Landing at Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport on Sunday afternoon after five days in Maine, three of those on a sparsely inhabited island 10 miles out in the Atlantic (72 year-round residents), it quickly became clear that there are a few things Mississippi and Maine could exchange.
Obviously the weather. We had five perfect days of chilly nights, cool mornings, and plenty of sunshine all day long. Wife, Danny, and I could hardly breath back home in Mississippi and quickly broke into a sweat just unpacking.
On the island of Monhegan we wore long pants and sweat shirts most of the time with the exception of a five-and-a-half mile hike around the island exploring woodlands, coves and spectacular cliffs where the ocean crashes ashore.
There is no air conditioning in the John Sterling Harbor House, where we stayed, but that certainly was no problem. At night temperatures in the 50s meant closing the windows and pulling up the blankets to stay warm. There is no heat in the bedrooms either, so in the mornings it was back into the sweat shirts before brushing our teeth.
They did get electricity in the house in 2019, but the lack of internet connectivity and zero cellular service — unless we walked into one spot in town, or climbed up on a 160 foot cliff on the back side of the mountain, both of which we did, not for the service but for the fun — was actually a pleasure and not a hinderance.
Another huge difference in the two states is the trash. Roadside, yards, gardens, anywhere, and everywhere in Mississippi people toss their trash. Not in Maine. On our hour-and-half drive from Portland to New Harbor where we caught the ferry to the island — no cars out there either — there was not a single piece of litter that we saw on U.S. Highway 1. Not a piece!
There was litter on the ground at the Jackson airport when we landed that was probably there when we took off days before.
On Monhegan Island there is a strict pack-it-in, pack-it-out policy on the trails and everyone, I mean everyone, adhered to it. In addition to the hike we took on the trail around the island we also took numerous hikes on the trails crisscrossing the 1.7 mile by .7 mile chunk of land sticking up out of the Atlantic. We did not see as much as a single gum wrapper or anything else.
To make that statement even more impressive, there are not any garbage cans around the island, or on the trails either. There would be no place to dump them. Trash has to be hauled back to the mainland on a boat. There are also no public restrooms other than two Porta Johns, one on either end of town. Still, though, there was no littering which was absolutely amazing.
All that beauty and cleanliness is grand, and boy did we enjoy our stay there, but, and it is a big but, the people of Maine — some of the people of Maine, anyway — could sure take some pointers from us Mississippians when it comes to hospitality. Sure they were nice, but in a snarky kind of way, I would say. They like to get down to business and get on with it.
Don’t eat “enough” breakfast one morning, and you get a note on the door from the housekeeper that evening reading, “If you don’t plan to eat breakfast in the morning, let us know tonight.”
Yikes! We ate more the second day.
I almost wanted to say, “give me a break lady. We had breakfast in Atlanta, lunch in New York City, and dinner in New Harbor yesterday. We weren’t real hungry this morning, and we were heading out early exploring too.” But I didn’t. Southern hospitality there, right?!
All in all it really was a perfect trip. The weather, the views, the food — fresh lobster rolls and calamari salad especially — and the atmosphere was amazing. And, of course, the company — my wife of 40 years this past Monday.
Perfect! Just perfect! Yes, I am patting my own back a bit, but I started planning this trip in January as a surprise, and delivered it to Danny for her birthday in May.
I done good, real good...just ask her!
