Post-Hiatus Chapter 8: Places After Ithaca

Aaaaand we're back to our regularly-scheduled programming! Hi folks, welcome back to today's episode of "Julia finally gets off her butt and posts an update"!

I've had a lot of wonderful fun in the past (two? Geez I fell behind) weeks, so I'm going to try not to feel bad about not updating because I've been spending my time with wonderful people in wonderful places.

But I must move on, and as Bilbo Baggins wisely says when trapped in the goblin caves, trying to figure out what to do next:

"Go backwards? No! Sideways? Impossible! Forward? Only thing to do!"

Chapter 8: Vermont, Maine, Maine, Maine

Let's see. When last we left our me, I was in Ithaca, NY.

 . . . where did I go next . . .

Oh right, Vermont!

I left Ithaca on the morning of Monday 9 September, heading East and then North to eventually arrive in Burlington, VT. Along the way, there was some lovely scenery happening, including many different little lakes in Eastern upstate NY.

There was also just a lot of generically gorgeous trees and hills – I got to drive through the Catskills AND the Adirondacks! – and one section of highway where I was very confused because the GPS said I was heading North, and the roadsigns said I was heading North, but it was mid-afternoon and the sun was on my right. Like, very distinctly on my right.

I called my mom to let her know I might foreseeably end up in Alberquerque, and not to worry.

Speaking of lakes and pretty things, here's the bridge over Lake Champlain.

Burlington, VT is a nice little city-town-thing just on the East side of Lake Champlain. It was raining on and off, and kind of stormy-looking, and it was also sunset when I was in the area, so I got some neat pictures.

I should mention that all day that Monday, I was trying desperately hard not to let the vague head-cold that had crept in Sunday night take over completely, but it was a bit of a losing battle. So when I crossed the lake and saw a nice-looking restaurant, I went right in to see if they had soup. (They didn't, but they had a hot turkey sammich with gravy and cranberry-jelly-from-a-can and happiness, so that was helpful.)

Then I continued down the road to Burlington.

There were some lovely buildings in Vermont – particularly in Montpelier, which I didn't end up visiting but drove through so as to goggle at the architecture. Really neat stuff.

(Pictures incoming as soon as camera batteries have been acquired.)

I also stopped at a cute little roadside gift shop/café type thing-place and bought a tiny tiny little thing of maple syrup (it's so cute!) and a postcard which I promptly forgot on the counter (being, as I was, distracted by adorable syrup bottles).

Then, onward! I drove through lovely Green Mountains of Vermont and the White Mountains at the tip of New Hampshire, heading towards Augusta, ME.

The next few days were all spent in various places in Maine – Augusta, Lincoln, Lubec, Portland – so I'll just note the highlights for now and post pictures later when I find a Radio Shack.

 – Augusta was nice, lovely views of things.
 – Stayed at a wonderful little BnB in Lincoln called the Whitetail Inn.
 – Spent most of the evening at the local Tim Hortons, because they're open 24 hours and have donuts and Wi-Fi!
 – Ate many donuts.
 – INTENSE and WONDERFUL thunderstorm that night. Got some video but it'll have to wait to get uploaded.
 – Spent next morning at Tim Hortons for aforementioned reasons.
 – Donuts.
 – Oh man. Donuts.
 – Eventually left Lincoln and made it to Lubec just in time for everything to be closed (apparently this happens at 5 there)
 – Was, however, able to buy a cup of hot chocolate from a Peruvian lady that I swear you could paint your house with (the chocolate, not the lady).
 – Hilariously pathetic story which will be in a separate post
 – Took some neat pictures of the lighthouse at Lubec
 – Almost accidentally drove to Canada
 – Got excellent food at an Irish pub by the docks (smoked mussels and haddock chowder – oh sweet baby Gandalf it was sooooo goooood)
 – Ended up going to bed at 8 PM because the internet and phone service were both so bad at the motel

I woke up at around 5:30 in the morning on Friday 13 September – on purpose – because of wanting to check off a bucket list item. Y'see, Lubec, Maine is the Easternmost point in the continental US, and there's a campground on the easternmost point of Lubec. So I drove out there at bum-fuck early in the morning (pardon my French, but I get cranky about mornings) and parked near-ish the edge of the campground.

Because, of course, sunrise was scheduled for 6:07 AM, and I wanted the sun to come up over me before literally anyone else in the country.

Because I am selfish, and an evil genius. Bwahahaha.

(Of course, it was pea-soup fog, being Maine in September, so the "sunrise" was more of a "gradually lightening fog", but I'm counting it!)

Then I went back to the hotel and got a few more hours of sleep.

I spent Friday driving down the coast of Maine to Portland – interestingly, Highway 1 is the most coastal route, just like it is in California. Is this a thing that civic engineers do? Name the highways starting at the coasts and moving in? Like a football field? Inquiring mind wants to know!

It was neat having a fun, curvy drive down the highway and every so often taking a turn to see ocean popping through the trees. I stopped and got a lobster roll and cup of chowder for lunch – excellent plan – and made it to Portland around dinner time.

(Portland, Maine felt exactly like Portland, Oregon when I was there, because it was raining and there were three Starbucks in a five-block radius of my location.)

That's as far as I'm going to go for this update, but I'm finally feeling productive so the next update will happen before too long. Plus, I'll get some batteries for my camera so I can put up more pictures.

For now, a shower and lunch and a giant duck!

From Pittsburgh, PA (yes, I know, I need to get you guys caught up) . . .
Julia