a slightly different focus

Started my trip down memory lane today, leaving Ogunquit, in the far southern part of the state, for where I went to college: the University of Maine, in Orono.

The UMaine campus is just north of Bangor, the last so-called “big” city before you head into the North Maine Woods — approx. 150,000 in the greater Bangor area, including Orono and Old Town (where I had an apartment for a while).

Aside from a pretty astonishing Wikipedia page, Bangor’s two most famous aspects are the writer Stephen King, and that it’s really the northeastern frontier. It’s already cool (mid-fifties) this morning, in early September, and because it’s so far east, the sunrise/sunset times are earlier in the day than where I usually am, at the other end of the time zone.

I’m glad to be here now instead of later, though — it gets cold. Average high temps don’t go above freezing for months, very much a contributory cause to my moving to the South two years after leaving this area.

Might explain, then, why this photograph even feels a little cold:

UMaine Library, Slightly Off Center

Despite being up over 12,000 students at the University, the town — Orono — remains small, as the business and shopping areas of Bangor are only a few exits down Interstate 95. But there’s one place in Orono that hops: Pat’s Pizza.

Pat’s Tap Room

In the cold of winter, one of the sources of heat.

Nice to have stopped by both Orono and UMaine. Glad to be moving on…;)

Today, I plan to visit Bar Harbor and Cadillac Mountain; tomorrow, I’ll start in Camden and make a couple of stops on my way back to Ogunquit. No Internet tonight, though, so look for an update Thursday night or Friday night or Saturday. (Got to get some stuff in before this weekend’s rain.)