Our rout from Portland, ME to Franconia Notch
State Park, New Hampshire
took us from the interstate onto some country
roads. The going was a bit slow, but the pace was a refreshing change from the
city and heavy traffic we experienced on the previous days. While the
interstates are a great way to get quickly from one place to the next, it’s not
until you get off them that you truly get a feel for the way of life you are
passing through. Once you really enter a place where people live, you see
potted flowers and clothes carefully hung on the line to dry-evidence that real
people live there; people mowing their lawns and riding a bike with shopping
bags on the handle bars. Things for sale by owner give you a glimpse into the
real lives of those people: a boat, once new and full of promise, now being
sold; the family van for sale-maybe all the children have moved on for a life
far from home. It’s all a reminder that while I vacation, other people are
moving on with their routine, that behind each person I see is not just a
person, but an entire life.
This drive also took us from coastal Maine into the
Appalachian Range, and seeing mountains on the horizon was a comfort to me,
reminding me how much I love them. While it’s easy to find beauty everywhere,
mountains make me feel the security of home.
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