i can't believe we are in maine

Some noteworthy items from our journey today...

We flew from New Orleans to Washington D.C. Flying into D.C. was interesting... We caught a bird's-eye view of such notable landmarks as the Capitol building, the Washington Monument, the Pentagon, the Vietnam War Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

Somehow, our flight arrived about 50 minutes early, which did us no good. We were waiting at Gate 40, which was printed on our tickets. Suddenly they announce last call for our flight to Portland. Next thing you know, they are calling -- and butchering -- our names. Apparently, at some point, they decided we were supposed to be at Gate 36 instead. So, we grabbed everything and took off running through Ronald Reagan Washington National airport. We made it just in time. That was a scary moment. And talk about felt like a doofus when we boarded the plane and everyone else was already there, staring at us.

On the way to Portland, we were following the coastline. As we neared the jetport, the fall colors came into view. It was very exciting.

Hertz rented us a Hyundai Tucson. It's cute. Unfortunately, the few places we had hoped to visit in Portland were beyond reach. The lack of street signs was confusing enough, but then... I never saw any actual road construction taking place, but there were orange cones and detours set up in several places that just kept us going in circles and getting more frustrated. So, we scrapped those ideas in favor of getting to the interstate and getting the hell out of Portland. Did I just say that?

The drive out of Portland was nice. Signs with stream names. You don't see that back home. Canadian radio (songs in French)... Not sure why, but there wasn't much traffic. (Was there an LSU game on??) The leaves have started to "turn", so that was something to behold. Oranges, yellows and reds mixed in with all the evergreens, which looked like oversize Christmas trees. And rock, everywhere. In places, the interstate seemed to slice right through it.

We saw our first moose crossing sign. You know you're in Maine when...

Our next stop was the Big Lots in Augusta. Sam bought some DVDs... Duh! This is when we noticed it seemed to be getting dark early. 4pm felt like about 7pm. Plus, we still had a few more stops to make, so we started getting anxious and feeling like we were running out of time.

In Bangor, we ducked in to see this huge statue of Paul Bunyan. He stands facing the Penobscot River, symbolizing Maine's status as the lumber capital of the world back in the day; but in actuality, it looks more like he is facing the Hollywood Casino they built across the street from him. Is nothing sacred?

I don't know if I have ever seen a real live cherry tree. With cherries growing on it. Like this one, growing near the Paul Bunyan statue. Not sure if there is any significance there.

Stephen King's House

So spooky, Sam got scurred.

Everybody was watching us in front of the house. Even a cab pulled up and stopped for a moment with a curious passenger. Awk-ward... If you look closely at the photo of me in front of the house, you'll notice the Obama sign. Gobama!!

We were going to ride by the graveyard where Pet Sematary was filmed, which was only right down the street, but we were losing daylight too quickly -- and still had an hour or so to drive before reaching our destination. There's nothing to mention from that last leg of the drive, mostly because it was super dark... Up and down hills, fast, in the dark.

But we finally made it... We are in Bar Harbor.