The Boston Globe Loves ME

Maine gets a two-fer today, thanks to the Boston Globe:

The art of being small gives Belfast a new frame
A town working at diversifying

By David Lyon, Globe Correspondent | April 5, 2009

BELFAST - Some things, fortunately, never change. You can still get a dynamite cinnamon bun at Weaver's Bakery, where my best friend and I sometimes helped his father make doughnuts in the predawn chill before we went out on our paper routes. The sun still rises over the harbor, lighting up the dew on the town's lush lawns. And the rocking ocean still sets the hardware clanging on the boats at anchor.

Of course, when I was growing up here in the '60s, no one called Belfast one of America's "10 Coolest Small Towns" (as Budget Travel magazine did last year). Like many small Maine towns of that era, Belfast was a place where some kids were so eager to leave that they enlisted in the armed services at the height of the Vietnam War.

Now Belfast is a magnet, especially for people with a bit of imagination.

FMI

AND:

Pearls on the coast at down-to-earth rates

By Hilary Nangle, Globe Correspondent | April 5, 2009

Cheap sleeps on the coast of Maine? Amid the luxury hotels, fancy inns, and white-bread chains there are reasonably placed accommodations that include no-frills motels, bed-and-breakfasts, and intriguing options such as a former monastery and a lodge built by Civil War veterans.

These possibilities, listed from south to north, are convenient to coastal locations; a few are waterfront. Each has peak-season rooms for less than $100 per night. Travel spring or fall and reap even better rewards.

FMI

Jim's comment: I'm grateful for the free press our Great State of Maine receives from the rest of the country. I may have to come up with friendly nickname for our Massachusetts guests.