Arrived in Maine
Bar Harbor, ME
September 9, 1998
After overcoming torrential rains north of Portland, we arrived this evening to this idyllic place. Were scenery music, with Northern California the perfection of Mozart, and Alaska the grandeur of Beethoven, this island would be the symphonic elegance of Haydn. Land and sea blend to form a melody for the eyes, and one I am reluctant to relinquish.
I need not do so for a couple days, when we return on the eleventh to Islesboro, a couple hours south off the rugged coast of this gorgeous state. The next day, we’ll attend the wedding of my good friend Dan Bodenski, a former roommate in San Francisco. From Islesboro we’ll travel the following morning for two days in Quebec City, before driving up the St Lawrence to spend three more in Montreal. We’ll then return south across the border into New York, over the Adirondacks, along the Hudson, and eventually to Washington, DC. We’ll arrive back in Atlanta on the 20th.
Before entering Maine, we were two days in Boston, a city I’d not seen in eight years, but with which I remain quite impressed. Temperatures ranged from the mid-50s to low-70s, depending on time of day, and rain was never an issue. We spent yesterday walking the city, visiting the requisite historic sites, and admiring the plethora of 17th and 18th century architecture.
We dined last night at Aujourd’hui, a wonderful restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel, and one I would recommend highly…as I would the 1996 Chateau Montelena Calistoga Cuvee Cabernet that accompanied our meal.
Boston was preceded by two days in Virginia. We spent the first evening in Richmond with Ken Miller, the other roommate from my early years in San Francisco. The next morning we explored the city, including some of the finest inner city neighborhoods I’ve had the pleasure to see, including one in which Ken is fortunate to live. That afternoon, we drove west to Charlottesville, where I was finally able to visit Monticello, where we had too little time, but which did not disappoint.
JD
