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A Day in Maine: Visiting Portland Head Light
One of Maine's most photographed structures, Portland Head was built in 1791 by the Massachusetts Legislature in order to protect sailors entering Portland near Cape Elizabeth.
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A Day in Maine: Boothbay Harbor
As temperatures drop and the daylight hours wane, many coastal towns in Maine close their doors. Cheerful signs left on their darkened doors read, "See you in May!" In contrast are the signs in the windows of Boothbay Harbor shops, which read "See you at Early Bird!" in reference to the town's annual celebration of winter's arrival.
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A Day in Maine: Moody's Diner
With green linoleum floors and cheerful curtains on the window, Moody's Diner exudes the charm of the '50s.
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A Day in Maine: Freeport
Freeport is a town that would likely make Vladimir Lenin's head explode, were he alive to see it.
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A Day in Maine: Old Port
An aged man makes a guarantee in a thick Maine accent: "You can find anything in the Old Port."
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A Day in Maine: The Farnsworth Museum
The Farnsworth Museum has a unique mission as a nationally recognized gallery in the heart of Down East Maine.
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A Day in Maine: Popham Beach
Popham Beach State Park is 529 acres of natural beauty, including about three miles of sandy beach on the Atlantic Ocean.
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A Day in Maine: A Day in Maine: Interstate 95
It runs from Florida to the Canadian border, but the best scenes are in Maine
Sitting in traffic on the highway, rushing to reach one's destination but moving nowhere, driving on Interstate 95 is perhaps the worst way to start a day in Maine?and yet, thousands begin their workday just like that. Three hundred miles from beginning to end, Interstate 95 in the state of Maine provides, for millions of people, an essential route of transportation?and exquisite beauty, for those who care to look.
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A Day in Maine: Day in Maine: Parkview Medical
Bad hairdos and poor attempts at foreign accents salvage a day spent at the hospital
"Parkview Adventist Medical Center, this is Dorothy, may I help you?" the receptionist asks into a telephone for the fifth time in one minute. Despite the endless repetition, her voice remains jovial and sing-songy. In the reception area, every time Dorothy speaks, something seems amiss. Her joyous tone does not fit in with its decidedly morose and mirthless surroundings. All of one's senses perceive the happy sound of her voice as violently clashing with the vibe of Parkview's main reception area.
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A Day in Maine: Hurricane Island with Outward Bound
This Bowdoin student reflects on two weeks spent with a unique cast of tweens in the untamed Maine wilderness
"The Solo can be one of the most rewarding parts of the Outward Bound experience," Shane, one of the instructors, tells me and the nine other people in my group. "After we dock and clean the boat at Hurricane Island and go through a bunch of safety briefings, you all will be dropped off at different isolated locations on the island for 48 hours," he said.
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A Day in Maine: This Maine attraction entices both nature enthusiasts and insomniacs
The 22-foot high boot which sits outside the L.L. Bean flagship store in Freeport, Maine?seen by the 3.5 million people a year who visit the store?is an interesting creation to most, but a fascinating temptation to an inebriated person.
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A Day in Maine: Mainers off all shapes and sizes convene at the Superior Court
The Superior Court in Portland, Maine is housed in an intimidating building of stone that remains a foreboding gray even on the sunniest of days. At first glance, its color somehow seems out of sync with its purpose of delivering clear, unambiguous justice. One wonders where the shining white marble and statue of blind justice are.
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A Day in Maine: Unique entertainment options in Canadian border town
I grew up in Van Buren, Maine, a town that borders St. Leonard, New Brunswick via the St. John River. It's a town with a population of under 3,000, though many more than that grew up there.
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A Day in Maine: Rescuing your missing car from Sanford's Towing isn't as easy as it should be
Last Friday afternoon my car was not where I had left it. I thought it had been towed?a fact that security affirmed?and to retrieve it, I had to find a ride to Sanford's Auto Center and Towing in Bath, about three miles past Wal-Mart on Bath Road. I also had to come up with $50.00, the fee necessary to free one's car from its forced bondage.
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A Day in Maine: Vibrant fall colors and lobstermen make it worth the trip
One of two views of Vinalhaven
To attract more tourists, the state of Maine adopted the slogan, "The way life should be." Visiting Vinalhaven Island for a day trip lends credence to the catchphrase.
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A Day in Maine: Political ideology from the mainland reaches Vinalhaven Island
One of two views of Vinalhaven
Two weekends ago I took the ferry to Vinalhaven, an island off the coast of Rockland. Posted next to the ticket window was an FBI watch list reading, "On May 26, Director Mueller and Attorney General Ashcroft held a press conference to call renewed attention to seven individuals believed to pose a real and present danger to US interests around the world?perhaps especially this summer and fall, a time of high profile public events that may well serve as a lightening rod to terrorist attacks."
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A Day in Maine: The Desert of Maine
Could it be? Cast iron camels and a dry spell of charm at Freeport's tourist trap
According to the sign by the Desert of Maine parking lot, the Desert is "Maine's most famous natural phenomenon."
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A Day in Maine: Peaks Island
Casco Bay community offers respite from campus stress
On a clear evening, Portland Harbor at dusk is exquisite. Gulls swoop overhead, riding the breeze; their gray and white bodies stand out against the luminous magenta sky. The sun drops silently below the western horizon, silhouetting, then sinking behind, Maine's largest city.
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A Day in Maine: Cumberland?s 133rd annual County Fair
50,000 people estimated to celebrate season at Cumberland?s showcase of rural life
In E.B. White's Charlotte's Web, the fair is where everything is resolved: Wilbur the pig is prized instead of becoming a side dish to eggs. On the other hand, of course?no offense to Wilbur?sausage ranks high on my list of fair food. But whether you prefer to sample the animals or watch them nurse little Wilburs, the Cumberland County Fair is the place to be.
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A Day in Maine: Bath?s fun-filled Loony Lagoon
I'm in a UFO, peering out a porthole window at a two-headed alligator, a giant lobster attacking a trap and a jail cell. I should be dreaming, but this scene is 79-year-old Philip Day's reality: It is his backyard of crazy constructions, a West Bath quasi-theme park that he has deemed the Loony Lagoon.
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A Day in Maine: Monhegan Island
Delightfully far from tacky and quite refined, you're not going to find a Hooters anywhere on Monhegan Island. Twelve miles from mainland, the tiny island offers a glimpse into pristine Maine.