Going Down East, 20 Years Ago

It was a "Down East" time 20 years ago this summer, from July 24-August 2, when my family vacationed, along the Atlantic coast of Maine.

We flew into Manchester, and then drove from there into Maine, staying for a few days in each of the following locations: Old Orchard Beach, Bar Harbor, and Lubec.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of that trip, and to continue the spirit of celebration for Maine's Bicentennial, I looked through photos from that trip, some of which are below.

Included are pictures from a family photo album, and a few taken by a disposable camera I used during the trip, which I then put into my own photo album of sorts.  Pictures from the latter are noted.

I'm not 100% certain who took some of these photos.  If it shows all four of us, then it was likely a fellow visitor at the particular spot.  If it has three of us, it's likely the person in our foursome who wasn't in it who took it.

Above, left to right, my brother Eric, Mom, and I pose on the Atlantic shoreline at Old Orchard Beach, near our hotel, which was close to the beach.

Above, I am standing on the beach at Old Orchard Beach.  Below is a full family photo of us at Old Orchard Beach. From left to right, me, Dad, Eric, and Mom.

Above, Eric and I pose in front of the Portland Head Light.

Above is the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean at Old Orchard Beach.

Above is Thunder Hole at Acadia National Park, taken on my camera, and I most likely took it.

Above, Mom and I pose at the summit of Mount Cadillac in Acadia National Park, on a very foggy day.  Below, Dad and I pose at the same spot, in a photo taken with my camera.

Below, I pose at the top of Mount Cadillac on a much clearer day:

Above, I pose at Sands Pond.

I'm posing above with Dad and Mom in Acadia National Park.  Mom is already sporting the lighthouse t-shirt she bought in Bar Harbor, the major town near Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island.

Below is a photo of Jordan Pond, which I took with my camera.  It may very well be the spot in the photo above.  I remember that we hiked on many trails in Acadia, and I was so taken by what I saw that I started to go at a slower pace.  When that started to frustrate me, Mom affirmed me for my penchant to go at a different pace to take in what was around me.

We sailed on the Margaret Todd, the ship you can see in the photo below, which I took with my camera.

Above is a photo showing me at the Reversing Falls in Pembroke, ME. Below is a photo of Reversing Falls that I took with my camera.

Close to Lubec, we visited West Quoddy Lighthouse (in the photo above), the easternmost lighthouse in the United States.

We encountered Maine's state animal, the moose, on the side of the road while out driving, probably when we were out on our West Quoddy visit, and we certainly had to stop for a photo.

Above: So this isn't actually in Maine, but we spent time in Maine's neighbor, the Canadian province of New Brunswick, to see East Quoddy Lighthouse. I took this on my camera.

As an aside, when we returned from day-tripping in New Brunswick, upon reaching the US-Canada border, we pulled up to the customs booth. Dad handed over our birth certificates, which, in that bygone time, was enough documentation for the border crossing.  As the customs agent looked at them, he asked if we had attended the same Mass as he had just days earlier at Sacred Heart Parish in Lubec, and we realized we had.  That Church was very close to our lodgings.

Above is another family photo, posing in a spot nestled among islands along the New Brunswick coast.  When the tide comes in, the area where we were posing for this photo becomes flooded and is part of the ocean until the tide goes out again.

I took the above photo with my camera: In New Brunswick, we visited Roosevelt-Campobello International Park, preserving the vacation home of the Roosevelt family, where FDR contracted polio.

Somewhere around Lubec, we went on a guided kayaking excursion, which you can see in the photo below.  Dad is to the far left, and I'm to the right of him in the greenish kayak. Mom is to the right of me, and Eric is to the far right, both of them in the yellow kayak.

Above is the Peacock House Bed and Breakfast where we stayed in Lubec, ME.  It looks like Eric in a yellow shirt posing by the sign.

Above is the Southwest Airlines plane that took us from Manchester, NH, back to Chicago-Midway airport, taken on my camera as we awaited boarding.

Dad woke up early one morning to photograph the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean near West Quoddy near Lubec, the first spot where the sun rises over the United States, which you can see in the photo above.