Day Six had us waking up in beautiful Bangor, Maine, home of world-renowned author, Stephen King. Bangor was up there, I mean, up there! it was a real commute to get to from New Hampshire where we were the day before, but it was so breathtakingly beautiful that we didn’t mind the several hour drive. Bangor is only about three hours from the Canadian border, so like I said, we were up there! Also, it was an especially nice and completely unrelated to anything I just mentioned touch that the hotel we stayed in the night of Day Five in Bangor had a jacuzzi, so I was able to soak myself for a good long while on what was the exact center of our trip. I always say, “self care is the best health care.”
The back of our Stephen King-centric tour tourbus.
Mount Hope Cemetery, which was established in 1834, is recognized as America’s second garden cemetery. Garden cemeteries were often founded roughly five miles out of the city center and would often contain elaborate monuments, memorials, and mausoleums in a landscape park-like setting.
Mount Hope boasts over 300 acres of graves! WHOA!
There were some truly old graves here that the indenting on the gravestones was barely recognizable, but this place was quite paramount to Stephen King’s literary success.
If one ever finds themself in Bangor, Maine, this tour is a MUST! I’m a moderate fan of Stephen King’s work, Melissa definitely loves his books and films much more, but I very much enjoyed this highly knowledgeable and interesting tour. We saw parts of the city that were absolutely essential to King’s literary legacy.
I love graveyards and the layout of this one was definitely one of my favorites.
Stephen King’s wife, Tabitha, took up a second job at the Dunkin’ Donuts down the street from the apartment they lived in prior to their success, so Stephen could quit his job and focus on his writing. Just waiting on Melissa to do the same for me.
You’ll notice the gravestone reads, “Carrie.” This is where Stephen King got the inspiration for the name of and final scene in the story, “Carrie.” “Carrie” was King’s first release and he definitely garnered a homerun with it! Still one of the most iconic horror books and films of all time. Good for him!
I would love to see this place covered in snow!
This mural showcased famous people from Maine!
I’ve never read the book, “It,” but apparently at the end, there’s a water tower where the clown creature had been hiding and upon his demise, it rolls down the hill and destroys everything in its path. This is the tower that inspired that take. This doesn’t happen in either of the film adaptations.
She has to have her photo taken in front of everything. That’s what we love about her.
The sewer drain Stephen King would walk by that gave him the inspiration for the opening scene in “It.”
Stephen King’s house in Bangor!
He had some super cute lawn ornaments, like this leaping frog here!
I absolutely loved his home! Just beautiful! Made me smile seeing someone had tied the red balloon (think “It”) to his gate. What a great sport he is allowing it to remain.
This was an outstanding piece of art and that tree behind it! WHOA!
Had to get my photo in front of the home of someone as inspirational as Stephen.
Loved his iron gates! Wildly enough, they were left wide open! Literally anyone could’ve waltzed right in, which I found wonderfully trusting. Glad the town showcases such a great deal of respect to the King’s because they’ve certainly done quite a bit to enhance the lives of all those living there.
Had to get a group photo! Wish we’d of invited the tour guide! His passion for all things Stephen King was off-the-charts! I really admired it.
The Ben & Jerry’s cows!
This tour was real cute and we had the best time taking it! Love me some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream!
I’m 17 pints tall!
Nancy & I are half baked!
So many wonderful photo opportunities here! You already know I wasn’t about to pass a single one up!
The leaves were just incredible in Vermont! Literally left me breathless!
These two had been waiting all trip to see this graveyard!
Each headstone represents a flavor that has died.
I thought this was a super cute and cool way to pay homage to the flavors that didn’t make it. We had so much fun taking this tour. Definitely a must-do if you ever find yourself in Vermont!
Again, the leaves! WHOA!
Church Street Marketplace was a pedestrian street that ran the course of downtown Burlington!
They had a couple of these gigantic boulders along the pathway of Church Street. Real cute.
The moon was outstanding on this night. Literally out-of-this-world beauty. I was loving it so much.
Here’s the church that the street is named for. Again, I would love to see this city after a snowfall. I suspect it’s just beautiful.
Burlington is the home of United States Senator Bernie Sanders as well as the University of Vermont. When we were booking our hotels for this city we were shook by how expensive they were. We just figured it was because it was Vermont. Well, come to find out, we were there during the universities parents weekend, which made the town packed (this picture is an awful representation of that, I know), but this is why the room rates were so high!
I love this photo so much. The moon over the town hall, beautiful. One of my favorite pics from the entire trip.
Nancy and I had very different takes on how we should be photographed with this monument…
I’m obviously biased, but I think my take is better.
I was unaware, but apparently blue lights make it difficult to see one’s veins, which is why this public restroom had blue lights to prevent anyone from shooting up inside, or so we were told. Who even knows. Wild. Nonetheless though, I definitely used these facilities and was ever so thankful I only had to pee because you could hear all the sounds of the plaza outside and they could hear you inside, so if I was having to take a poop, everyone would’ve known. I lucked out and so did everyone else!
Loved Burlington and just like every single other place we went, would love to return.
Even though we did so, so much driving on this day, we still had THE BEST time! Maine into Vermont was an extraordinary drive that forced us on many backroads and few interstates, which I really feel helped elevate our experience. I kept looking forward to seeing covered bridges, but alas, we didn’t stumble across a single one. Oh well, just another excuse to get back up there and see them!
As always, thank you all so much for viewing! I appreciate you greatly! PLEASE feel free to leave me a comment below as I LOVE reading and responding to them! I’ll return soon with Day Seven, so until then, I wish you all, all the best!
More haunts and happenings from our New England vacation:
Working hard everyday towards achieving my goal of becoming an international best-selling author. Wrote the book, just need the agent and publisher. Received the ultimate endorsement when Britney Spears wrote me saying she'd be one of the first in line to buy my book! #FreeBritney
Been reading Mr King for decades now and been reading some of them over and over even. Looks like a great house surprised you could get so close to it like that. Always knew he was a humble man so thats nice to see.
Been reading Mr King for decades now and been reading some of them over and over even. Looks like a great house surprised you could get so close to it like that. Always knew he was a humble man so thats nice to see.
Sadly, I haven’t read a one of his novels, but I do plan to! Taking that tour definitely gave me a newfound appreciation for him!
These are great pics Ben!
Thank you, thank you!
Looks like you all had a great time! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! Yes! It was the best!