Gulf of Maine

New England Masts

I do a terrible job of sharing my work as a photographer. The last couple of years have really highlighted how I have become like a shoemaker. To quote Robert Burton, “Him that makes shoes go barefoot himself.” I am often so wrapped up in creating photographs for others that I forget to document my own life and creative pursuits.

So it is that I go back to New England, specifically Maine, in the summer of 2017. My family enjoyed a cruise departing from Boston, following the Atlantic Coast north to the St. Lawrence River, ending in Montreal. After a harrowing 2016, it was a very satisfying journey.

One of the highlights for me was visiting Bar Harbor, Maine. We opted for a whale tour, leaving little time for exploring the mainland. What we did failed to whet my appetite. Someday, Acadia National Park, I shall visit!

  • Edison Plant

The history, from Maine to Quebec, was astounding to me. The Edison plant in Boston. The masts of wooden vessels. Lighthouses who must have witnessed so much over the years. Walking the halls where some of our Founding Fathers once walked. Learning more of Canada’s history. Seeing the fortress high on a bluff overlooking the river.

Most of the wildlife I witnessed was at sea. Puffins and a single humpback whale were the highlights of that particular whaling excursion. We watched puffins skim the surf or bobble between the rolling waves. Most of all, we enjoyed the quiet disconnect from the rest of the world.

I want to go back, revisit the Gulf of Maine and the lands surrounding it. Let me get beyond the tourist destinations. Show me the real sites, the places the locals enjoy. Just don’t insist that I try a bunch of seafood. A bite here and there, maybe, but this landlubber wasn’t raised to eat oysters.

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