Calais or Bust

By Melanie Brooks

Yesterday I had a meeting in Calais with Rob Siegel, the lead designer behind the new Calais Border Crossing. Though I am a Mainer, I had never been to Calais until yesterday...and what an adventure it was!

For starters, it was raining. I hate driving in the rain.


Look how sad I am! Admittedly there isn't much on Route 9 between Brewer and Calais but I did drive by a big Wyman's Blueberry building. I really like blueberries.

Like many of my fellow 30-somethings, I have a hard time to see. So when I drive I wear glasses. But there is a problem. I also have very sensitive eyes so I almost always have to wear sunglasses, too. This poses a problem when I want to see clearly but it's bright out. Here is my invention...


It's not cute, but it gets the job done. I don't think my poor eyesight requires contacts and I refuse to get prescription sunglasses. Even when it rains I squint. And I didn't want to hit any wildlife on the trip...like these guys!


Ha! I fooled you! You thought that since I was driving through rural Maine to the edge of the country that these little guys were real! I hate to break it to ya but they're not. They were just lawn ornaments on the front lawn of a Calais home. I like how the buck looks like he's hiding. Moving on....

I was a little bit hungry when I reached the end of the earth...I mean Calais...so when I saw a sign for a pizzeria I decided to stop in. Unfortunately they were closed for surgery.


Funny, the pizzeria didn't look that sick so I hope it isn't anything serious.

I finally made my way to the border crossing. It's still under construction but I got a great tour and used my imagination. This is what it's going to look like when it's completed.


You can read all about it in the October issue of Bangor Metro! At 5:00 pm it was time for me to head back to Bangor. Calais had been good to me and I hated to say goodbye after such a short visit. Luckily the rain wasn't so bad heading home.


(In case you were wondering...)