Setting the Scene(ry): New England, June 2013

I grew up on the Southern New England coast, and I remember the "triple-H"--hazy, hot, and humid--summers there. (I suppose they were good preparation for my family's move to Florida when I was almost thirteen--the Sunshine State wasn't as "hazy," but its summers were even more hot and humid...and felt like they lasted about three times longer.) What I didn't remember so well were the softness of the hills, the shore breeze, and the varied, lush greens across the land--probably because I'd never known anything different up to that point, and so I didn't know that they should make an impression.

Aside from a few brief trips to Boston, I've spent very little time in New England since my early teens, and I never did complete the circuit; although the region is comprised of six very small states, I'd only been to five of them. Checking the last one--Maine--off my list has been a goal of mine for a long time. I did that during our visit to New England last month, but since we really didn't explore much beyond the state's southeast corner, I'm eager to go back. But I'd like to spend more time in that corner, too, and see more spots like the area around Portland Head Light at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth. I took these photos myself, but with such beautiful and iconic subjects, it's hard not to get pictures that almost seem too perfect to be real.

Portland, Maine was the third stop on our trip. We arrived after three days in Lincoln, New Hampshire, "basecamp of the White Mountains," and took the scenic route through the White Mountains National Forest to get there, stopping for a little while at Rocky Gorge. The Forest Service officially identifies this spot as a "scenic area," and although there's not much else to do there besides hike around and view the scenery, "scenic" it most certainly is. We'd have stayed longer to take it in even more if we hadn't been on our way out of the state, but it's another place I'd love to visit again.

I've been living in the partially converted desert of Southern California for eleven years now, and its stark mountains, dry heat, and the varied, dusty browns across the land have helped me learn to appreciate the more conventional beauties of my original homeland in the opposite corner of my country.

My photos, edited with Snapseed and collaged with Diptic

Text applied with TitleFX

Posted with Blogsy