Stuff about me
My name is Keith Michaud and this is “Letters From Away,” a blog written by a Mainer living outside the comfortable and sane confines of New England. The blog is intended for Mainers, whether they live in the Pine Tree State or beyond, and for anyone who has loved ’em, been baffled by ’em or both. Ayuh, I am “from away.” Worse still, I live on the Left Coast – in California. Enjoy! Or not. Your choice.
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Tag Archives: Allagash
Sneaking a peek at Trader Joe’s | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram
Posted in Economy, Food and Drink, Maine
Tagged Allagash, Casco Bay, Peaks Organic, Portland, Sea Cove Sampler, shipyard, Trader Joe's, Two Buck Chuck
Scenic byways great for views of foliage | Bangor Daily News
Scenic byways great for views of foliage | Bangor Daily News
For more about byways and destinations mentioned here, visit www.byways.org/explore/states/ME/. For information on Maine State Parks and Public Lands, visit www.parksandlands.com. For foliage information, visit www.mainefoliage.com.
Posted in Environment, Maine, Outdoors, Politics and government
Tagged Allagash, Allagash Wilderness Waterway, Blackwoods Scenic Byway, Down East Sunrise Trail, foilage, La Route Culturelle de la Vallee St-Jean, Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, Old Canada Road Scenic Byway, Rangeley Lakes Region, scenic byways, scenic landscapes, Schoodic Scenic Byway, St. John Valley Cultural Byway
Maine Stuff in My California Apartment No. 7: Maine crafted beers
Shipyard Brewing Company is based in Portland. This evening I went with the IPA, which I do not find as tasty as the brewer’s regular Export Ale. But it was not bad, either. The Shipyard glasses were purchased a year or two ago at BevMo in Stockton. Yes, that is a lobster bottle opener in the foreground. It is also Maine stuff.
A Maine native living “away” is required by his or her nature to have around him or her things that conjure up images of Maine.
And from time to time that comes in the form of chilled adult beverages. Fortunately, BevMo, the beverage warehouse store, carries several Maine brews, including Allagash, Shipyard, and Sea Dog products.
Today’s photo of “Maine Stuff in My California Apartment” includes glasses and brew from Maine. Be assured that no beer was wasted in the making of this blog entry.
Oh, and, yes, that is a lobster bottle opener. That also falls under the category of Maine stuff.
I also included a photo of a couple of Fenway American Pale Ale pint glasses. I don’t recall ever enjoying a Fenway American Pale Ale, but I figured I’d include it because it is a New England beer and I am a Boston Red Sox fan.
Recently had a bit of the Allagash Dubbel Reserve poured in an Allagash glass. Nice beverage. Allagash is based in Portland, Maine, nowhere near the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. The glasses were purchased a couple of years ago.
Nice head on the Allagash Dubbel Reserve. I have tried several of the Allagash offerings and have liked each of them.
Gotta love a beer that is corked.
OK, so this is a photo of beer pint glasses for a beer made in Boston. But I am a Red Sox fan so I thought I would add this photo of Fenway American Pale Ale glasses along with Maine stuff related to beer.
This is an occasional multipart series of photos of things related to Maine that can be found in Keith Michaud’s California apartment. All photos in this series are shot by and are the property of Keith Michaud.
Posted in Food and Drink, Maine, Red Sox
Tagged Allagash, apartment, belongings, BevMo, brew, California, chilled adult beverages, crafted beer, Fenway American Pale Ale, lobster bottle opener, Maine, Mainer, multipart series, photos, SeaDog, shipyard
Nah, the Allagash has to be longer than that … doesn’t it?
When I was a kid – I don’t remember how old exactly – my family and my Uncle Wally’s family loaded up canoes on various mode of land vehicle and we drove to north central Maine and camped near the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, of which the Allagash is the central component. The next day, we put in canoes and we paddled out way north – the Allagash flows northward – for nearly a week of paddling along the waterway.
DownEast.com today had a trivia question about the length of the waterway and I was surprised at the answer. It seemed a little short, from what I remember of that trip. But then again, I was a youngster sitting in the back of a canoe. It was a pretty sweet adventure.
As I recall, we had to pick up the pace a bit about midway. A Maine game warden caught up with us to tell us that a relative of my father had died. He wanted to make the funeral services so we paddled double-time after we got the word.
Here’s the question and answer.
How long is the Allagash Wilderness Waterway?
Answer:
Ninety-two miles in northern Piscataquis and western Aroostook counties.
Trust me, it seemed much longer than 92 miles.
Advocate promotes North Woods park
Group says 3.2 million-acre preserve
would aid region as Acadia boosts coast
FORT KENT, Maine — There is little chance the forests and wild lands of northern Maine can ever be returned to their pristine state, but a group of conservationists sees no reason they can’t be at least partially restored and protected for generations to come.
RESTORE: The North Woods has advocated the formation of a multimillion-acre park or preserve in north central Maine since 1994, and on Friday the group’s director discussed the plan with students, faculty and guests at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
“I can’t see another place in the United States where we could even be having this discussion,” said Jym St. Pierre, RESTORE director. “We are talking about 3 million-plus acres that could be acquired without disrupting people or communities.”
The area in question has long been the center of timber and logging operations in Maine going back to the early to mid-1800s when lumber from the great northern forest produced enough raw material to help Bangor become the lumber capital of the world.
Toward the middle and end of that century, the recreational value of the vast tracts of forests began to attract the likes of Henry David Thoreau and later Theodore Roosevelt, with the railroads billing it “America’s wilderness playground.”
Click in the link for the rest of today’s story by Julia Bayly in the Bangor Daily News.
Posted in Outdoors
Tagged Acadia National Park, Allagash, Allagash Wilderness Waterway, Appalachian Mountain Club, Baxter State Park, conservation, conservationist, forest, forest industry, Land Use Regulation Commission, logging, lumber, Maine coast, Moosehead, North Woods, preserve, protected, RESTORE, Roxanne Quimby, Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, The Nature Conservancy, timber
Updated 11/13: Uncle Clayton hauling pulp near St. Francis
Phillip Thibodeau (left) and Clayton Jandreau standing near a truck hauling pulp.
I knew this day would come – a correction. Mickey Thibodeau took the photo of my Uncle Clayton Jandreau next to his new truck, a 1960 model, in the winter of 1960-61 in the street in front of his family’s home not too far from where my Uncle Clayton, my Mom and their siblings grew up in St. Francis, Maine. Mr. Thibodeau’s father, Phillip, is standing with my uncle. Mr. Thibodeau did not receive the photo from my cousin.
[Posted November 12, 2009 (See correction above): I wanted to get this photo up. I will post more later on it. The photo was e-mailed to me from another Mainer “from away,” Mickey Thibodeau, who now lives in Lake County, California. Actually, the photo comes from Mr. Thibodeau who received it from my cousin Cindy Jandreau. (Yep, the moose hunter.) The photo, taken in St. Francis toward Allagash, shows Mr. Thibodeau’s father, Phillip, and Clayton Jandreau (nearest truck), an uncle to Cindy and me. I am not sure when the photo was taken, but I am guess it had to be in the 1950s or ’60s.]
As I recall from family tales, one of the things my Grandfather and uncles did to get by was cut pulp to be used in mills. They used horses to haul the pulp from the woods to sidings or the nearest road where it was loaded – I am assuming usually loaded by hand – onto a truck to be taken to the mills. Of course, pulp is used for paper and other products.
I seem to recall a story my mother told me once that one of the horses they used to haul the pulp broke loose and was racing toward my Mom, who was pretty young at the time. If I recall the story correctly, one of her brothers threw her behind a fallen tree and the horse leaped over them and the fallen tree. It must have been a pretty exciting time for a little kid.
Mr. Thibodeau also mentioned an old parish hall in St. Francis my Uncle Warren – Clayton and my Mom’s brother and Cindy the Moose Hunter’s father – own and subsequently tore down. He later built a home there for himself, his wife Monica and their children.
I seem to recall that for a time – perhaps between when the building was used as a parish hall and when my Uncle Warren tore it down – that he ran a couple of businesses, including a barbershop and a pool hall/pinball parlor. I recall seeing photos of my first haircut and I am pretty sure Uncle Warren handled the shears that day. If the photos are any indication, I was not particularly pleased to get my hair trimmed.
For those who are unfamiliar with where St. Francis is located, it is on the border with Canada near where the St. Francis and St. John rivers meet. If you look at a map of the state, St. Francis is in the large notch at the northern border. Allagash, where the Allagash Wilderness Waterway ends to the north, is east of St. Francis. Fort Kent, Maine, to the east is where I was born.
Posted in Maine, Uncategorized
Tagged Allagash, Allagash Wilderness Waterway, Fort Kent Maine, Maine, St. Francis
Letters From Away 