First Impressions of Maine from a Total Outsiders Perspective

I've only been in New England for a titch over two weeks, but that's really all it takes to form a few first impressions about this place.

 1. The ocean is everywhere. Every time we drive anywhere we're crossing bridges or coves and beaches. It's in the decor, cuisine, and conversations. They even base their directions on the coastline.

2. The accent. People drop their r's and add r's where they don't belong. After an afternoon of talking to locals, I find myself asking Hinder if he wants 'pizzer' for dinner or to stop pestering his 'sista'. I love listening to accents, so that is fun for me, but I do feel a little foolish when I find myself mimicking.

3. Compared to the Southeastern Idaho desert, I feel like we're in Ireland. Everything is so green a colorful. It's probably rained 7 out of the 17 days I've been here. There are trees and foliage everywhere. In fact, on the third day of our unpacking, we needed to get out of the house, so I buckled the kids into the stroller for a walk.

 Our street looks like this...

A typical suburban neighborhood, right?

Then I turned one corner and stumbled on this...

 A forest trail in our backyard. Pretty outstanding.

AND we found real acorns on this trail! With big, fluffy tailed, grey squirrels!  Isn't that such a quintessential autumn thing? That leads me to observation #4...

4. The acorns make the loudest popping noise as they fall from the tree. I don't really understand it, but the first night the popping sounds woke me up and I thought it was gunfire. Just when I was working myself into a tizzy about what kind of gang/gun/war zone neighborhood we were living in, Riley told me it was just acorns. I felt silly.

 

5. It's humid here. And I'm totally not used to this. My first clue was when our once-straight-haired daughter all the sudden started sporting downy fluff curls on the back of her head.

 And then I tried to wipe down the kitchen. You know, with a damp rag? Well, it never dried.
Then I boiled a box of pasta and the same kitchen turned into a sauna. Water droplets condensed on every available surface.
And then I took a look in the mirror to find that my hair looked remarkable like Isabella Garcia- Shapiro singing "Izzy's Got the Frizzies". I guess I've accepted that fact that I'll be having a bad hair day until 2016. Or investing in a case of John Frieda product.
6. So far, the people we've met are genuinely kind and giving. Right after landing in Portland, four different couples asked if they could help, complimented me or the kids, held open a door, etc. Our neighbors and ward members have bent over backwards to show us kindness and welcome. I just so grateful for that.

Moving from America's Family Community, we were a little concerned that we'd have to toughen up a little to get along here. I guess it goes to show that you can find kind and generous people anywhere.

Thank goodness.