Our Maine Event

(This is a pic of an island right out from our house that you can walk/drive out to during low tide)

Maine, a.k.a. "The way life should be lived," Vacationland, land of a thousand lighthouses, Home of Pete's Dragon, etc...

Well, we arrived in beautiful Maine. We took the scenic route to our house through Kennebunkport (home of G.H.W. Bush), Goose Rocks, Biddeford Pool and have started to settle into our cozy apartment on the exclusive and scenic Hills Beach peninsula. Our place was clean, to say the least, which is a big step above anything we have moved into in Provo. We move downstairs to a bigger and better apartment in September because of some summer rental issues, but we have two bedrooms fully furnished, and best of all a private lane out our back door to our very own beach.

We have done a little exploring in areas right by Biddeford. There is a lot of character here. Each town has its own uniqueness. Kennebunkport, just south of us, was a cute little coastal town with a resort-town feel. Old Orchard Beach, just north of us, was packed full of people, bright colorful tourist vendors, frozen bananas, carnival rides, and a Maine specialty--fried dough. Apparently, all of Canada comes down to Maine for the summer holidays. Wynn and I walked out on the pier and were stunned by the spectacle of thousands and thousands of rainbow beach umbrellas, towels, boogey boards, and beach goers. Hills Beach is a little peninsula (where the school is located) with one road out to the end and a row of houses on each side. There are a lot of vacation beach homes here and a lot of summer rentals. It is a safe, quiet, gorgeous part of the coast (especially the sunsets), even if there are a few token snooty people. Biddeford-Saco, the town, it seems is a typical mixture of rich and poor. Some of the areas are nicer than others, some of the areas look like what I call Provo's 7 Eleven district, but from the looks of things there are some cool places worth exploring. A good library, a nice Main street in Saco, and some interesting shops.

University of New England looks like a nice campus. It is beautifully located where the Saco River meets the Ocean, right down the street from us. The campus has some nice buildings, and there is a lot of construction of new buildings and renovations which is a great sign. It seems to hold a great reputation with the locals that we have talked with around here. Everyone has spoken very highly of the school. On Wednesday I'll start to learn for myself.

We drove through Portland yesterday. It looks like a great, clean, modern, artsy city but I am excited to explore it for real. I am excited to explore all of Maine. Hope you all are doing well.