Letters to the Editor
150 ReasonsWe don't know who to thank, but someone in your organization has given us an incredible compliment by believing we are worthy enough to be listed in your November issue as one of the "150 Reasons to Give Thanks We live in Maine." You have no idea what this does for our state of mind. We're up here scratching out a living and all of a sudden, bam, we know what that guy who won that $320 million Powerball feels like.
--Bob Rankin and Suzy Anderson
Eureka Hall Restaurant
Stockholm, Maine
I enjoyed the feature in your November issue about the reasons to give thanks we live in Maine. As a native who left Maine for only a few years to attend graduate school in Washington, D.C., I remember my reaction every time I crossed the bridge over the Piscataqua River. The smell of the pines was incredible. I literally stopped on the highway once to kiss the ground!
I chuckled at your number 82; although I wasn't the Sea Goddess, I was the 1982 Crowned Princess of the Lobster Festival. I guess I didn't appreciate the high esteem apparently held by some for the honor of that title.
I do, however, think you left out a couple of other very important reasons: the original Pat's Pizza in Orono, Pat Farnsworth, Dysart's Truck Stop, and the wisdom and wit of an elderly, native Mainer.
--Kim Diamond
Scarborough, Maine
. . . and moose (collisions with cars notwithstanding).
--Larry Smith
Boulder, Colorado
. . . and opening the footbridge in Perkins Cove to let the sailboats go out to sea.
--Marilyn Eimon
Ogunquit, Maine
. . . and the three L's: lighthouses, lupines, and lilacs!
--Mark Mangrum
Parsons, Tennessee
. . . and Robert McCloskey books, especially Time of Wonder.
--Patricia S. Cole
Isle au Haut, Maine, and Brookhaven, New York
. . . and striper fishing off the rocks at Two Lights State Park.
--Ann Poteet
South Portland, Maine
. . . and the view from Mount Battie in Camden.
--David Charters
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Trusted Companion
In preparing for a trip to Maine from California, a friend in Maine sent me her copies of Down East so I could read up on places of interest and restaurants that we might like to try. Sure enough, every restaurant recommendation was a home run. I really appreciate them all. From the Twilight Café in Belfast to the Thomaston Café to Primo in Rockland to Moody's Diner in Waldoboro to Joshua's in Wells to Norm's Bar and Grill in Portland, each meal was better than the last.
Thanks so much for helping make my visit to Maine a real pleasure.
--Laura Tocchet
San Francisco, California
Where in Maine?
I recognize the "hill" in your November "Where in Maine?" feature as Mars Hill Mountain. In 1943 my father, Wes Anderson, graduated from the University of Maine with an engineering degree and took my mother, Erma Barrey Anderson, and I to New Jersey, where he went to work for Wright Aeronautical and helped develop the jet engine. Each year during the end of July and the beginning of August we would motor from New Jersey to back home in Mars Hill. Just north of Houlton, around Monticello, we would get our first fleeting glimpse of the mountain, and while visiting family in Blaine and Mars Hill the mountain was a constant companion off to the east.
This year my wife and I came from Ohio with our daughter, her husband, and two grandsons back to Mars Hill and Blaine. My family got to see where I was born, where the folks grew up, and all the places we used to visit when I was their age. We also got to see where in 1976 the Air Force proved the sun first touches the United States -- Mars Hill Mountain. On July 4, 1976, they raised the flag as the sun came up and then flew it to Hawaii, where it was lowered as the sun set.
--David Anderson
Mason, Ohio
