Camden Riverhouse Hotel & Inn

Here we are now, Doug included, in Camden, Maine! I have never been to Maine and I must say that after experiencing the 'business" of the lower Hudson Valley and the responsibility of schooling virtually all week long, I felt quite comfortable and relaxed up North. We ventured this trip to visit old friends of ours who once lived in Jackson and moved back to Maine, where they are from. Actually, there is a whole little "crew" of friends who used to live in Jackson that were ...

... into Maine in early afternoon and had the most wonderful sense of euphoria at being back inside our wonderful United States of America again. It's very hard to describe and even harder to figure out. But it feels good to be in the Homeland!

We ignored our itinerary which called for us to bunk tonight near Bangor and followed Hwy 1A down the west side of the Penobscot River and finally along ...

... that were located in homes along the highway. Antiques galore...plus gift shops, art shops, ceramimcs, jewelry, and more. I was on a mission to find great signs and I found a few to document the journey. Traffic wasn't too heavy until we neared Camden, one of our destinations for the day. I wanted to stop and shop (of course) and see what was to be seen! We walked to the marina and I had a ...

... restaurant again last night. The people-watching there is pretty good and they have good wine and draft beers so it's easy to while away some time there


Today we did even less. We had a nice lobster salad for lunch here in Camden at Linda Bean's Lobsters. We planned to order some blueberry pie for dessert but the waitress suggested that we go to a town down on the coast called Waldoboro -- there's a place ...

... glaze every piece themselves and the result is an exceptional and functional piece of art.

Dennis got Stephne onto the potter's wheel and right before my eyes the morning was transformed into a kind of "Iron Chef" of dueling potters! It was great. Stephne was working a one-pound ball into a sort of bowl at one end of the studio. Not far away, Dennis was at his wheel throwing eight-pound balls into thirteen ...

... place exceeds all superlatives and yet virtually none are cast in their direction. We had some great drinks in the bar -- I had a blueberry martini made with a blueberry vodka that is distilled near Freeport. Local blueberry vodka and a small hand full of blueberries...why wouldn't that be a great drink?!

We had a salad and then we both had a divine grilled cod served with a blueberry and chipotle chile ...

... mail two times a day back and forth between Stonington and Isle au Haut -- a small island with about 35 full time residents, Isle au Haut is the southernmost part of Acadia National Park.

You can really see why this was a place that the buccaneers liked to sneak up to when things got too hot for them down on the Spanish Main! No pirates today, just a plethora of lobstermen and a growing population of artists and crafters of all sorts.

The ...

... American. We've had that feeling in Massachusetts and elsewhere in New England but it feels especially strong in Maine. I think that's because it is so relaxed and natural here...a little less contrived for the most part. Blue Hill, for example, has American flags hanging from every light post in the town. We see that at home but only when it is the 4th of July or some other patriotic holiday. And it's not they're 'flag-waving zealots ...

... are 3 married couples. 3 of you self-identified yourselves as Asian or Pacific Islander; 1 African-American; 3 Hispanic; 3 mixed and 2 American Indian or Alaskan Native (please note these demographics are based on your self-identification in the application process, and do not include those who elected not to self-identify their ethnicity).

... to Camden, repaired my relationship with Rene and tried to decide what to do next. Oh great, more inner questing without looking outside myself for answers, bummer. North or South, which way do I go? There is the western hemisphere's largest whirlpool North and Texas is South. Am I tired of traveling and want to go home? But where is home? Definitely not San Antonio but what about Austin or New Braunfels? And what do I want to do when I get there? ****; anybody got a coin? After ...