Back in the US….Back in the US….Back in the US of A! (Yeah, we know the Beatles song is back in the USSR, but we are happy to be back.). Canada is wonderful, and we very much enjoyed driving it from one coast to the other, but one’s home country is best…familiar and comforting. Almost immediately, we purchased a quart of famous Maine blueberries. Now, here’s the thing: they don’t taste like the big, sweet blueberries we normally get in grocery stores, which often taste more sweet than anything. These berries aren’t as sweet, but they are teeny-tiny, and they have more of a blueberry taste than we have had in years. Pure, organic, no-pesticide blueberries! The woman said we could eat them without rinsing them, so we had many handfuls as we drove. Pure heaven! We entered the US at Calais, ME, about an hour west of St. John, and drove Route 9 into Bangor. We couldn’t put our finger on why, but almost immediately, we both thought that it didn’t look like Canada anymore, but very American. There were trees and fields and flowers, but it was different. Mike remarked that none of the fields we passed were planted with crops, but just left natural. There were more houses along the road, and for some reason, they seemed less formal, more relaxed, more laid back than those on Canada, if that makes sense! A mystery, for sure!
We know from trivia competitions that Prague is called the City of Spires, but we noticed all of these spires in Bangor and wanted to feature them. (Apparently, residents are very particular about the pronunciation: BANG-ore, not Banger.) There is also a river walk along the Penobscot River that is very inviting. The last six photos illustrate the best thing in Bangor and in the best reason to visit: Stephen King’s home. One of our favorite authors and the King of Horror, car after car stopped to take photos of the house, and we all talked and laughed about stopping there. We also all agreed that it would be a pain to live in a historic neighborhood filled with expensive, gorgeous Victorian houses, only to have carloads of people stopping throughout the day, 7 days a week. At any rate, there are two photos of the home, his jumping frog way down in the corner of the property, and closeups of the bats, gargoyle, and cobwebs on the gate. It was our second time there, our encore visit, and both times the house looked empty and quiet. We wonder if the family ever gets to enjoy the front porch or the balcony above the porch? The price of fame……
