So excited to be able to check off two states from the to-do list, as well as one goal for the Year of Intention (the goal being to check off one state from the to-do list…). Also excited about my first trip north of Bahston on the East Coast. Plus, the terra incognita states are now down to twelve, and it’s looking like one more might be checked off later in the year. All good things.
New Hampshire and Maine.
I feel a little bad for New Hampshire because it only got a drive-by, but those are the rules. Airport terminals don’t count, but road trips through a state do. Some friends and I piled into a twelve-passenger van and road-tripped ourselves up to Sugarloaf in northern Maine for a weekend of snowboarding, hiking, and playing ridiculous games.
Two moments struck me most in terms of being in a new place––besides all the bearded men in flannel…seriously. The first came during dinner on Saturday. The food was almost all gone, only a mouthful or so of beer left in people’s glasses. Everyone had moved around to different seats, and then I realized that our waiter had been talking to my friend for about 15 minutes. Just standing there talking. And none of his other customers were in any way annoyed. Not something that would happen in the city.
The second moment was coming off the chairlift on the summit of Sugarloaf. A couple thousand foot altitude. The panorama of mountains as far as the eye could see. The thin, cold air. Canada within sight, according to a trail guide next to me. Welcome to Maine.
talitha cum. 