Travels in my head: Maine

The Pine Tree State. In fact, I have not been that far into Maine. I have been to Portland, where I seem to remember I stopped at a roadside diner and had the rudest server I ever encountered in the US. Apart from that, I like Maine. If you look at a map of the US, just a bove New Hampshire is a state line and north and east of that it reads "here be dragons". This is Maine. Just north of Rochester, NH, the road crosses the state line, and beyond there are good roads again. New Hampshire seemed to have poorly maintained roads, but Maine, fine. My favourite place in Maine is York Beach. And that is because at York Beach there is the Nubble Light at Cape Neddick, a fine old lighthouse on an island, very picturesque, and a place I visit each time I am in the area. A friend, Garro, rented a, well, not sure you'd call it a house, more of a cottage, on Nubble Road, overlooking the ocean. It was a fine old place, but using Google Street View it seems most of the original houses have been replaced by horrble modern mansions. Garro was a fine gentleman, a trucker and was in a relationship with my friend's Mother, who was also a trucker. A hard life in the US, especially in New England in the winter. Garro got kicked out by his landlord who had an offer on the lot so wanted to make cash. So, I guess the cottage got razed to be replaced with a typical US house with a garage for several SUVs. Garro was a great cook too. I still have many of his recipes and use them from time to time. He was also trying to work out the herbs and spices used in KFC wonder if he ever got that nailed down. After York Beach, I loed the fishing village of Ogunquit, where one fine autumn afternoon, with the fall colours as a backdrop, the fleet heading out to sea. I could live there, if it wasn't for the winters. Obviously. In the area, snow only counts if it falls on Boston. Obviously. That leaved Kennebunkport to describe. I believe this is where Barbara Bush came from, and they had a holiday home there. As in many US towns and cities, there is a "old" and pretty part, and the strip mall beside the main road. The Maine main road. I have visited the old and new. I prefer the old, clearly. I went there the first time it was dusk and refelections on the Kennebunk River. But it were cold.