Last September we traveled to Portland, Maine via Amtrak and then rented a car to drive north to the mountains and woodlands where we hiked and canoed the Maine backcountry.
I recently passed the CompTIA A+ exam, thus earning a full-fledged certification in information technology. Now before I start the next certification journey, specifically CompTIA’s Network+, I’m embarking on another journey to Maine.
Not to the northern mountain peaks, but back to Portland, and again via Amtrak, all on travel points, too. It could be a one-seat ride from Westchester County, NY but Amtrak’s Northeast Regional trains end their Northeast Corridor route (when travelling from points south) at Boston’s South Station.
So I have to de-train at the Back Bay Station, and then hop on the T (Boston’s subway) to North Station and from there board the Amtrak Downeaster to Portland.
It’ll be a short stay but I’ll get to revisit a couple of my favorite food spots, starting with Becky’s Diner, where lines on the weekend start forming at 6:00 AM! Then there’s a couple of seafood favorites like Boone’s Fish House & Oyster Room along the waterfront, and of course Gilbert’s Chowder House along Commercial Street where the best of Portland’s New England Clam Chowder is served.
It’ll be 40 years when I first visited Maine, traveling with my family via a 1985 Plymouth Reliant. Destination was Bar Harbor just outside the confines of Acadia National Park. I convinced my parents to drive all the way north to Baxter State Park, home of Maine’s highest peak, Mt. Katahdin, but the unpaved roads were just too difficult to navigate to see the park’s interior. But as we were exiting, a large moose appeared, staring for a few minutes and then moving on.
Mt. Katahdin as seen from Moosehead Lake, just north of Greenville, Maine.
One year after that first journey to Maine, my cousin and I planned a New England journey that would take us to Bar Harbor.
But first we embarked on a more than 8-mile hike to the summit of Mount Washington in the White Mountains in New Hampshire.
Prior to that summer hike we had visited Mount Washington on Memorial Day weekend, the same weekend when “Hands Across America” occurred. We travelled via a Honda Accord along the mountain’s auto road; we were then determined to hike the peak.
Proving to be one of the most difficult hikes I’ve completed, I remember the last quarter mile required hiking along big slabs of rock to the summit. My legs were shaking uncontrollably. On the summit there was concessionary offerings, which drivers and their families availed themselves.
We did too, but rather than ask one of the drivers for a lift back down to the base of the mountain, my cousin and I resumed our trek down the mountain. Not a fortuitous event.
About one mile into the eight-mile journey, my cousin sprained his ankle, which slowed considerably our steps.
The sun was setting and we had no choice but to “camp” out on the trail for the night’s duration. Mount Washington is notorious for extreme weather: the weather during the day was a lovely 80 degrees, but during that haunting night it was forty degrees, tempered only by a soaked wicking shirt.
No smartphone with a light could help as its invention was thirty years away.
Finally, the sun started to reveal light and we trudged the remaining trail back to the Honda Accord.
We decided to cancel the rest of the itinerary to Acadia and Bar Harbor to avoid nature’s fury.
A train trip to Portland is a little more relaxing, even though it’s eight hours away. But eight hours on a train is far less grueling than an eight-mile hike.
