ATTN: RWHN- Maine advice

[Nephew Twiddleton]

My keyboardist needs to get away for a week on the cheap. After some discussion we decided Maine was the best place to go. Can you recommend any areas? Feel free to PM.

ETA: She's looking to have the option of being alone, but can meet up with some local fisherman or something and make some acquaintances if the mood strikes.

[AFK]

Does she want to have the option of being near civilization?  If so, I'd recommend looking at the Portland area.  There's a fairly decent night-life in the Old Port region of Portland, and if she wants to hang out with some salty sea men, (giggle), there are some dives for that.  And I mean dives.

It also wouldn't be too far of a drive from the Boston area.  However, if length of drive isn't an issue, and if she really wants to get away from it all, there are quite a few nice little sea-side villages all up along the coast.  The Rockland/Rockport area is pretty nice, and there are options for visiting some of the islands off the coast as well.  Belfast is a nice little area too, but a bit further North up along the coast.  

And then if she really, really wants to get away from it all, I'd recommend the Machias area up in Washington County.  You can't get much further removed from hustle and bustle.  But it's a great place where you can reach the ocean but there's also some great in-land hiking opportunities.  A visit to Helen's Restaurant would be mandatory.  

I'll think more on this today and post any other ideas I have.  RCH/ECH should weigh in too since he's spent some considerable time on the coast, and a part of the coast I've not really had any exposure to.  

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Cool, thanks man. She's going to make her decision on where to go on Friday.

She wants something like being on a lake and being generally far enough away from people that she doesn't really have to interact with them, but close enough to some town that she can poke around and make some friends. I get the sense she wants to hear old men's stories at a bar. This is partially sparked off by a potential relationship not happening, so she's not really interested in hookups or anything. Just alone time to kinda figure out stuff.

[East Coast Hustle]

Has she considered Chatham or Gloucester?

Sadly (for her) the vast majority of the 1.2 million inhabitants of the great state of Maine are NOT, in fact, fishermen.

Also, contrary to what RWHN would lead you to believe, the words "decent" and "Old Port" have no business being in the same sentence.

Most of the cool parts of the state are on the Downeast coast or in the interior, so if she's just going for a weekend I'd suggest somewhere on Lake Sebago (north shore is less developed than the very touristy south shore) or maybe up in the western mountains. Flagstaff Lake and Rangely Lake are good for kayaking, fishing, or just hiking around the shore. If she's looking for something quainter and more coastal, I'd suggest the Belfast/Bucksport/Ellsworth stretch of the coast as it's prettier and much less expensive than the Boothbay/Rockland/Camden stretch of the coast, and only about an hour's drive further.

[East Coast Hustle]

Also, feel free to PM me if she has any questions about a specific part of the state. I've literally explored almost every square inch of Maine.

[AFK]

I can concur with Lake Sebago.  My wife has some friends who live out that way.  Might be heading out that way this weekend in fact.  And the Belfast/Ellsworth region is very pretty and definitely will be more affordable.  But Ellsworth is still big enough where you can have some city-like amenities, though definitely not as many options.  And there are lots of little villages around to explore.  Definitely would recommend having some kind of GPS system. 

Speaking of technology, I would put out the caveat that depending on what part of Maine she goes to, cell phone coverage can be sketchy.  Just a good thing to know when planning for the trip. 

[Eve]

Having had several unpleasant driving experiences in Maine, I'd just liked to second this:

Definitely would recommend having some kind of GPS system. 

Speaking of technology, I would put out the caveat that depending on what part of Maine she goes to, cell phone coverage can be sketchy.  Just a good thing to know when planning for the trip. 

[East Coast Hustle]

Speaking of technology, I would put out the caveat that depending on what part of Maine she goes to, cell phone coverage can be sketchy.  Just a good thing to know when planning for the trip.  

Jesus, I always forget to tell people that because I also always forget that pretty much the entire rest of North America is used to having blanket coverage anywhere there's a paved road.

YOUR CELLPHONE WILL NOT WORK IN MOST OF THE STATE. You'll have pretty solid coverage in the urban and suburbanized parts of York, Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Androscoggin, and Kennebec counties. Other than that, you'll have coverage within a few miles of I-95, on and sometimes a few miles from Route 1 (depending on local topography), on Route 3, in the Greater Bangor area, and in the larger peripheral towns (Dover-Foxcroft, Dexter, Jackman, etc.) in the upper valleys of the larger rivers with "major" state roads leading to them. Also in the St. John valley, but nobody goes up there. Other than that, you'll have spotty coverage in some of the larger villages and along some of the more traveled state roads, but there will be VAST swaths of the state where you won't get any signal at all. Also, most of the towers are owned by AT&T. If you have some weird non-major carrier (like Virgin Mobile) who doesn't have an agreement to roam on AT&T towers, don't bother.

[AFK]

Yep.  When I go visit my folks up in the County (Aroostook for you unfamiliar with Maine), my cellphone becomes pretty useless.  There is absolutely no coverage in my hometown.  I have to wait until I get into Presque Isle before I can make a call.  Oh and they are still in the dark ages up there when it comes to internet access.  The little town my brother lives in, he had a choice between dial-up and expensive as fuck satellite internet. 

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Shouldn't be too much of a problem for her. People from Boston not getting in contact with her is part of the idea. The only people who will know where she is is the rest of the band and her family/very close friends.

[East Coast Hustle]

It's generally not too much of a problem for anyone until they have a flat tire.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

It's generally not too much of a problem for anyone until they have a flat tire.

[AFK]

Or you could have an experience like the one I had.  My car broke down on a lonely, very thinly populated stretch of road 30 or so south of Danforth.  Basically, the middle of fucking nowhere.  Okay, when I say my car borke down, it was actually New Year's morning, I had travelled a long way for a NYE party, didn't get much sleep, kinda nodded off at the wheel and wound up in a snowbank.  Thankfully those fuckers are big that time of year.

Anyhoo.  I had no cellphone to speak of so I was at the mercy of whomever was kind enough to stop and give me a lift.  That somebody was two somebodies.  Actually, two really big, scruffy, smelly lumberjack somebodies in a big logging truck.  They offered me a lift into town.  So there I was, sandwiched between this big galoot and the door. 

I proceeded to spend the next 2-3 hours in a quaint little auto-repair shop, sipping shitty coffee and listening to god awful country music until the State Trooper showed up. 

[Fredfredly ⊂(◉‿◉)つ]

im pretty sure the no phone thing is like that in the rural parts of everywhere, not just maine.
my phone never works when i visit my family