A Few Days in Maine

As I have found to often be the case, the Air Force (in its infinite wisdom) managed to mess up the travel plans for my summer vacation in the desert and I ended up in a hotel in Bangor, Maine for 3 1/2 days awaiting transport through Germany. The problem I had with the whole situation is the fact that if the AF had any clue about efficiency (which obviously it doesn't) they wouldn't have to add an extra 3 days to my 6+ months away from my family. I guess it doesn't matter much to some bean counter who sits behind a desk and spends the majority of his workday checking email and surfing the internet, and after a hard day at the office he heads out to his tee time (actually he probably uses his PT time to do this during the work day) and his family.

So the bad news was that I was away from home but not to my deployed location. The good news was that I was in a very beautiful part of the country that I hadn't had much of an opportunity to explore in the past. So I rented a car and decided to do some exploring.

I headed South and East from Bangor to the harbor town of Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, where I explored the town and the roads on the island for a while.

This is a 50-60 foot high statue of Paul Bunyon (on mainstreet Bangor), whose legend, I have been told, originated originated in this area.
There were dozens of small cemetaries like the one above in these little towns. I thought this one was especially cool, with the aged headstones and purple flowers covering large sections of the lawn.
I also loved the way these homes were built overlooking (and often overhanging) the coastline.
This is a picture across the cove from one of the small harbor towns.
These are pictures of the main piers in Bar Harbor, which have some restaurants and shops on them for tourists.

I decided for the next day that I would rent a sea Kayak for the day and spend the time paddling around (part of) the island taking pictures of the coast. The plan would have been flawless except for the fact that the temperature dropped that morning and the winds kicked up to 20 mph. Of course (since I'm from Las Vegas now and am going somewhere even hotter than Vegas) I had no warm clothing to wear, but when have I ever been disuaded from a plan due to inclement weather or lack of personal preparation? I went out and rented the kayak, borrowed a couple of waterproof 'skirts' to drape over my shoulders, threw the kayak on the rental car and headed out. I launched on the north point of the island and, although the wind and cold kept me working hard (both to go where I wanted to and to keep warm), I had a great time on the ocean. The coastline is so rugged and beautiful - the two pictures below were my favorites from the kayaking trip.

The small 'rocks' on the coast above are abalony shells, and they shone with a brilliant irridescence in the sunlight.

That (along with some long runs) took up most of my FRI and SAT in Maine. Sunday I spent in church, talking to other guys that were heading over to Iraq, reading, and waiting for the flight - which headed out early MON morning.