Top 10 "Interesting" Things About Maine

I really wanted to post this my last day in Maine, but I had no time with packing and going out to dinner with Sue, Judy (the new PT replacing me), and Mike (the traveling speech therapist) and his family. So here we go. My closing thoughts. It has definitely been "interesting..."


10.  I never encountered these road signs on my license test!

 

9. When I scan through the radio stations instead of hearing a bunch of Spanish stations I hear French.

8. This is the only place I have ever seen a sign in front of an ice cream shop that reads,

"Milkshakes!

Ice Cream!

Clams!

Scallops!"

Why would you want those two products sold together?

7. I love that on my ten mile drive to work I pass through 4 "towns" but only 1 stoplight.

6.The scenery changes so drastically with the seasons. Before the corn harvest you see corn fields everywhere!

and after the harvest all the roads look like this.

 

Then when the leaves start falling off trees you all of a sudden can see houses, lakes, and, of course, graveyards that you couldn't see before.

5. Common roadkill: skunks, porcupines, and turkey.

4. Your last name can also be your street address. I guess you deserve it if you built your own road when you moved in.

3. When I first arrived I saw all these signs that advertised "cukes." I had no idea what that was. Turns out it is their nickname for cucumbers. 

2. It is interesting when you don't have to decorate for Halloween because of the preexisting graveyard next door to your house.

1. Jeff Foxworthy has this whole line of  "you might be a red neck if..." jokes. One of them is "You might be a red neck if you ever cut your grass and found a car." 

Well, what does that make you if you find a car, and four school buses? 

This is actually the yard in front of a house that I passed by everyday on my way to work. I loved this house it had so much character. And it's Green!!!

I made it to Ohio tonight to visit with my grandmother. I will post the first couple days of my travels tomorrow. It has been fun! Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!

Last Weekend in Maine

Well, this is my last week in Maine. :(
I have been packing and trying to plan my trip down to TN. Another adventure in and of itself, but I will leave that for other posts...
The PT who will be replacing me began working last Monday. It has been a really good thing that we had this overlapped time so I could tell her about what I have been doing with each of the patients, and they could have some time to get to know her before I left. For me, one of the hardest things about leaving was going to be handing over the care of all my patients to a perfect stranger. The focus of this blog tends to be on what I do on the weekends, but actually, that is the smaller portion of what I have done in Maine. Most of the time I am at work. I didn't want all the time and energy that was put into getting to know each person and building a rapport with them to go down the drain. Now I don't have to worry.
The new PT is also a traveler from Maine just like Sue. She is very nice, and invited Sue and I to a concert on Saturday that she had tickets to. David Mallett was performing. He is a folk singer from Maine who is best known for "The Garden Song", and he was described as having the "quintessential Maine sound." This concert was put on by MPBN (the Maine Public Broadcasting Network), and it was being recorded live. We were on TV! :) (Bascially, just clapping.) I really enjoyed the concert, and now I have a David Mallett CD to add to my collection of things to pack.

On Sunday, Sue and I drove to New Hampshire to visit her son, his wife, and Sue's two little granddaughters. Angie, Sue's daughter-in-law, is an Occupational Therapist and she uses her training to run a day camp for kids called Nature's Stepping Stones. She teaches them how to play outside, grow their own food, build canoes, and all sorts of cool things. Yet, at the same time she is stimulating their sensory and vestibular systems, developing fine motor coordination, and improving cognitive function. She does all this right from home since they live on 12 acres of beautiful land. I was so excited when I heard about this idea! Maybe when I am done traveling I could do something like this. That would be right up my alley!!
On our way back to Maine, Sue and I stopped in at the "Maine Diner" which was featured on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" on the Food Network. We both had the lobster pie. Supposedly, it has won all kinds of accolades, but we couldn't understand what the fuss was all about.

After that we drove into Kennebunkport to see Walker Point, where President Bush, the senior, vacations.

not a great pic, but it was starting to get dark

 It was in a really nice area. Downtown Kennebunkport was just like all the other cute downtown areas in Maine. There are so many of them. No matter where you go along the coast from Kennebunk to Bar Harbor you will find the most picturesque scenes of boats in the harbor, beautiful coastal homes, and a long line of the cutest tourist or antique shops.
It was a good last weekend.

A Vacation from Vacationing??

I didn't do very much this weekend which was probably a good thing. I began packing up all the stuff that had managed to get into every nook and cranny of this little cottage. (It's really amazing how much can fit in my car.) The only problem is that I have acquired more stuff since I have been here. Some things are small and don't pose a big problem to packing, like a couple new CD's and some shirts, but other things, like my new tent, sleeping bag, tarp for under the tent, and at least 15 new books make me think I should have gotten a bigger car. ;)
Other then packing and practicing my guitar I drove out to Greenville on Sunday to try and see a moose, but it didn't work. Even though I passed this sign on the way

These moose signs are everywhere around Maine, but I have never seen one with flashing lights and an extra warning below. Greenville is where all the hunters come in with their catches during hunting season. I thought I would at least get to see a dead moose if nothing else, but who knew they don't allow hunting on Sundays! I had no idea... I guess you learn something new everyday.
I figured since I didn't have much to show from this weekend I would put up some pictures that are closer to home, and give you guys some idea about where I have been living and working for these past three months.


What I get to see out the window as I get ready every morning...

My neighbors...

 

Looking down the street outside my house...

Some pretty sights on my way to Greenville...

 

My office/gym/treatment room at work...

The beautiful tree that is right outside the gym. It is in four different stages of changing! So cool.

So there you go. My life.

Florida, Maine, and Beyond Continued

So back to the week in Canada...
The bed and breakfast we stayed in on Prince Edward Island is called the Kindred Spirits Country Inn and is in Cavendish. This is the town where the character, Anne of Green Gables, lives in the books that Lucy Montgomery wrote. Lucy lived in Cavendish, and used her neighbors house and the surrounding paths, farms and woods as the setting for her stories. I have always loved the Anne movies and the whole reason we made PEI one of our stops on this trip was to see this area.
Our B&B was very nice and quaint. They served tea and cookies in the living room every evening and all the rooms were decorated modestly, but comfortably. My mom and I borrowed Anne of Green Gables to watch our first night there so we were in the mood to go visit the sights of the movie the following day.

Wednesday, we finally got to see what the town looked like (since we arrived in the dark the night before). It was pretty much a ghost town. There were water parks and mini golf courses that were not operating and they looked very out of place in that beautiful area. Now, granted, this is the beginning of the off-season, but I was still surprised by how few cars and people I saw there. Until... you get to the Green Gables house. Then, there were 7 tour buses, and tons of people walking around. Apparently, for many people, this was the only reason they came to PEI as well. We looked around, toured the house, walked through the "haunted woods" and on "lovers lane", and I drank a bottle of raspberry cordial. It was pretty and the house was really cute, but I was a little disappointed at how the feel of the place was not preserved really well considering there was a golf course surrounding it. I mean, come on, we go for a walk through the haaaaunted woooods... and then found ourselves in the middle of the back nine. It's just not right.

Once we finished looking around Green Gables we drove to Charlottetown and saw all the sites. There were pretty churches, horse drawn carriages, and cute touristy shops. Then, as we drove along one of the scenic routes to get back to the B&B we saw a really cool little lighthouse, and a gardening/feed store that was all decorated for Halloween.

Thursday, consisted of a bunch of driving. We drove from PEI to a little town along the Cabot Trail. Since this trip required many hours of driving time, my mom and I listened to a few of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia books on CD. It was really nice and a very appropriate selection for our drive.
Friday, we drove the Cabot Trail. This is the road that encircles the northern part of the island of Nova Scotia. It had everything... breath-taking views, winding roads, steep rocky cliffs, and high mountain lookouts. Actually, it could have been pretty scary if you were driving fast, but we just took our time and enjoyed the view since we only met a few other cars on the road the whole 4 hour drive.

And, of course, we found a house we want to buy. I swear I don't go looking for these houses. They just pop up! :)
However, this one was much more reasonably priced then the last one I blogged about. Especially, considering it has a million dollar view, it's waterfront property and it is on the Cabot Trail (probably one of the prettiest places on earth.) I wish you could see the interior. Beautifully furnished with an elegant country style and an antique looking stove in the kitchen.

peeking in the window :)

That evening we attended the first concert in a week-long festival of concerts called The Celtic Colors International Festival. The opening ceremonies were interesting. A Nova Scotian official was marched down the aisle lead by a procession of bag pipers while everyone in the audience stood at their seats. Strange, but cool. The concert was amazing! Lots of different acts performed a few songs each, but there was one couple in particular that blew my socks off! Chris Stout and Catriona McKay are from Scotland. Chris played the fiddle and Catriona played the harp and together they were impressive! It was one of those moments where you are completely fascinated and enveloped by the music and you don't dare to even breathe for fear of missing one note.  http://www.catrionamckay.co.uk/

Saturday we found ourselves driving again. This time back to Maine. We saw tons of really pretty trees on the way that are hitting the peak of their fall colors right now and picked up many leaves for our scrapbooks.

That night we stayed in my cottage in Newport and then on Sunday, before my mom had to catch her flight back to FL, we visited the Portland Head Lighthouse. I have posted pictures of it before, and would love to post pictures again, but they are all on my moms camera. (You gotta send me those, ma.)  :)
We both had a great time on the trip and it was good quailty time to spend with each other.
I would definitely recommend driving the Cabot Trail, but you could forgo seeing PEI (and get to keep the $42 toll they charge you to get off the island, which is ridiculous.) However, everyone better come and visit when we own the little yellow house!