Maine 2026 Days 1 and 2: Brunswick

 

Androscoggin Swinging Bridge, Topsham, Maine

29 June 2026

Settle in, kids; it's time for the vacation slide show. And if you don't like spiders, don't read the second half.

We drove to Brunswick, Maine, on Memorial Day, May 25. I was burning up the last of my vacation days before my official retirement, because my employer wouldn't pay out more than 30 days and I had 35.

My birthday present to myself was a double 1Up bike rack. All the cool kids have them. I loaded Janice on the inside and Fozzie on the outside. I covered the seats and packs in plastic bags because there would be rain on the drive up to Brunswick, Maine. (After I took this picture, I moved the pedals so that the license plate would be more visible.)

Usually, I bring one bike, which, front wheel off, fits in the back of the Prius with the seats down, with luggage surrounding the bike and barely an inch to spare. 

So it was weird not having to worry about luggage space, and disconcerting to have one eye on the road and one on the bikes for the entire drive. Each wheel was locked to the rack, and I had a long cable snaking through the rack and frames. Every time we stopped, I checked for wobble, which there wasn't, and pushed the arms in a little bit more.

When we reached New England, the sky cleared. The plastic bags were halfway shredded; I left them on anyway. I didn't want anyone helping themselves to my saddle bag Muppets.

Brunswick is a pretty little place, half an hour north of Portland, with giant brick chimneys poking up in the center of town. The north-south main street is called Maine Street. Eye roll.

We stayed at an inn in the center of town. It was an old house with a wrap-around porch. Parking was in the back, hidden from the road. I asked if my bikes would be safe on the car. When the receptionist (who we had to hunt around for) said yes, for some reason I believed her.

We ate dinner outside, at a brew pub that served creative pizzas. There was an interesting cloud formation off to the south.

I wanted to see the Androscoggin River Swinging Bridge while there was still some daylight left. It looked far on a map, but it ended up being a short walk to the opposite edge of town. 

On our way, we met a fluffy orange kitty that eyed us from saftey under a car.

A sign at the entrance to the park warned against swimming. I know someone who grew up in Brunswick and might be the reason this sign exists.

The bridge is more bouncy than swingy. Anyone walking over it, no matter where they are, will set the thing vibrating.

It was dusk, and spiders were popping into their webs. I only had my phone and my Canon PowerShot with me. I told Jack we'd have to come back tomorrow so I could get SpiderCam pictures. I could see Tetragnathids and Larinioides sclopetarius, but without SpiderCam, it wasn't worth trying for photos.

There was a cormorant on a rock in the middle of the river.

In low light, the Canon doesn't focus well.

The bouncing bridge was no help with these ducks.

On our way back, we met another fluffy kitty who also kept his distance.

The walk home only took about fifteen minutes. A few houses down from the inn, there was an empty plant hanger near a flood light. And on the hanger was another Larinioides sclopetarius. I went back to the room to fetch SpiderCam while Jack went searching for a drink at the inn's bar. I checked on the bikes too, as I had been doing every time we went back to our room. Still there.

So was the spider.

I met up with Jack in the bar a few minutes before closing time, which was 9:00. I had enough time to down a glass of iced soda water.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the inn (after I peeked at the bikes; still there). Our server told us that Bowdoin's graduation was the weekend before we got here, and that the town had emptied out again. 

We walked across the street to the park, where there was a small farmers market happening. 

Wilbur's of Maine is one of my two favorite chocolatiers. Their flagship shop is in Freeport, but they have a few branches scattered about, one of which is in Brunswick. I loaded up on chocolate-covered blueberries, which I've only ever seen for sale in Maine. Plus other stuff. Lots of other stuff.

Then it was on to a coffee shop. We sat outside, and within minutes, a biker rolled in. We got chatting about road cycling in coastal Maine. He showed me an impressive map of routes in the area. From his equipment and attitude, he seemed to be the sort that would fit right in with the Hill Slugs.

This must be a very sensitive sign:

Next, we were off to visit all the bookstores in Brunswick. Considering that the main drag is all of a few blocks long, this was an easy task. Three of the four were open. 

The fourth was a barn on a side street that locals were recommending. Jack looked up their hours on Google and got back "open 24 hours." That made no sense. We walked over. A sign on the door said "book store." The door was locked. Jack called. There was a long silence. Jack said, "Hello?"

"Yeah."

"Are you open?"

"You mean Book Barn?"

"Yes. Are you open?"

There was a long pause, then, "No. Friday, Saturday, you're in luck."

So we found a sushi place for lunch and went up the hill to the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.

Forgive me if I don't remember what we saw in there. It's been a month. No naked angels. I'd have had something snarky to say about that. Oh, wait. It's coming back to me now. Some artist retrospective. Pen and ink. Geometric. I liked it. Damn it, Headwinds, just look it up. Josefina Auslender.

We walked through the deserted campus on our way back to the inn.

Jack had tea on the porch and I did my best to plow through several months of weekly Science journals that I only ever manage to catch up on during vacations. I read the news bits and the summaries. My favorite articles are the ones where scientists get busted for abusive behavior.

We ate dinner at a tiny Greek restaurant around the corner from the swinging bridge. We got to the bridge at dusk. I half expected to be kicked off by park rangers, but that didn't happen.

You can look at the reflection of the sunset on the river. I'll look at the spider in the foreground.

The moon was rising.

(It's funny posting this blog out of chronological order. My last post had Larinioides sclopetarius overload, so now I'm like, yeah, yeah, another one.)

Getting my season's first bridge spider (that's one of the common names for Larinioides sclopetarius) in all of its flash camera glory made me happy.

I found a Eustala too.

And a Tetragnatha:

Is that a missing web sector?

I found a Ziggy! (Zygiella atrica, probably.) It's not Maine if I don't find a Ziggy.

Another Tetragnathid:

This one, who knows? Nobody on iNaturalist has taken a a guess either. I'd've had to have suspended myself from the side of the swinging bridge to get a look at its back.

Every time someone walked across the bridge, I had to stop taking pictures until the bouncing went away. I sent Jack back to the entrance too. He has a heavy footfall. We left soon after the sun set.

Jack and I agreed that two nights in Brunswick is pretty much all one needs. The next morning, we had breakfast at the inn, then set out, unhurried, for Bar Harbor.