidity of the Northeast and honestly, it is pretty annoying (not quite as overbearing as Texas) but nothing I’ll lose sleep over. I don’t know why I’m talking about the weather (I forget, you all have weather apps on your phones) but just to give you an idea, the weather literally changes every hour so there’s no point in following the weather apps. So, that’s always interesting!
The point I’m trying to make is that it’s officially summer and I intend to make the best of it no matter what the day looks like. Because of that, I have written a summer bucket list and hope I can cross off a few before the new season.
Visit a Lighthouse: When I first visited Maine a few years ago, I got a chance to visit two lighthouses (the one in Cape Elizabeth, the famous one- I’m sure you know the one I’m talking about and Nubble Lighthouse). I’d like to see a couple more before the summer ends.
In case I haven’t shared this before, when I was in elementary school, I remember reading a book based on a true story about a girl who was a lighthouse keeper with her mother (I think?) and I remember something tragic happened and the girl was buried on the lighthouse grounds. I have been looking for the book ever since but no luck yet and of course, I have no memory of the title. But because of this book that captivated my interest way back then, I have since been fascinated with lighthouses.
Take a train ride: Again, when I first visited Maine, I had the chance to ride a train to several local destinations. It was so peaceful to just sit there and look out the window at the (mostly) picturesque views. I loved riding the train even back in California where the scenery wasn’t always quite so appealing (a heads up for those of you thinking of taking the train in California—unless you specifically take the scenic route, you’ll likely be seeing the backs of many cities that are in desperate need of cleaning up— but I suppose that’s probably true of many states).
Visit the town of Friendship: Now my reason for wanting to do this is strictly personal. It reminds me of the movie Casper, a childhood favorite. The movie supposedly took place there (though a quick google search tells me exterior scenes were mostly filmed in Camden, a truly lovely town in its own right). I’ve heard Friendship is just simply a charming town and well, if you know me, I can never get enough of those charming towns! I definitely want to visit sooner than later.
Now if only Whipstaff Manor was a real place…
