Bangor was the city where I became an adult. I made the very best and absolute worst decisions of my life there. I can't imagine who I'd be without it.
When I go back, the very first thing I do is drive around to my favorite places - which brings up a lot of memories along the way. It also helps to fill in the fading map in my head. This time I wrote them down as I passed in case I should one day forget them. My father-in-law made the outstanding suggestion that I take pictures as well. Awesome idea. Blame him if you get sick of my face. I know I do and am. I'll start out with the things with no photo to give your computer more time to load.
I will not be offended if you scan...
Wind, because it's not the cold that's gonna kill you.
Motorcycles, classic cars, muscle cars and sports cars. People in Maine know cool transportation better than anyone else.
Hot guys with...less hot chicks. You see it everywhere. Bizarre.
Dysart's. Countless breakfasts eaten in the wee hours of the night because there's no where else for underage kids to go in the winter. Santa Claus' legs in the chimney. "Butter me up, I'm going in!"
Staring. Seriously. Walk, drive, limp or crawl by - just come into view and you'll get every set of male eyes (and often their whole upper body) following you and at least a few "Hey baby...Hey sexy... how you doing...got a name? a number? you want some companionship or are you all set? My number is..." All variations are apparently acceptable. Good for the ego. Bad for a lone woman in remote locations.
Ethan Frost, at age 7 (now studying history in college) during Sunday School - "Annie, I don't want to talk about Jesus. I want to talk about dinosaurs."
DeeDee Amero requesting that I not twist my ankles out while I'm teaching because it made her skin crawl.
Dennis Wagner - Elvis in the chapel and twisting my arm for teasing Matt. Now pretends not to remember me. Prick.
Pulling the fire alarm at church by accident...and running full tilt in the opposite direction.
Doing donuts in my Toyota Corolla in frozen parking lots. Wee.
Laughing with Morrigan about some of the ridiculous lyrics to old hymns. I am purposely not looking them up.
The cellar doors at Chez Tang where I got my mountain bike everyday one summer.
Where I rode my bike every day. It could be longer, but still a good trail.
(My face is showing incredulity at the whistles from a passing truck.)
Home. The tree house I painted yellow, blue and green...which is still those colors. See the sun room? That was mine. So nice. So warm. No wind.
Bangor Pool. A girl who stole my cool baggy pants. Stephen King helped the city build a new one, obviously they filled in the old one. :(
West Broadway - a few blocks from home, the coolest houses in Bangor and Stephen King's house. That's it behind me. (I'm looking at a couple of kids as they drove by yelling "Hot da**!" Couldn't help but smile at that.)
Hammond St - Penobscot Valley School of Gymnastics, my first job after high school...not the first time I was fired for going on vacation instead of going to work. It's now a flooring and tile store.
Gum on my shoe means gum on my gas pedal. Ice works.
My first apartment in the run down mansion of an old sea captain. So cool and so sad...like so many parts of Bangor.
Bangor Public Library. Coolest library I've ever had the pleasure of having a card to. The house on Fourth - spent two months here one summer before going to Edmonton in 2006...in a one bedroom apartment. That's the bay window in our living room.
Shaw's on Main - kept Stephanie from working on a regular basis.
Paul Bunyan - Matt defying the "Do Not Climb" sign in order to recline on the poor man's shoe.
1A to Hampden - Russ' grandparents house...and though I did not witness it, dancing in the mirror. Also the time when Russ was back from California for a few months and we had no one but ourselves to do cool stuff with - tons o' fun.
Penobscot river - where I sat very melancholy and said farewell to Bangor for over an hour, only leaving because I was over an hour late getting home. I was very reluctant to leave my Bangor for Edmonton. Turned out alright, but still.
Where Jared's car got hit by a drunk guy and begged by the guy's friend not to report it. "He has a lot of money - look at his truck. He'll pay for all your damages out of pocket...it's just that he's been drinking a little..."
Greyhound bus stop - picking up Chais when he came to visit. And that I told him to bring up a tent and we'd go camping...which we never did.
Robinson Ballet - site of my last ballet class. (my face shows me getting tired of taking pictures of myself)
A quick moment to photograph my rented wheels. Chevy Impala. Enough space in the trunk to hide 3-4 bodies lying almost straight out. Just sayin.
Where I got my first taste of India (heh, heh, heh). Thanks Matt! I've been obsessed ever since. Yum.
4:20 - Around long before they legalized medical marijuana, not that I've ever been there.
The bottom floor used to be a coffee shop where my acting career began and ended. I was in a commercial for maybe a full second talking over coffee to some girl I didn't know. Also, Ryan worked here for two weeks when he got back from California.
Used to be the Grasshopper Shop and still sells the same stuff. Where Matt used to work and a confusing matter of $60.
The Al Brady Plaque - Bangor's proud heritage. And my feet.
The canal running through downtown. Beautiful. Old. In need of repair. Everything I love about Bangor.
Children's Museum. Close enough to the apartment on Fourth that we walked here often.
Lifelong fear of flipping backwards in a car from steep hills (very logical, I know). I avoided this street like the plague.
Cascade park - where Morri and I made complete fools of ourselves with my dad's camera.
Bangor mall - "I'll bang you in a minute." Also buying the exact same Doc Marten's as Elder Randall winter 1999. Which reminds me of our Christmas Eve dinner where we waited so long for Mom and Dad to get back from who-knows-where that we ordered pizza.
Oriental jade - Hostessing...and the rice incident I discovered was true.
Not possible to pin down one memory because we were here all the time, but they do come in groups. Matt, Tavia, Jared, Russ and the rest of 'em - Becky and Stephanie - Shaun's first job.
Above and beyond all other memories is...Matt. He introduced me to Bull Moose and the only time I ever went was with him. It was his home away from home. And now the site where I bought my first Dropkick Murphy's CD (and tried to get Street Dogs but they only had them on vinyl. No joke).
The site formerly known as Home Depot - keeping Becky from working, though it was harder than with Stephanie. And the impressive handling you get in a rented Chevy Impala...
General Aviation Terminal - My daddy and the purchase of my Toyota Corolla for $500.
Applebees - The only place Becky will eat.
900C Hammond Street- OpenCube's formerly secret location.
The site of the restaurant where Ryan Calogero and I ate before prom and ran into Tavia and Russ. Now the location of the coolest lounge in Bangor. Go here if you can manage it. Great quesadillas and an even greater bar tender. L'Aperitif. Tres chic.
Bangor Opera House. Spent a week helping backstage at a youth ballet performance. It was here I discovered that Mainers wear jeans to the ballet.
Tavia - middle of the night, something about the waitress.
West Park - Russ banging his head on the bar and Tavia's inability to stop laughing. (This was where the man was asking if I was "in need of companionship or if I was all set." He repeated his phone number for me about 10 times and followed me on his bike for 3 blocks. Makes a girl feel secure, you know?)
Morri and I stopped here briefly to change dresses. Don' know why or where we were going, just that we did it.
This picture does not do the hill justice - especially because this is only the straight portion. The curvy part is just as steep and fun...except in the winter.
This house is even longer than it is wide. One day I will kick out all the kiddies and make it my private residence...and put all those power lines UNDERGROUND!
Thomas Hill stand pipe. Overlooks all of Bangor. Nathan used to practice rock climbing around the base. Our dog, Fozzie, came here whenever he got out. I ran here quite often.
Kenduskeag Stream. Made out with Clarence here winter '99.
Nathan and I rock jumping after getting my hair done for prom, and the homeless guy who flashed me and Becky from across the stream. She has blocked the memory, but it still happened.
You may find this strange, but I love cemeteries and the Mount Pleasant Catholic Cemetery in Bangor is the reason why. We lived a few blocks over so I saw it all the time. If I were Catholic I would be buried here - in the back with all the 200+ year old graves.
Only the coolest part of the whole place. Really wish I could get in.
I have to fight the poetic urge when I'm at this place. It's a truly beautiful cemetery.
I also brought Nancy and Clarence here one winter, not realizing they are both very scared of cemeteries. When I found out I gave them a copy of Night of the Living Dead for Christmas. I'm thoughtful like that.
This was NOT one of my favorites. If I'd been with someone else I MAY have gone over to peek down that OPEN GRAVE, but as I was alone I chose the better part of valor.
There are a lot of graves back in the woods near the ravine that I'd never seen before. They were super cool and kinda creepy.
Please plant a hydrangea tree next to my headstone so I can have something pretty to look at when I visit my rotting bones.
Not sure why I love this one.
Obviously I have a thing for antiquities. My favorites are all the oldest.
While taking pictures around town I saw signs for The Shamrock-N-Roll Fest on the waterfront. Looked like fun so I changed and went around 6pm. Street Dogs came on soon after I got there - I met Mike McColgan after their set while I was perusing their t-shirts, though it was a minute or two after we were shooting the breeze that I realized who he was and why he seemed to think I should have a lot to say to him. He's awesome despite the awkward conversation - better stage presence than the Murphy's, who he used to sing for but quit to be a firefighter in Boston before starting the Street Dogs. They're coming to Detroit in December and I intend to be there.
The Mahones. They are, apparently, iconic. Guess you had to be there from the beginning, cuz they just sounded loud and unpolished to me.
Very good. Between Street Dogs and Dropkick Murphy my $35 ticket felt cheap.
Zoe is her mother's daughter. Good work Becky!
Zane, age 2, is a good little photographer! Becky and I (and the kids) played Wii Fit all night and all morning. The balance games are more difficult than you'd think!
Zane caught me packing up to get back to Bangor for moussaka with Michelle.
I sat here for ages on Friday afternoon before meeting Tess and Tyne for dinner. If the Kenduskeag was less polluted I'd have put more than my feet in it.
This concludes my trip to Bangor. I spent four days in Fairfield but only took one picture. Morrigan would probably send me a box of dog poo if I posted it but we plastered, sanded, primed and cooked for four days. Best four days I've had in ages.
The End.
