*yawn*

OK, so Bangor has about a dozen museums, and we didn’t go into any of them. Does that make us bad people? I guess I just had no interest in discoveries in Maine and transportation relics. Maybe on another day, but yesterday wasn’t it.

So instead, we went by Stephen King’s house (of course), played at the Hollywood Casino awhile (nice place), treated ourselves to Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner, came back to the hotel, did laundry, watched an HBO special on Jim McKay, and called it a night. Relaxing day, and we liked it.

Oh, and we got a shot of Paul Bunyan from the parking garage downtown. There’s a bunch of construction going on around and behind him, so direct access was difficult, but at least I got a Muffler Man sighting in.

Yesterday’s real treat happened before we got to Bangor. On a whim, we said, “Hey, let’s take the Kennebunkport exit,” and oh my, are we glad we went for it.

Regardless of how one feels about George Bush I, you have to give huge props to his family on their taste in summer home locations. Not only is Kennebunkport beautiful and quaint and everything “New England,” it’s home to some of the most breathtaking beach mansions imaginable.

Ocean Avenue takes you on a lazy, winding tour of the extreme southern Maine shoreline. When you get to the western end of a peninsula, all traffic stops. They’ve even put in a “pulloff” place so folks can park (for 15 minutes only), look across the patch of land, and take photos of the Bushs’ home away from home.

Of course, it’s heavily guarded — a reminder that the Secret Service stay with a former president the rest of his life. One look at the guard house at the end of the long driveway and it’s clear that none shall pass.

But what a location: right on the peninsula, with nothing on the other side except the wide ocean. Nice, eh? And nicer that the Thriller retrieved the telephoto lens from the car and got a much better shot of the home. You go, Nikon.

It made me feel a bit voyeuristic, but oh well. At least it was a slow day, and there weren’t many people there.

After the Ocean Avenue tour, we went into Kennebunkport proper to walk the town and have brunch. We stopped at a very small shop (can’t remember the name), and the Thriller ordered a bacon/egg sandwich, while I had an awesome raisin bran muffin, which the server pulled right out of the still-warm muffin pan.

As with many old New England towns, frontage is pretty much non-existent. The shops are right at curb level, and one has to wonder about the history of each building. Beautiful, quaint, friendly — it was a real jewel hiding on the shore.

Today, it’s on to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park for some wandering around, eating, shopping, photography and eating. It’s supposed to be partly cloudy and 79; makes me feel bad for my family and fiends back in Ohio — to you I say, “Stay cool!”

It was a hot one. Like seven inches from the midday sun.

Yesterday was quite the day to walk Salem and go see the Lexington and Concord battlefields. Nothing wrong with traveling on foot uphill in a breezeless sauna, mind, but it was admittedly a challenge at times. Still, it didn’t dampen our spirits too much (but the Thriller’s t-shirt…that’s another story).

After breakfast, we — wait, I have to tell you this. It is a blue-eyed wonder that not every person in New England weighs 500 lbs., because there is a Dunkin’ Donuts store on every corner. I mean every corner. There are Dunkin’ Donutses across the street from one another. There are Dunkin’ Donuts satellite stores inside gas station convenience stores.

Dunkin’ Donuts is everywhere. It’s bizarre. Ubiquitously bizarre.

Another brief diversion here for some unfinished business. We had a fantastic time with our nephew Jeremy the day we left Mystic, CT. Fun! We even got him to pose for a photo or two before we parted ways. It was wonderful to see him, and we know his mama Mavis misses him terribly, too. 

But on to the House of the Seven Gables. What a fascinating place. After breakfast, we took the official tour, and loved it. One strict rule is that they do not allow photography of the interior of the home. But as anyone who can access Google Images will tell you, there are always exceptions, so I’m providing some here to give you an idea of how wonderful this place is. (Truly, I wish they would allow photography; I think it would encourage people to visit way more than it would spoil any mystery.) So not all of this photography is mine.

The house is actually a mansion of the day. With the main part of the structure built in 1668, it’s also the oldest surviving wooden mansion in North America. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the tour was seeing how “rich” people lived in the late 17th century.

Some of the furniture is original, which is really impressive. A piece of the original 1668 wooden front door is mounted behind Plexiglass. The walls and floors have been painstakingly replicated to preserve the feel and appeal of the house’s history.

Of course, the big draw at the house is what has become known as the “secret staircase.” For many years, researchers  believed that the staircase was a “keep,” similar to what a certain Witch Trial survivor built in case prosecutors changed their minds after he was allowed back in Salem. Later, it was thought that slaves were protected on the Underground Railroad by way of the hidden staircase in the house.

In 2006, documents were unearthed and the truth was revealed: the “secret staircase” wasn’t secret at all, but rather built in 1910 when original plans for it were discovered. So, while not quite as intriguing, it was still fun to go up. The steps are reeeeeally narrow, though. Everyone had to move sideways to get around the corner turn. And it’s definitely not for the claustrophobic; a few skeeved-out tourists chose to take the regular staircase.

Yesterday was not only the 4th of July, it was Nathaniel Hawthorne’s birthday, so they made a big deal of it at the Seven Gables house. We missed the birthday cake celebration, though. We did, however, get to tour the house in which he was born.

After we finished with the tour and some shopping and sightseeing in the historic district, it was time to schlep it to the Lexington and Concord battlefields.

Truth be told, after Gettysburg, it was a bit of a letdown. Not near as much interaction. Of course, the Revolutionary War took place a hundred years before Gettysburg, so there are far, far fewer extant relics, but I guess at that point, we weren’t much in the mood for walking the 5-mile trail and using our imaginations. So instead, we hit the major parts of the trail and walked historic Concord. We tried to go to Walden Pond to live deliberately for a while, but it was temporarily closed. Boo.

By the time we got back to the hotel, we were just about wrung out. So we cleaned up and rested, went out to dinner, and stopped at Ben & Jerry’s in Salem for dessert. When we returned to the room, the Thriller turned on the television and found, to his utter delight, that the White Sox were playing the Rangers on ESPN (and they won, too, which makes my world a happier place, to be sure). How about that? His night was made, and I got on the computer awhile, then read my Nook. A good end to a crazy day.

Today, we’re rested and ready to take off for Maine. We should arrive in Bangor by noon. Off we go! Hope you all had a great holiday and managed to stay cool.

I can see why people want to live here, even though it’s quite expensive to do so.

We traveled yesterday along Route 1, parallel to the interstate, on Connecticut’s coastline. What gorgeous scenery! Pulling into a fishing pier (illegally, as it’s supposed to be for locals only — sticker required), I ran out on the dock and shot some breathtaking views, like the one here.

We *almost* went into the PEZ factory store in nearby Orange, but they charged admission for the express purpose of letting you in to buy stuff. So we declined, on principle.

After sightseeing, we descended into absolute Nowheresville, near the Rhode Island border. Nothing but trees, trees, and a million more trees on a narrow road outside Ledyard. A clearing revealed a stop sign, and once we turned left, we beheld the behemoth:

And this isn’t even the whole of it. Foxwoods was not only a disappointment financially (we spent our egg of gambling fun money in amazingly short order), we were borderline ashamed of the absolute Baroque-ish excess of it all. Cavernous casinos (we counted four, but there could be others), parking garages that I’m sure rival anything Disney has to offer, and ceilings in every room that had to be 30 feet high.

It’s so huge (largest in North America, and 5th largest in the world), it never looked crowded. And the Pequot tribal council laughs allll the way to the bank. Way to turn the tables on the white man, eh? Maybe it’s about time.

Still, it was an adventure, and we were thrilled with everything else about Connecticut. This morning, we’re having coffee in Mystic with our handsome nephew Jeremy, then it’s off to Massachusetts to see what kind of trouble we can get into.

Have a great…um…I have no idea what day it is. (Good, ja??)

Fink, Pequot slave girl

PS — Happy happy birfday to our daughter-in-law Hannah, mother of the Js and talented teacher!

After the craziness of Hershey and Gettysburg, it was good to arrive in New England for a bit of a change of pace. We certainly had it yesterday in Stamford, Connecticut.

The town is beautiful, really. We drove a great deal of it, and saw very little of what you might call a “seedy” or “dangerous” part of town. The downtown area is fantastic, and we stopped at the famous Remo’s Brick Oven and had some great Italian food.

After lunch, we explored. Dyke and Kosciuszko Park was where we ended up: a peaceful experience. I was expecting a sort of “beach,” but instead there was a delightful view of sailboats and yachts (unsurprising, since there’s a yacht marina close by).

We took a leisurely walk on a paved path all around the small peninsula that juts out into Long Island Sound. Nice views, quiet area. Just what we needed.

What we didn’t need was the rather silly evening activity of going to see Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Ha. But hey, it was a fun diversion.

Speaking of diversions, today is a 2-hour trip east to the Bellissimo Grande Hotel, for some gawdy gawking at the 5th largest casino in the world — Foxwoods. Fun. 

Flip side, fiends!