As I'm writing, the Ravens and Broncos are playing in the rain. The Ravens came to Baltimore the same year I did: 1996. Twenty-two years (and two Lombardi trophies later), the Ravens are an immutable part of Charm City. And in an ironic twist, I'm still here--albeit temporarily. Baltimore is hosting the International City/County Managers' Association (ICMA) conference. I'll be attending over the next two days.
A week ago, we were settling into our campsite at Mt. Desert Island, Maine. During our stay in Maine, we traveled north to Lubec, the easternmost town in the continental United States. Our route to Laramie will cause us to miss the northernmost point in Minnesota, but we shouldn't have any trouble finding our way to the far west of Point Cape Alva, Washington.
I have a photo of Becky at the geographical center of North American (in eastern Montana). The center of CONUS is in Lebanon, Kansas. I suppose that makes us geography geeks... or people who like odd roadside attractions.
Back to Maine, we had a great time and the weather was perfect. We gamely tried the local specialty of lobster. Becky is a native Marylander and I tend to agree with her: Blue crabs are the better culinary crustacean. Crab cakes (better yet, rockfish with crab imperial) and freshly-picked silver queen corn are a better plate, at least for my money.
Rural Maine was charming; urban Maine, not so much. Both at the campsite and in our rambling, we found few people willing to make simple eye contact and impart a traditional "Hello" or "Good Morning." This stands in stark contrast to other regions. And let's side aside, for the sake of discussion, the vast legion of humans who wander aimlessly looking at cell phones, utterly oblivious to anything (or anyone) in the immediate vicinity. Doing a quick shopping run to Target today, I watched three phone watchers nearly collide, only to take different tracks. We were once mightily impressed with robots that could navigate obstacles. We seem to have created people with the same sensory ability and motor skills.
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