Ever had a place that you always wanted to go, and then finally you got to see it in person? Well, this was it for me. I must have painted this scene (this landscape illustration) about five times as paintings and illustrations that I’ve sold, always thinking… someday I’d like to go there. Glen and I took a cycle trip out to New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. To stand on the coast and be able to sketch this beauty, on a beautiful day no less, was a dream fulfilled.
Besides the Maine Lighthouse, I had some other venues I’d hoped to take in. Here’s another tale from that journey.
We had finally made it to Vermont. I’d heard talk of the beautiful fall scenery and the many winding country roads to traverse. What should we take in during the small amount of time that we had allotted for this state of the three northeast states on our cycling vacation agenda? Why not start with the capital building in Mont Pelier. It was a lovely gold domed building set at the base of a steep wooded hill. The dome glistened in the midday sun and the heat of the day had settled in. We decided to follow up our viewing with a stop at the nearby, airconditioned, state/city information center. It was a very small building with a couple tight hallways and very cramped rooms and offices. The smell of sweat was already clinging to the heavy humidity of the afternoon air. But the staff at the center were so welcoming and congenial that we could hold nothing against them. we had caught the man behind the counter just as he had taken the first bite of his sandwich, and you could see he was struggling to be pleasant while quickly trying to clear his mouth of that, no doubt, long awaited lunch. None the less he pulled up a colorful map of the surrounding area from a neatly stacked pile on a cabinet by the door and asked what we were hoping to see. We mentioned a few items we’d heard about, and he proceeded to put his blue marker to the map to help plot out our destinations.
“If you take this road it will lead you to this old bridge.” “Well, actually, if you go this way you can see___, then come back this way and catch___”
His pen flew down the road in one direction, then back tracked on another, made a couple of turns about the town, eventually jetting off towards a couple other directions and destinations. His enthusiasm was as deep as the sweat marks under the arms of his buttoned up dress shirt. Here was a man who truely loved his job.
By the time he finished he’d explained about many wonderful things to visit, but we could barely see any of them on the map.
Glen and I graciously thanked him and bade him a great afternoon.
We snatched up another map as we headed out the door, and as we stepped out into the sweltering sun once again we both smirked at each other and agreed in our knowing reference…
“The pen was definately BLUE!”