natrat

Hey is there any expats living in Maine?. I recently moved to Camden in Maine and was hoping that there is at least a few of us here!.

Celsius

Check on this map-
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=393102

There is at least one Brit in Maine.

tonrob

Don't know about Brits but did see a moose once, which was nice.

natrat

Thanks Celsius for the link. So there is one more of us. Tonrob, every time I think of Moose. I remember the British wine gum commercial. There's a moose loose aboot this hoose. Haven't seen one yet, apparently there are a lot of car crashes due to those pesky moose.

natrat

Thanks Celsius for the link. So there is one more of us. Tonrob, every time I think of Moose. I remember the British wine gum commercial. There's a moose loose aboot this hoose. Haven't seen one yet, apparently there are a lot of car crashes due to those pesky moose.

tonrob

I remember that one too! Don't know about moose in Camden though - you might have to rummage about inland a bit to find one. One of the great things about New England in my book is the array of impressive wildlife that's around. Beats the foxes and rats of Ealing by a country mile...

natrat

I agree with you about the wildlife, it is great. After living for five years in downtown Chicago it is definitely a change of scenery, for the better.

Bob

puck me, I use to live the next town over in Belfast.....it's a great little place.

There's someone who I can't remember off hand who lives in Portland, and Lutzie in Lewiston I think it was.

Anyway, if you need to get to waterville or bangor, go through belfast, route 7 past the highschool, swing left for waterville (rt 139 at Brooks) or right to bangor (rt 202 in dixmont). Both seem longer drives but will save you 25-40 mins because they have high speed limits. I only found out about the dodgy back route a week before we moved out of the place, after living there a couple years

Bob

go to lake St George up the road around 3am and you'll see them, and deer....drive with fog lights on as you'll never see a moose, too high up on spindly legs and the eyes don't reflect, and they will pretty much right off anything that hits one, if the damage doesn't, cost of getting rid of ticks will...unless it's a brand new motor or your really lucky.

natrat

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the tip about driving to Bangor. Belfast is great, I have been there a couple of times. It is a shame you don't live there anymore. I have a feeling that there is not many expats here at all.
I will definitely go on the hunt for moose, not literally obviously. Maine seems to be a great area with lots of things to see and do. Do you have any recommendations. I have been to Popham beach, Ogunquit, Bar Harbor, the Harpswells, Portland, Castine, Freeport. I want to take a drive one day through Maine up to Quebec, also I would like to visit Nova Scotia. If you can think of anything else let me know.

Bob

Early in spring before tourists, cheaper to get to nova via the cat and bar harbor ain't such a mess, the national park is great too, views from cadillac mountain in the morning are superb.

Also great hike trails around the back end of camden...some short ones well worth it.

Also check out the lakes district around Windham, Casco, Grey etc, lovely area and lots of cool shops to check out, and there's a cool drive in in wintersport before portland, and one in Bridgton, that's by sebago lake.

Oh and you checked out 3 Tides in Belfast? It's the best bar around if you like a chilled out atmosphere and huge martini's and great food, cheap too.

Alexia's also has great pizza and gyro's.

The cinema is cute and cheap as well....but the restaurant/bar next door isn't worth a visit, good food but you'll be there forever. The greenstore around the corner is awesome, as is the cottage garden opposite.

Oh and take a boat ride of the bay in summer, well worth it on the schooner

If you go way up into the counties, Sugarloaf do great golfing deals for fathers day where it's finally affordable

natrat

Thanks for all of the recommendations Bob. Am I right in thinking you take the cat from Rockland to Nova Scotia?. I definitely have to check out Cadillac mountain.
The hike you talk about in Camden, do you mean the trails up in Mount Battie?. I will check out all the areas you mentioned. Thanks for all of the tips regarding Belfast. I have been only once so definitely want to go back. The boat ride sounds great, is it expensive?. Regarding golf, I know Camden has a beautiful course by the ocean, but I think it is really expensive.
Thanks again for getting back to me.

Bob

The cat is out of bar harbor....but the ferry on rockland goes to the islands...John Travolta lives around there too....and in Lincolnville, the pub there is awesome, has the best fish and chips around....and where the lights are, if you head down that side road, you'll cut about 10-15 mins drive heading to Belfast during the morning/evening, just as long as you catch the right turn bout a mile or so up the road.

And the hikes, the whole camden hills state park, there's free parking if you keep an eye out. Mt Battie is great, but also the other peaks off DuckTrap (great cheap salmon goods there too) on the other side of the coleman pond I think it is and also Mt Megunticook (sp?).

The boat ride in Belfast, depends on the time of the day, the sunset ride is a bit pricey, but worth it just the once.

If you do like golf, there's a really cheap course in Searsport, you know the empty lot where the choc bar and grill was, where the grocery store is (also has great deals on meats and breads), down that side road, there abouts. But there's a few good driving ranges in your area, and the public course towards belfast, near the hospital.

Oh and in spring, the massive flea market towards Searsport is cool, loads of little market and antique shops...oh and the town market in summer in belfast is great if you like hippy dippy type stuff. Which reminds me, Silkweeds is a superb gift shop out towards searsport if you need to get something nice for the home or to send to friends/family back home.

Edit: to add, Mt Cadillac, it's one of the first sites of the sunrise on the east coast....but even in summer it's pretty chilly up there so bring some gloves and a light coat.

natrat

Thanks so much for all of the information. You have given me a great list to get started with. I just moved here two weeks ago so your advice is a huge help. We definitely will check out the islands, like Vinalhaven etc. Thanks for the tip on the Lincolnville pub. I have found no where yet that matches the fish and chips I used to get at a scottish bar in Chicago called The Duke of Perth. They were even better than the fish and chips back home.
I will try out the golf courses. My goal is to find one that is nice but affordable. I am going to print out your posts so I can make a must do list, if you think of anything else let me know. Overall did you enjoy living in Maine, do you miss it?.

Bob

The golf course in searsport does good deals on membership and have an option to get a block of plays instead of membership, so you can split the cost with someone.

Oh, if you like knitting or anything like that, there's a great place called the Purple Fleece in searsport that is right on the coast, great deals, really nice folks, related to the couple that run 3 tides, and also related to the woman who runs the odd little odds and sods shop opposite the post office in belfast - great place to get chairs and lamps as well as random things.

Other tips, don't eat at the pub in searsport thats beside the insurance office, it's crap...but that insurance office is a great one, nice folks and they got me a pretty good deal on car insurance.

and yeah, I miss maine, it's lovely, but there's just no work there for what I do...and those winters are long, long, long....and cold...definitely great having an apartment that included heat and ploughing because that's well expensive....the inlaws are from way up north near sugarloaf so we go there every now and again