Back home from our trip to New England, and New Wife is absolutely sold on the place — not to live, but to spend the odd week Down East during the summer.
I’ve been to New England (both the coast and inland) on many occasions in the past; in fact, my very first trip to the U.S. back in Fall 1985 was to New Hampshire’s White Mountains and coastal Maine, and I’ve loved the area ever since — hence my desire to take New Wife there as part of my long-term plan to show her around the various parts of the U.S. that are not Texas.
The first couple days were cool and misty/rainy, e.g. this pic taken just outside Belfast, ME:
…and another of the Bass Harbor coastline:
…but the last three days were nothing but glorious. Here’s one taken from our rental cottage on the Damariscotta River:
And another couple from the bridge at Southport Island:
Right-click on any to embiggen (and feel free to copy and use as wallpaper etc.). Please forgive the pics’ imperfections: Idiot Kim forgot his trusty Nikon and had to rely on his phone instead. Ugh.
Finally: while we were there, several Readers wrote to me and invited us to join them at their houses, on their boats, or for a meal/drink. My sincere apologies for not replying to any of you: I didn’t check my email account until last night (my vacations are pretty much that — a getaway — and much of the time we had zero connectivity anyway). So please don’t think I was being rude. Rest assured, the next time we go Down East, we will meet up and socialize, if the invitations are still open. Invitations to go shooting will, as always, receive priority.
What a pleasure. The only regret is that we missed the arrival of the tall ships during Boothbay Harbor’s Windjammer Festival. (I think they’re scheduled to arrive there today, in fact.)
And en passant: at the KIttery Trading Post, I saw a second-hand Browning A-Bolt rifle in .300 Win Mag with a laminate (not the usual composite) stock for sale at a very reasonable price. I’m still kicking myself…
You need to bring New Wife down to Florida for a rocket launch or two. Open invitation to hit the range, as well.
Spent many a weekend in New Hampshire both attending the Bike Week events, motorcycle training at Laconia (now New Hampshire International Speedway) Touring the hills, mountains, hill climbs.
Beautiful state in the summer. Not so much in wintertime.
If she has not been to the Texas Hill Country this summer is perhaps the best ever with all of the recent rain. Fredericksburg, Luckenbach and on out to Bandera. Then head on in to San Antonio and the River Walk with a visit to the High Holy Alamo right downtown. There are all sorts of neat, old German towns built alongside clear limestone bottom rivers running kind of high this year. Good wineries and lots and lots of gun shops and ranges. Some years coming into July things are burned up but this year is really nice.
Looks like your Browning is gone from Kittery Trading Post. My only regret at Kittery has been guns that I said I will come back to buy, and alas, were snapped up by someone else. I missed a beautifully stocked 99 Savage in .250 Savage because I hesitated, as well as a Mannlicher Schoenauer in 9.3 x 62, if I recall correctly. Their prices are not cheap, but fair, I think, and they have a lot of knowledgeable people there. I have done business with them for many years now.
Glad you enjoyed Maine, looks like you hit some of the high spots along the coast.
Please come back, and there are lots of followers of yours who would be happy to show you and your wife some Yankee hospitality.
According to someone who knows, Kittery TP apparently has some magic software that links the sales registers to both the stock database AND the website, so that if a gun is sold, it’s removed instantly from the website. I wish Collectors Firearms had the same software — I’ve missed maybe a dozen creampuffs in consequence thereof.
Florida is kinda low on the priority list, as NW used to live close to the Natal coast (white beaches, palm trees etc., also bugs / searing tropical heat / humidity) and has been to the Seychelles Islands.
New Hampshire is definitely on The List — we both love Old Hampshire in Britishland — and that might well be a winter trip, IF we can’t afford to get to Prague and Vienna for the Christkindl markets.
Hill Country? Ain’t gonna happen any time soon. Maybe in the fall, or early spring, next year.
But all those invitations to some shootin’… you guys are some bad, bad people.