Maine Events: I think my mother was really a giraffe who wore hiking boots!

Dock in Stonington, Maine

That's the name I gave this post when I revisited this photo from last summer’s awesome kayaking trip to paddle the Deer Isle Archipelago from Stonington, Maine with Maine paddle buddies. I'm all legs, oh well. So are giraffes. At least I didn't get the neck too!

Maybe I spend too much time in hiking boots? I even wear them to curl! When people meet me they say, "Umm, your style . . . is (big pause) outdoorsy!"

I have "lotsa" heels. They get 'lotsa" closet time! And last forever.

Stonington, Maine

One of my favorite things to do on the Stonington trip was take pictures. And they’re still speaking to me. It is hopeless to resist. And fun to revisit.

Dock in Stonington, Maine, USA

Whether you are paddling, exploring an island, wandering around the village of Stonington, eating in a restaurant, or just hanging around on a dock, you’re going to discover and find all kinds of things.

And things will find you. There is something in this place that is hard to explain but fun and intriguing to discover and keep on discovering even when you've left and gone back home.

Even Nobel Prize winning author John Steinbeck remarked: "One doesn't have to be sensitive to feel the strangeness of Deer Isle.”

I just read, John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley: In Search of America. A story about his 1960 road trip across the USA in an overloaded camper he named "Rocinante" (the name of Don Quixote's horse), and he brought along a big black French poodle named Charley as his road mate.

Steinbeck’s agent told him, as part of his travels, he must go to Deer Isle.

But Steinbeck didn’t really like Deer Isle or find anything there.

Ok, it was the 60's when Steinbeck visited. Maybe it's hipper now. More art galleries. But when you visit Stonington, even today, you may feel like you stepped back in time. Before there were fast food chains. There aren't any in Stonington. It's so nice!

Come on John!, I was thinking as I read John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley: In Search of America. I was really looking forward to this part! When you visited Deer Isle.

But, he had little to say about the place and he admitted it. So I guess it's my turn. Maybe he didn't stay long enough, or had no other reason to go there other than to go there because someone told him to. I'd rather go somewhere for a reason. Of my choosing.

But then again, he wasn’t a kayaker! To each his own.

What’s this all about?
See the first Maine Events

Happy paddle planning!
The BaffinPaddler