Maine & Vermont

Carrie Rose Passing Bass Harbor Light, Mount Desert Island, Maine

Shore Acres Resort, Grand Isle, Vermont

2019 is the second year that circumstances have compelled us to travel home sooner then we might have. Not wanting to drive the 1200 miles in a couple of days, we have taken to wandering home. An unexpected pleasure is to visit with friends who live along the way.

One of our friends transplanted to a hilltop on an island in Lake Champlain. He and his wife are Vermont converts. Like all converts, as soon as we show up, they begin to extoll on the virtues of relocating to Vermont. This compelled me to think of the virtues of Maine versus Vermont.

It is not that we are considering moving to either of these states, too dark and too long of a winter, but I find the comparison thought provoking. So for what it is worth here goes.


Maine is edgy,

Vermont is chill.


Maine is cold water and fog,

Vermont is quiet comfortable fresh water.


Maine is devastating Nor’easters,

Vermont is summer squalls.


Maine is evangelical,

Vermont is Tibetan pray flags.


Maine is green lobsters,

Vermont is black and white cows.


Maine is green granite,

Vermont is black slate.


Maine is whales,

Vermont is Champ.


Maine is the Bay of Fundy,

Vermont is Lake Champlain.


Maine is ravaged,

Vermont is unmolested.


Niagara Falls, Canada