sue – Page 6 – The Destinators

Bradbury Mountain State Park

Having just spent a fair amount of our touring and visiting time within sight of the ocean, or at least the sound of the waves, for our next bit of exploration we looked around for a place to visit that would take us away from the coast a bit to see a different part of Maine, if possible staying away from larger towns because that’s our M.O. We didn’t want to get too far inland, though, since most of the rest of our visits are also along the coast. Well, what’s that green splotch there on the map? That’s Bradbury Mountain State Park. Set a course…

Penobscot Bay

We had plans to meet up with friends in Rockland and Islesboro, leaving us with a little free time to explore this bit of Maine on our own. I had never been to the Penobscot Bay area, and Doug hadn’t visited since his college days at Bates (in Lewiston, Maine). Researching places to hike, we found that the Camden/Rockland area on Penobscot Bay featured the kinds of hikes we most like – moderate climbs to higher elevation places with great views. We identified 3 hikes to do and found a nice, small campground convenient to all of them. And Penobscot Bay was quite convenient for meeting up with our friends.

Islesboro

We met Susan and Dick almost 25 years ago. They were some of the first people we met and skied with when we arrived at Sugarbush. They still spend winters in Vermont and we still get to ski and hang with them. About 4 years ago, they purchased Susan’s family home and they now spend their summers in Islesboro, ME.

Chicky Stoltz & the Charlie Nobles*

Chicky Stoltz is a friend and neighbor, a talented musician and multi-instrumentalist, and my first drum teacher. He grew up in Camden, ME and moved with his young family to the Mad River Valley about 15 years ago. In addition to playing with numerous bands and ensembles in Vermont, he remains active with his Maine bandmates, getting together a few times each year, including an annual residence on a sailing cruise that kicks off with an evening show (on shore) the night before departure. Chicky Stoltz & the Charlie Nobles were scheduled to play at Ada’s Kitchen in Rockland, about 20 minutes from our friends Dick and Susan’s home, and the timing was good. Color us there!

On the road to Andover, Maine

Walker always asks to be in the top photo, showing us that he can still do what he does best – relax on the couch. He hasn’t changed a bit since we last saw him in 2021 and first met him in 2016. And he still loves us.

Bethlehem, NH (not in Maine just yet)

OK, we’re spending June in Maine. Our route to get there takes us down Main Street in Bethlehem, NH – literally right past Doug’s brother Roland’s place, so we’re stopping. We’ve already got plans for a Shick family get-together in July, so we were all ok with just a quick visit. And that’s what we did.

Something a little different…

We’re often on the road in May. This year, we’re trying something different. We’ve typically traveled during the summer. We spent last summer in Eastern Canada, ending our travels with a an extra credit loop to Michigan to attend Doug’s blues guitar meetup. This year the group is having a meetup in Albuquerque, NM in late September, just in time for the weather to start cooling off in the southwest, where there’re lots of things we haven’t seen because it’s just too hot in the summer. Let’s try for a fall trip! In the meantime…

Home!

During the final two days of the trip, we tried to determine what it is that we both were experiencing – a now-familiar feeling we’ve had at the end of each of our trips. We’re happy to be coming home, yet there’s a sadness to ending our adventurous life on the road. We concluded that it’s primarily a feeling of wistfulness (yearning or longing) with a touch of bittersweet (contrasting emotions of sadness and pleasure). And overall, it leaves us with a sense of satisfaction with the adventure just concluded.

Toronto, ON – again

Our loyal readers may recall we jammed with Iris last July while enroute to Toronto. It was so much fun, we had to do it again!

Quebec City, partie 3 – fermer le cercle

The first night of this trip, on June 10, was spent in Quebec City. After 100 days on the road covering 11,000 km/7,000 miles and 5 provinces, we’ve come full circle back to Quebec City. We’re quite proud of that circle! And now, the adventure portion of this trip is behind us. Ha! Not without one more quick visit to the city… ‘Je me souviens!’