The driving route we took while in Maine. This map has the extreme southeast corner not showing and the northern most 120 miles not showing.
This trip was what is expected to be the first of several over the next decade. It is all geared towards finding our favorite part of Maine in which we want to retire to.
We did some research and found we should avoid the extreme southwest part of Maine. Too expensive. The same could probably be said for the entire coastline of Maine (with the possible exception of the easternmost coastal area). We skipped the west coast since it is too touristy -- not what we are looking for in a retirement place.
This year we focused on the west central part of the state. There was a two-day excursion to the Baxter State Park area (aka. Katahdin Region) and the town of Millinocket. Basically, we were in five of the seven "regions" of Maine which are:
- Southern Maine Coast -- extreme southwest part of the state, not appealing to us
- Maine Lakes and Mountains -- central west Maine, this is where we stayed each night except Monday night, expensive ski country
- Mid Coast -- central southern Maine, visited Boothbay Harbor
- Kennebec and Moose River Valley -- drove around this area on Sunday
- Maine Highlands and Katahdin Moosehead -- drove in this area on Monday and Tuesday, spent Monday night, it is our most favorite retirement area so far
- Downeast Acadia -- eastern coast of Maine, not visited here, this is a future tip
- Aroostook -- northern Maine, not visited here, this is probably next year's trip, at least for the eastern half of this area since the western half is all logging country, it could win as our retirement area
We were in eleven of the sixteen counties of Maine. The ones we missed were: Aroostook (northern Maine), Hancock (central coastal), Knox (central coastal), Waldo (eastern coastal) and Washington (eastern coastal).
The Bests:
- Nature: the trees and rocks and mountains
- Openess/Peacefulness: With so few people and so few businesses around, life seems quiet and peaceful. Gone is the feeling of being surrounded by the industrial complex.
- Early sunrise. Maine is on the front edge of the time zone, thus, gets sunrise at the earliest possible time.
The Worsts:
- Closed: Things are closed most of the year for winter. One would think these people are used to dealing with winter and just keep going.
- Flies and mosquitoes: We were at the very beginning of their ten week period. Locals say you learn to make a mad dash from the car to the building door. Sort of like Kansas City residents do in the hot humid summers.
- Missing cell phone bars: Reception, at least with ATT/Cingular, is spotty and sporatic. Same can be said for Internet connectivity.
The Totals:
- Miles: 1,135 (Sat.165, Sun.230, Mon.316, Tue.214, Wed.90, Thu.160, Fri.25 Sat.35)
- Driving: 31 hours (Sat.4, Sun.5.5, Mon.6.5, Tue.5, Wed.4, Thu.4, Fri.1, Sat.1)
- States: 3 (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine)
- National/State Parks/Monuments: 0 (Baxter State on the north end of the Appalachian Trail was closed)
- Pictures/Movies Taken: about 300 (with 275 as "keepers")