Beginning a New Blog -- by a beginning blogger

I first visited Maine in the summer of 1972, eating my first lobster on the rocks of Acadia National Park. I next visited Maine in 1989 when a friend moved to Bailey's Island. Then in the spring of 1990, I accompanied a student field trip to Acadia National Park, camping at Blackwoods. I drove up on a beautiful night with a full moon glinting on the waters of Penobscot Bay, and my love affair with the Maine coast began in earnest.

Since then, I have visited Maine many times -- on my own, then with my wife; with students from my school, working as volunteers in Acadia National Park; renting houses at various points along the coast. Two years ago, we bought our own piece of Maine on Toddy Pond in Penobscot.

My wife and I love visiting Maine at any time of year, but especially in the off season. There are two good reasons for travel in the off season: 1) very few tourists; and 2) great bargains on lodgings.

We have spent many weekends in Bar Harbor in the winter time. Most of the touristy shops are closed, but a few good restaurants remain open, Sherman's is always open and the source of good books, Jordan's is open most of the winter (though they do take a break from January-March).

More recently, we have found a good place to stay in Rockland and finally begun to visit the exhibitions at the Farnsworth Museum.

o the purpose of this blog is to share what we have learned about Downeast Maine in the offseason. I am heading up to Rockland with a group of friends who call themselves the "Old Farts" next week, and will begin this blog in earnest. Until then, here are a few views from our winter travels. (I haven't figured out how to place the pictures yet -- so I hope they will be arranged in a more artistic fashion the future. The first one is of Five Islands, Georgetown; thee second is Friendship Harbor in late December; I wanted to add more, but got stuck, so they will come later -- how do you add captions to the pictures?)