Burlington to Bangor, July 3-7

Burlington to Bangor

After the great time we had in Ottawa, it was with a touch of sadness we left the Canadian capital for the USA. At the border we were given unexpected and very useful Maine travel advice by the nicest border guard you'd ever meet, so our welcome to the US was very warm indeed.

But before Maine we spent some very warm days in the town of Burlington, Vermont. Beautiful place and nice people. Our arrival happened on July 3 so imagine our surprise when the fireworks began some ways away but visible from the hotel room window, nicely accompanied by a lightning storm on the other side of town!

Turned out Burlington had decided to celebrate the 4th on the 3rd because it was a Sunday! Initially disappointed for missing all the parades and hoopla, we were eventually glad to spend the fourth wandering the town in peace and quiet. And Make found a neat and ultra friendly Apple store where he got the iPad this is being written on - here's a good one for the great people at Small Dog Electronics!

Yesterday was Annu's big effort, driving from Burlington to Bangor, Maine where we now are. It took about eight hours in all (these low speed limits in the US are maddening) but she got us all here safely. And the scenery, the huge mountains in Vermont and New Hampshire, were just stunning.

Today has been Hot Times in Bangor Day: heat and more heat that finally broke in thunder and downpour. The town is not the prettiest around but the people are nice, the picnic at the riverfront was fun and WE SAW STEPHEN KING!!!

Make and Annu being King fans, it was a must to try and find the home of the master. With the kind help from a local, we dared the heat and made the pilgrimage. And when taking a few polite pics of his neat house, the man himself drove into the yard in an ordinary little car, got out, walked across the yard in deep thought and went in. We registered him in awed silence and walked away feeling somewhat blessed ;)

Tomorrow it's time for nature in the Acadia National Park, and the next day we'll be moving on to dive into witch hunt history in Salem, Massachussets... Can't wait for that one...

Cheers all!