Severn, MD to Rockport, MA

I got mixed reactions when telling people I was coming to Maine alone. Some gave me a quizzical stare. Others flat-out asked, "Why?" Not as in "why Maine," but "why are you going alone?"

I really have been wanting to visit Maine for a long time. For some unknown reason, it's been on my mind more and more over the past couple of years. Some times more than others. A few months ago, I started getting this overwhelming urge to head north. Which is sort of ridiculous, really. Hubby and I had the vacation of a lifetime together when we went to Alaska back in the late-Spring. Yet I couldn't stop thinking about it. Something just kept telling me, go now. Almost like a now-or-never deal.

So I gave in. Hubby's already been to Maine. He just started a new job, too. And I know he doesn't have the patience to poke around exploring and taking pictures, which is what I really want to do. I want to experiment and capture some really good, memorable images. That takes time.

So here I am. There's nothing wrong with me (that I know of). I am not trying to escape Hubby or my kids. The job isn't driving me crazy. I'm just taking a trip. Okay? Now on to the good stuff.

DAY ONE - I decided to refer to this as my New England trip after all, because I know I'll be seeing stuff in other states, too. The goal for today was to get from Point A (home) to Point B (Rockport, Massachusetts) as directly and quickly as possible. I'd hoped to arrive well before sunset so I could tour Gloucester, which is just east of here.

I didn't count on the sun setting so much earlier here. It was down at 6:30!

It was some small miracle that I didn't get lost coming through New York and Boston. There were long stretches, coming through the New York/New Jersey area, where there were SEVEN lanes of traffic on each side of the road. That's FOURTEEN lanes total. And the road was quite curvy. Traffic was very heavy AND the average speed in the slow lane was 80 MPH. I am not exaggerating, either. And there were a couple of spots where there were TEN lanes on each side (yep, twenty lanes of traffic).

I am an experienced, confident driver. I have a great sense of direction. I don't get rattled easily. After coming through that mess I was rattled. I was downright stressed out. There's no way I'm going through that again. I'll be taking the scenic route home for sure.

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I made an unscheduled stop in Mystic, Connecticut. It is an historic seaport town. It was very, very cute. Just what I imagined a quaint New England seaport would look like. Old drawbridge and all.

I remember seeing it on the map when I was planning the trip. I never really considered going there. But it looked interesting.

I'm glad I went. There was a really cool seaport museum, but I didn't want to spend that much time there. I was still hoping to reach Gloucester before the sun set.

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I did reach Gloucester before sunset. Barely. Here's my favorite image.

If you'd like to see all of today's pictures, they are on my Flickr site.