Ken's Maine Trip -- The Greenest Supermarket

August, 2009

In Augusta, Maine on the site that was Cony High School (yes, my high school is gone), there's a new Hannaford Supermarket. The name, Cony High School, still exists but it's on a new campus a few miles out of town.

Actually the wreckers left the 1930s part of Cony High standing (pictured here), something about it being included on the National Register of Historic Places. It doesn't appear to be in use right now, but it is still there.

To make room for the supermarket they leveled a structure built in 1965. It replaced the 1880s classroom building in use when I attended Cony in the 1950's. The new Hannaford market is right behind the historic building that's still there. By the way, the school itself was founded in 1815 as an academy for orphan girls.

On the bright side the new supermarket is LEED-rated Platinum, the highest level of greeness according to the U.S. Green Building Council. It's all about LEED -- the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design's green building rating system, click here and learn all about it.

Now, you should take this interactive tour of Hannaford's Platinum LEED Certified Store in Augusta, Maine.

Ken's Maine Trip -- Day 6

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Time to head for Florida. I had a very nice visit and it was a sunny day. Late morning I drove south to PWM -- the Portland International Jetport. Here's PWM's Wiki page. My flight was at 2:45. I had to gas up the car and drop it off and get me and my knee through Homeland Security. By the time I was at my gate I needed some lunch and spotted the Shipyard Pub.

As soon as I sat down I saw that it was clearly a branch of Portland's Shipyard Brewery, Maine biggest brewer.

As I looked through the menu I realized this was the brewer who made Maine's favorite fall beverage -- Pumpkinhead Ale. They described it as having "a hint of cinnamon and nutneg." Maybe some other time.

I ordered iced tea and a lobster roll. Why on earth would I think an airport restaurant, even a locally owned one in Portland, Maine could serve an edible lobster roll? I hadn't had one in years ever since getting a rubbery one in Boston at Legal Sea Foods that was so badly overseasoned (lots of tarragon perhaps?) that there was no taste of lobster at all.

At the Shipyard Pub the lobster roll was on the properly toasted and buttered New England-style hot dog bun. On a single lettuce leaf was half a small, undressed lobster, a lemon wedge, and at one end less than a tablespoon of mayonnaise. No celery, no onions, no lobster hidden in a blanket of mayo. Just big pieces of tender, barely cooked lobster. Perhaps the best lobster roll I have ever eaten. The joke is you have to ask for extra mayonnaise.

The flight home on AirTran was easy and we had Sonny's BBQ takeout for supper.

Ken's Maine Trip -- Day 5

Monday, August 31, 2009

The weather had cleared up and it was a sunny day. We drove over to Bangor so I could visit the Bangor Public Library.

I wanted to look at a young woman's journal from 1893. It was in the special collections department and the staff there were very helpful. The library building is old and grand. And well maintained.

I spent a couple of hours taking notes and photographing the last 50 pages of the journal. I used available light and the close up setting on the camera and got nice sharp images. Here's an example -- page 127.


When I was done I found my folks waiting for me in the parking lot across the street.

A big surprise in Bangor is the huge Las Vegas-style casino, Hollywood Slots Hotel & Raceway at the edge of downtown. I don't remember Bangor ever looking so clean and prosperous. Perhaps it's beacuse of all the tax money the casino is paying the city?

Here's a photo of Mother and Dad getting ready for the drive back to Augusta

Ken's Maine Trip -- Day 4

Sunday, August 30, 2009

It was rainy off and on all day and quite warm. My sister and brother-in-law, Carol and Bruce, drove over from Hiram. And my neice Katie, with Chris, and my nephew Jason with Laci, came along too. All we were missing from the immediate family was Carol and Bruce's son Jeremy (my other nephew) and his wife Sara who are in Connecticut.


Katie and Mother


Chris and Jason


Jason and Laci


Father, Carol and Bruce

Ken's Maine Trip -- Day 3

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Today the temperature is up into the mid-70s and it's raining hard. Both the temperature and the rain are thanks to the outer bands of Hurricane Danny, now a tropical storm off the coast of Nova Scotia northeast of us here in Augusta.

Despite the rain we drove up to Waterville, about 18 miles north of Augusta. We ate at a favorite seafood place, the Weathervane. It's a small chain of restaurants in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The one on the dock in Belfast with sail boats bobbing around is more popular, and more scenic, but with the rain the closest one is the best one. And the food is always wonderful.

If you are ever in Waterville don't miss the Ticonic Footbridge, better known by everybody in town as the Two Cent Bridge. Built in 1903 it's a toll, suspension pedestrian bridge that connected Waterville's mill workers with their jobs in the factories on the Winslow side of the Kennebec River. A hundred years ago there were many of these footbridges throughout the industrial Northeast. Waterville's Two Cent Bridge is the only one still around.
(Photo from Ed's Gallery.)

Waterville is also home to Colby College. I graduated from there almost 50 years ago.

Ken's Maine Trip -- Day 2

Friday, August 28, 2009

It was a chilly morning in Augusta -- 42 degrees at 7:30 A.M.

After breakfast at my parents' house we took a drive up to Livermore Falls, Wilton and Farmington. I grew up in Wilton, actually in the village of Dryden just outside of Wilton. I was born in Farmington. We moved from Dryden to Augusta when I was 12 years old.

The scenery everywhere was very green. It has been a wet summer in central Maine.

Wilson Lake in Wilton was as beautiful as ever and the sky was very clear.

Farmington's downtown hasn't changed a bit.

We ate at Boivins Harvest House, a restaurant between Wilton and Farmington where we had eaten before. Now it's under new owners and althought the food was good last time it was even better this time.

Spent a lot of time in the afternoon and evening watching Teddy Kennedy's wake. What a fantastic cast of characters had asembled to speak about him.

Ken's Maine Trip -- Day 1

About three weeks ago I went to Maine to visit my parents, my sister and her family.

Thursday, August 27, 2009
This was my first flight since my knee replacement and I had very few problems with the long spells of sitting on planes. Getting through security was a hassle and the TSA folks clearly wish people with implants would stop bothering them by flying places.

I needed a direct flight from Pensacola to Portland and so, instead of going on American Airlines (via Dallas-Ft. Worth) and driving up from Boston, as usual, I found that AirTran had the best conections at very good prices. There were stops and changes of planes in Atlanta and Baltimore/Washington International.

This was the first time I had flown on AirTran and I was impressed with the comfortable planes and the on-time arrivals. Also it was possible to upgrade to business class on all segments at a reasonable price. And they have XM Radio jacks on every armrest.

The planes were full on all legs, so we were able to take off a few minutes early. This was a good thing because we were just ahead of some rough storms every time we taxied down the runway. In Pensacola Jack was following my flights via the Internet, as were my parents in Maine. Jack said he could see the pilot changing course and avoiding the storms as we headed northward.

It was sunny and bright when we landed in Portland around 5:30 PM. I picked up my Hertz car and headed north. It was chilly in Augusta, in the low 50s. I visited with my parents and then crossed the Kennebec to check in at the Holiday Inn Augusta Civic Center.

Why People Get Lost In Our Neighborhood

At the corner of Northpointe Boulevard and Northpointe Parkway


Northpointe Boulevard and Northpointe Way


Northpointe Boulevard and Northpointe Place


Northpointe Boulevard and Northpointe Drive


Northpointe Boulevard and Northpointe Court


Northpointe Boulevard and Northpointe Circle


The crossing of Northpointe Boulevard and Northpointe Boulevard. How can this be?


This one is for Jason K. And David T.