West Coast meets East Coast

Portland Head Light © October 1997

I have a friend that moved from the Bay Area, California to Vermont, back in the mid- 90's. By 1997 she was living in Maine. Having always wanted to go to Maine from reading about the state in many books with stories set in Maine, I figured this was finally my opportunity to see Maine with my own eyes. Instead of through the eyes of my imagination brought forth from words written on pages.

Late October, 1997. I finally come face to face with Maine.

Portland, Maine. I spent a week in this lovely little town. Right down the road from the paper plant. On most days, up wind from it as well. My friend and her roommate couldn't stand the smell. I said it smelled like over cooked broccoli, not too bad. But I could imagine how one could come to really hate that smell after awhile.

I fell in love with Maine! Maine was everything I thought it would be like, and more. Maine completely stood up to my expectations, even exceeding them. From the way Maine looked, felt, tasted, and smelled, right down to the way the people were. I was not disappointed in any way. Even Stephen King couldn't convince me of the weird, underlying happenings of Maine. :o)

I did the lighthouse thing. Went to the Portland Head Light and Cape Elizabeth Light. As many times as I have been back to the East coast, those are the only 2 that I have seen and taken pictures of. I do plan to visit all the others sometime in the future.

My first trip to the East coast I also spent about a week in Barre, Vermont as well. The week of All Hallow's Eve. Autumn is such a beautiful time of the year back East. I love the crispness of the air. All the many different colors of reds, oranges, and yellows on the trees... California just does not have the Fall season like New England does. To this day, when October comes around and the crispness in the air starts I begin to feel melancholy and long to be in New England.

Since my first trip to New England, I have since tried to make it a yearly habit of spending at least a week there. Since my very trip, I have been in Salem, Massachusetts on All Hallow's Eve night. That is one town that I have always been drawn to. I now know why... I do not like the poor touristy feel the town draws, but I guess that was to be expected to happen to the town.

Oh! And have I mentioned that I have a love for cemeteries? Oh my gawd! The cemeteries!! Every quarter of a mile it seems, there is a cemetery, whether it be big or small. And of course, I have to see and take pictures of every single one! (I think one year I took about 9 rolls of pictures, most of them of cemeteries. Thank gawd for digital cameras being so aforadable!) It has now gotten to the point that my friend will no longer let me do cemeteries anymore. She doesn't feel all too comfortable while in cemeteries as it is, and I think I have over extended my allotment of my cemetery adventures. For the time being, that is! Next year is going to be a different story with different cemetery adventures...

So. What was the whole point of all this? Absolutely nothing! Just the complete bloggings of a Tigress.

Until next time...