Severn, MD to Rockport, MA

I got mixed reactions when telling people I was coming to Maine alone. Some gave me a quizzical stare. Others flat-out asked, “Why?” Not as in “why Maine,” but “why are you going alone?”

I really have been wanting to visit Maine for a long time. For some unknown reason, it’s been on my mind more and more over the past couple of years. Some times more than others. A few months ago, I started getting this overwhelming urge to head north. Which is sort of ridiculous, really. Hubby and I had the vacation of a lifetime together when we went to Alaska back in the late-Spring. Yet I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Something just kept telling me, go now. Almost like a now-or-never deal.

So I gave in. Hubby’s already been to Maine. He just started a new job, too. And I know he doesn’t have the patience to poke around exploring and taking pictures, which is what I really want to do. I want to experiment and capture some really good, memorable images. That takes time.

So here I am. There’s nothing wrong with me (that I know of). I am not trying to escape Hubby or my kids. The job isn’t driving me crazy. I’m just taking a trip. Okay? Now on to the good stuff.

DAY ONE – I decided to refer to this as my New England trip after all, because I know I’ll be seeing stuff in other states, too. The goal for today was to get from Point A (home) to Point B (Rockport, Massachusetts) as directly and quickly as possible. I’d hoped to arrive well before sunset so I could tour Gloucester, which is just east of here.

I didn’t count on the sun setting so much earlier here. It was down at 6:30!

It was some small miracle that I didn’t get lost coming through New York and Boston. There were long stretches, coming through the New York/New Jersey area, where there were SEVEN lanes of traffic on each side of the road. That’s FOURTEEN lanes total. And the road was quite curvy. Traffic was very heavy AND the average speed in the slow lane was 80 MPH. I am not exaggerating, either. And there were a couple of spots where there were TEN lanes on each side (yep, twenty lanes of traffic).

I am an experienced, confident driver. I have a great sense of direction. I don’t get rattled easily. After coming through that mess I was rattled. I was downright stressed out. There’s no way I’m going through that again. I’ll be taking the scenic route home for sure.

– – – – –

I made an unscheduled stop in Mystic, Connecticut. It is an historic seaport town. It was very, very cute. Just what I imagined a quaint New England seaport would look like. Old drawbridge and all.

I remember seeing it on the map when I was planning the trip. I never really considered going there. But it looked interesting.

I’m glad I went. There was a really cool seaport museum, but I didn’t want to spend that much time there. I was still hoping to reach Gloucester before the sun set.

– – – – –

I did reach Gloucester before sunset. Barely. Here’s my favorite image.

If you’d like to see all of today’s pictures, they are on my Flickr site.

6 Replies to “Severn, MD to Rockport, MA”

  1. Not a blast yet. The trip was a bit stressful. I kid you not, I thought 95 through Maryland was bad. Imagine driving on 83 North out of downtown Baltimore, but add 8 lanes of traffic and increase the speed to 80. Then add people driving in and out of lanes because traffic was moving too slow!

    And thank goodness my sense of direction is good. The maps from Streets & Trips were good, but in real life, quite a few turns were not very clear. I didn't make any wrong turns until I hit Salem, Massachusetts, though. And that was easily corrected.

    Today, I should get some real pictures. (-:

    Love ya!

  2. You’re in Maine?
    I thought it was awful quiet around the house 🙂

    The girls are moping around looking for the treat lady but they can handle it for a few more days I think.

    Ly,

  3. Wait. What is this: It is an historic seaport town.

    an?

    I don’t think I understand – weren’t you the one telling me not to do that?

    Or was that Shannon…

  4. Yeah, and I couldn’t remember the rule. It’s funny that you remember that conversation so well when we had to recap half of it for you! 🙂

Comments are closed.