Waterville

We went away for a few days to escape the March blahs. Destination: Waterville, Maine. Someone questioned – why Waterville? There are many trendier towns, along the coast, and in surrounding states. I thought Waterville could be fun to explore. For one thing, the Colby Art Museum is there. It has other things we don’t have near here – a fine movie theater, lots of ethnic restaurants, nice coffee shops. And we’ve been there before, but I had only the sketchiest memory of visiting it. So I wanted a refresh.

It was a fun time, notwithstanding the gloomy weather. I only took one photo outdoors and it shows the overcast sky and generally chilly aspect of the place. The photo looks like a golden pyramid at first glance, but it shows the Two Cent Bridge over the Kennebec River. From Wikipedia: “It is one of the oldest surviving wire-cable steel suspension bridges and also is considered to be the last known extant toll footbridge in the United States.” The bridge was originally intended to make it easier for workers to get from Waterville to the factory over the river in Winthrop. It’s been rebuilt and rehabilitated a few times. One of the first things we did was cross the bridge. It activated my fear of heights and I had to look straight ahead and focus on my breath to get across. Crossing back was a little easier, which led me to believe I could get used to it with practice.

The Colby Art Museum is fantastic for a small town museum in an out-of-the-way place. Here are a few of my favorite works, but there were so many to see.

We spent most of a day at the Colby Art Museum. It’s about 2.5 miles from downtown. We walked one way and took a free shuttle back, having been on our feet for hours.

The art museum was really the star of our trip, but as far as warming our hearts, I have to mention our favorite places to eat:

• The Wild Clover Café, a bakery/coffee shop that served breakfast and lunch. The decor satisfied our desire for spring to come, featuring over-the-top garlands of fake flowers that looked beautiful, not chintzy.
• The Grand Central Café, a very homey pizza place that served assemble-your-own pizza baked in a brick oven.

Now we want to go back to Waterville! We look forward to staying there again this fall when we go to the Common Ground Fair. It’s only 30 minutes from there to the fair, although it takes us 2 hours to drive to Waterville. I thought it was worth it.