ME II: Brunswick

· Maine Event

Today was a lovely day with charming clouds and blue skies to set them off. We had a low of 45° and a high of 61°. We had a quiet morning doing chores and took the train to Brunswick, the end of the Amtrak line going North. Brunswick was chosen because it is about halfway in between where my friend Paula lives and Portland this was an excursion primarily to see a dear friend - but it turned into an adventure with trees, birds, and a beautiful river. The train trip to Brunswick was gorgeous as it is peak leaf-peeping season. We walked around Bowdoin, established in 1794, which has a gorgeous and large campus. This is the college where Harriet Beecher Stowe started Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) while her husband was employed as a teacher at Bowdoin.

Bowdoin College, 1794

We had a lovely time with my friend Paula just walking around the campus and around town. One of the highlights of the day was the Swinging Bridge which is "one of the few remaining and active pedestrian suspension bridges constructed by the John A. Roebling's Sons Company (Legendary Designers and Constructors of the Wire Rope Suspension Bridges) (Maine Historic Civil Engineering Landmark). These are the folks behind the Brooklyn Bridge. This pedestrian bridge connected the "French Quarter" to Cabot Mill a cotton mill. An estimated 1 million French-speaking Canadians relocated to the US between 1840-1930. Brunswick census in the 1900s shows 40% of Brunswick as French speakers (from an information stand near the bridge). Views of the bridge and the majestic Androscoggin River later. First for our day :)

Beautiful sunny morning with fog playing with the islands.
Nice table decorations
Color is getting better at the nice tree/nice house locale. We might actually be at the peak for this tree.
Low tide - Fore River on our walk out to the Transit Center
Cattails at the Transit Center. Our train was late so we got a chance to look for birds.
Freeport Train Station out the train window!
More leaves from the train.
Water crossing on the way to Brunswick
Swinging Bridge, you can really feel the river on it and it moves. On the other hand, so does the metal one down the river.
The Androscoggin River. She is mighty and powerful. She was once the most polluted river and you couldn't go in it or eat anything from it and a 50-year project to clean it up means that now you can!
Androscoggin looking the other way at the Cabot Mill and yes that is an island in the river, there are several.
Big river. The Androscoggin is one of the largest rivers in Maine and its headwaters are in North Western Maine. Length: 164 miles;
Drainage Area: 3,450 square miles (2,730 in Maine); Discharge at Mouth: 4.19 billion gallons/day
Islands in the river, when the river is high all of this is covered up. Where I'm taking the picture was underwater recently.
Nice walks on the other side of the river
The walk back to Brunswick on the other side of the river.
Topsham Garden Club Celebrating 85 years 1934-2019
Sunflower at the train station at Brunswick.
Sunset at Brunswick.
What is it? Spotted from the train.
Fore River on the evening walk back from the Transit Center.

Have a perfect evening.

Sending love, Tawnia

Nice little bird list today:

  1. Blue Jay
  2. Rock Pigeon
  3. House Sparrow
  4. Herring Gull
  5. European Starling
  6. Black-capped chickadee
  7. American Goldfinch
  8. American Crow
  9. Northern Mockingbird
  10. American Robin
  11. Northern Cardinal
  12. Red-tailed hawk
  13. Ring-billed Gull
  14. Merlin
  15. Yellow-rumped Warbler
  16. Turkey Vulture
  17. Canada Goose
  18. Osprey
  19. Peregrine Falcon