This "posting" will be mostly a "travel-log" that I have not gotten around to putting together ... so here you go with some dialog by Barb, from a letter she sent to our family, and a lot of pictures I have posted below. Hopefully you will find some of them interesting :-).
On August 18th, we took our first full P-day. It was very exciting.
We left our home at 8:00 a.m. and drove about 250 miles to the farthest end of
eastern Maine, and the continental United States . We mostly
traveled on U.S. 1, the scenic route. We saw incredibly beautiful
scenery.
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| Typical scenery as we drive miles and miles through the country doing missionary apartment and car inspections. |
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| Typical Maine smaller town streets |
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| Many ports in Maine have a similar look |
Our first big stop was in a place called Bucksport, Maine.
Population about 5,000. It sits on the Penobscot River. We stopped
right after crossing a bridge over this river. There is an amazing bridge
we can see further down the river, an old fort on the far side of the river and
an area down right along the river with benches, walking trails and a Veteran's
Memorial. It is a beautiful area. Dad took quite a lot of pictures
that you can look at when he next updates our blog.
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| Typically looking Maine homes |
Getting back into our car we again headed for Lubec, Maine.
It is the easternmost town in the contiguous United States. The
internet tells us it is the closest continental location to Africa in the United
States. We were interested in going there because it has a Head Light,
or in our vernacular, a lighthouse. It is called West Quoddy Head Light.
It looks quite a bit like Portland Head Light but it isn't as tall and
the surrounding area isn't as developed. It was
actually commissioned by Thomas Jefferson. There has been a
lighthouse there, to guide ships through the Quoddy Narrows since 1808. There
was a keeper there until 1988, when it became automatic. it is still under the
direction of the U.S. Coast Guard. From the shore by the head light you
can see Canada in two directions. Directly across the Quoddy Narrows
(Ocean) you see Grand Manan Island, Canada. It was a really clear day and
we could see pretty far.
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| Quoddy Head Light |
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| View along the rugged coast of Maine, near Quoddy Head Light |
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| Looking across towards Canada |
There are woods off to one side of the head
light with walking trails. We actually took a little hike and saw some
wonderful views. Much of the walking area was really boggy and muddy. The
little kids would have loved tromping through it.
After leaving the light house, we drove into the little town of
Lubec. It is small and looks like you have stepped back into history a
couple hundred years. If you turn a certain direction, as you go through
the town, you will go right to the Canadian border checkpoint. A
few of the homes in Lubec and the surrounding areas had a U.S. flag and a
Canadian flag flying.
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| The economy is not Lubec's best friend |
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| Just over a bridge to Canada |
The wild flowers in Maine are incredible. There are some
purple flowers we saw lots of times on our way across Maine and they are so
beautiful.
We stopped for dinner on the way home at a little diner. It
was pretty good food. It seems lots of eating places back here advertise
"home cooking" and that is what it is like. They have lots of
homemade pies and cakes. We didn't get home until about 9:15 p.m. It was
a very full day, but we had such a good time.
I find it so interesting, there are so many American flags flying
in so many of the yards and homes here. It isn't unusual to see several light
posts or trees lining the road going into a little town, with a flag
attached to each one. Maine is very rural, with an unbelievable
amount of open spaces, or a least acres and acres of trees.
The intersections here are
pretty funny and not very organized at all. It isn't unusual for there to
be 6 streets coming together in one place. It really reminds me of Europe
in that way, like there was no forethought or planning, just moving a head and seeing
what develops. We continue to be fascinated by the names of places here.
In our travels, around the period of this trip, we came across a couple of
doosies.....How do you like Skitterygussett Road, or a store called "The
Pickled Wrinkle"? Where do they get these names? It is entertaining
and we get some good laughs that come from mental pictures!
The day after this "P-Day" trip, we had another early start. It was apartment and car
inspecting day. When we first found out we were going to have to inspect
missionary cars and apartments we weren't too thrilled, but as it turns out we
love driving around the countryside, seeing the little towns and getting to
spend some time with our missionaries. We really love them all. Today we traveled south and west, with our first car and apartment
inspection in Conway, New Hampshire, an hour and a half from our apartment
in South Portland. Then it was on to Cornish, Maine. On our way to
our second location there was an overlook where we stopped to take some
pictures. We also saw the first real hint of Fall in the air, with some
fern like plants turning yellow, orange, burnt orange, and even a little red.
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| At the higher elevations, back on 9/18/16, Fall colors are starting to blossum |
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| There are so many beautiful lakes and waterways in Maine |
During our Apartment and Car Inspection day, we also went to Old Orchard Beach, Biddeford and Westbrook.
We saw 5 sets of missionaries. Overall they are all doing
well. We are looking forward to Zone Conference which is next Thursday. It
should be pretty interesting because all of the missionaries in Maine will be
at this one conference (4 Zones). All of the missionaries are very
excited to be able to spend time with the other missionaries.
The following Saturday, we had another missionary lesson with
a couple who are learning about our church, here at our home. We have developed a mutual relationship of trust and love. The missionaries asked them to read 2 Nephi 31, in review of the lesson
they gave last Saturday. Dad and I read it too. I love Nephi and all of
the counsel he gives. We are so blessed to have the Gospel and The Book
of Mormon. It truly helps us make it through this life and deal with
the challenges that come our way.
Forgot to mention, Dad colored my hair again on August 4th.
He is truly becoming an expert. With his hair coloring skills and
my hair cutting we should open a shop, in our spare time of course.
We love you all so much!!!! Take good care of yourselves. Look
forward to hearing from all of you soon.
