Great news!! You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!! Bow Wow!
When in Maine, it is simply not possible to resist the urge to get outdoors and do something outdoorsy. The place is filled with hikers, skiers, bikers, boaters, and fisherpeople. If it’s done outdoors, it’s done in Maine. And we’d have the chance to try something outdoorsy: fly-fishing. Well, ok, we wouldn’t actually be fishing, since we’d be tossing our lines onto grass and relatively few fish live in grass. But we’d be learning the art of fly-casting, which is the first step in becoming true, outdoorsy fisherpeople, like the kind they have in Maine.
Our instructor, Mike, was a retiree who spends his summers teaching fishing and his winters teaching skiing. Well what did you expect, Canasta? This is Maine, after all. Anyway, he patiently explained and demonstrated the fine art of fly-casting. He admonished us, “don’t be a windshield wiper; be a fly-caster”.
So, here’s the best part. I was REALLY GOOD at this!!! Let me remind you, this was an outdoorsy, mildly athletic, skill-required activity, and I was REALLY GOOD at it!! As my family loves to remind me, athletic prowess is not typically included in my skill set. About the only athletic skill I have is deftly bending my arm to deliver chocolate to my mouth. And, lest you forget, I’m fifty years old — considered by some misguided youngsters too old to learn new skills! Ha!
Fly-casting was made for me. I loved the quick, easy flick of the wrist and watching the line float gently down, then snapping it back up again. I could’ve fished, er, practiced, all day long. With the right bait, I could’ve caught a ton of caterpillars. Here I am demonstrating near-perfect technique:
Here’s Bill demonstrating how to put multiple knots into your line. He excelled at this. I excelled at gloating over my near-perfect casts.
Oh it was a great morning. So outdoorsy. So Maine-ish. Just wait until we try this on the water. We definitely need a summer home here. Maybe like one of these simple cottages.
People don’t seem to go to Maine for a weekend or even a week. We know several families who completely abandon their normal lives to spend 2 or 3 months in Maine each summer. These people are brilliant. I’m moving in with them next summer to practice my fishing.
The Maine coastline is stunning, although we didn’t see all 3,000 miles of it. Ninety percent of the state is forested — it’s the most heavily forested state in the country. And while those lighthouses are iconic, we learned that Michigan actually has the country’s most lighthouses, not Maine. Still, they’re awfully scenic.
We traveled along interstates 95 and 295 and routes 1, 103, and 9 in Maine. We blew through Portland, which seemed nice enough, but who goes to Maine to see the cities? We did enjoy the Portland Head Lighthouse.
We forced ourselves to go inside the LL Bean flagship store in Freeport. This place is enormous, as shown by the giant boot outside the front door, and it’s open 24-hours a day, in case you have an outdoorsy shopping emergency.
We couldn’t leave Maine without a worthy lobster dinner. The restaurant’s menu even taught us how to tackle the tail and provided proper bib and tools. Some of us were more enthusiastic about the meal than others.
Wow. And if that wasn’t enough, we could fill up on these yummies as well:
Despite the abundance of all things lobster, Maine does have its culinary restrictions. As everyone knows, you can eat lobster anytime of day, but all civilized, outdoorsy people limit their consumption of Fried Oreos to the late afternoon.
I can’t wait to return to Maine. I’ll spend all my summer outdoors, and the odds are, I’ll learn something new.
46: Maine
Nubble Lighthouse