Downeast Digest: Day 1

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

We were up and at 'em early and were on the road, driving (as Steve demanded) by 8:01 am–1 minute later than target time. However, the Kia decided to make some funny sounds and burps, so we had to turn back at the furniture corner of State and Main and go home. We quickly threw our luggage into the Mazda and off we went with no further hitches.

Arrived at Cincinnati Airport around 10 am, ate an early lunch at Mickey D's (those little pumpkin pies are GOOD!), and then before we knew it, we were the first to board our plane at 11:45 am. Rosie got the window seat, and the flight was quick and uneventful. We landed in Bangor at 1:55 pm and picked up our car, some type of Chevy.

We spent some time driving around downtown Bangor, whose streets are badly marked and have lots of missing street signs. But it's smaller than New Albany, so it wasn't difficult to navigate. The architecture of many of the houses is fantastic. We went through the historic residential district as well as the business section (and there weren't any boarded up windows!)

Our first stop was Betts Bookstore, which specializes in all things Stephen King. I bought a copy of Pet Sematary since I'd gotten rid of my original one and wanted to reread it. Rosie liked the bookstore dog, Sammy, and outside we saw our first Maine kitty cat, a gray and white one.

Next stop: Stephen King's house on West Broadway. Yes, we gawked and hung around the front gates taking pictures, but he didn't come out, darn it. It's an impressive house, but not overly so. His section of town is comparable to our Mansion Row in New Albany.

Then on to Mount Hope Cemetery, along the Penobscot River. This was where one of the scenes in Pet Sematary was filmed. We saw graves from as far back as the 1830s. We walked around the little lake and observed all kinds of neat mushrooms growing, not at all like any I've seen in Indiana. It's a hilly cemetery and was the 2nd "garden cemetery" in the US. It's also Maine's oldest cemetery. Rosie had fun running up and down the hills, pretending to be some kind of animal.

Then our final stop, Seadog Brewery, for dinner. Steve and I had the pot roast with potatoes and veggies. Rosie had grilled cheese and Parrot Punch. I had a delicious homemade rootbeer and Steve tried the Hazelnut Porter, which he said was excellent. We took an after-dinner walk along the Penobscot, with seagulls circling overhead.

The fog started rolling in as we made our way toward Ellsworth and the Twilite Motel. Our room is comfy, and they have cats here, a big plus in Rosie's eyes. We turned in early after checking email. I read a couple chapters of Pet Sematary and then drifted off to sleep.