Visiting Bangor

You can probably tell from my lack of photos that my visit to Bangor was short and sweet. I was basically passing through on my way to Acadia National Park, but stopped for lunch and spent a little time walking around downtown. Bangor only has a population of around 30,000 people, although the surrounding metropolitan area is considerably larger. For one of Maine’s larger cities, downtown still had the quiet, small-town feeling that I encountered throughout much of the state.

Exploring Bangor

After lunch I walked around the city and came across several statues and memorials. The statue above is of Hannibal Hamlin, one of Maine’s most prominent politicians. Hamlin served as Abraham Lincoln’s first vice president from 1861 to 1865 and spent decades in state and national politics.

Nearby was this memorial dedicated to those who lost their lives serving the country. I didn’t spend enough time in Bangor to really explore its history, but these monuments gave me something interesting to see while wandering around the center of the city.

Spring in Maine

My favorite thing about Bangor was probably something completely unrelated to the city itself: spring had finally arrived. I was here during the first weekend of May and was surprised that many of the trees still didn’t have leaves. Some looked almost completely dead after the long Maine winter, while others were just beginning to bud.

The flowers were another story. They were already blooming, and with clear skies and comfortable temperatures it turned into a perfect spring day. Coming from warmer parts of the country, it was interesting seeing just how late the seasons change this far north.

That was about the extent of my visit. Bangor wasn’t really a destination for this trip as much as a stop along the way, and after exploring for a little while I continued toward the Maine coast and Acadia National Park. I’d need to spend considerably more time here before I could claim to have really seen Bangor.