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Winter's never bothered me unduly (at least, it didn't until I came to Syracuse where we get roughly 2,000 inches of snow, usually beginning in early October), so the only thing I can think of in terms of beating it is to dress warmly. Parka-type jacket, stocking cap, maybe throw on a scarf, boots, though I usually don't bother with those... The main (har!) problem with winter is that Maine's so far east it gets dark at around 4 pm, which can get depressing pretty fast. I generally take it as an excuse to drink hot chocolate and read a lot.
Um. I'm not sure if Bangor has a 'scene' per se, but I'll try and hit the high points.
If you get there in time (before August 26-28), check out the American Folk Festival. Free shows on 5 stages, crazy acts, tons of different food vendors. Skatalites are playing this year, which has me excited.
There's a mall, if you're so inclined. I tend to avoid the mall proper, but in the area there's also a Borders, a decent Goodwill store (there's another one downtown, but it's way smaller), and a fairly cheap record store called Bull Moose. Borders used to have frequent jazz shows in the cafe, although I don't know if they still do.
Downtown's got some good shops and restaurants, and during the summer at least there are cool things going on such as an outdoor film noir festival. There's a small bookshop called Bookmarc's with friendly owners, and the public library is excellent. There's also a comic shop nearby (Top Shelf Comics), although the owner is militantly opposed to browsing and always asks me if I'm planning to buy something 10 seconds after I pick it up. He's a nice guy other than that though. Across the street from that are a pair of used book stores. I'd recommend Lippincott, but I've picked up some good stuff at the other one as well. As for restaurants: there's a good thai/sushi place, and a pair of Franciscan monks have a bakery that's excellent. If Bahaar Pakistani ever opens up again (it's open sporadically at best and may have gone out of business by now, I don't know) absolutely check it out. There are a couple art galleries downtown as well, and the library puts on exhibitions. In terms of bars, they are there, but I have never personally experienced them, what with the whole age restriction thing. The same goes for the music scene- it exists, but I don't know much about it. Orono, incidentally, seems to have a fairly active music scene.
The Penobscot Theater Company, also located downtown, usually puts on good shows (The Laramie Project is running in November, which I wish I could be around for), and there are some other local theater groups as well. Ellsworth has good theater as well.
If activism's your thing, hit up PICA.
If you play tennis, there's an indoor club on the outskirts of Bangor. If you happen to play ultimate frisbee I can put you in touch with some people in Orono. There's a coed team as well as a summer league, and there's a fair number of pickup games in the area; I'm not sure what happens during the school year.
If you happen to want to see Stephen King's house, he lives on West Broadway. His fence has bats worked into it.
This post is running way too long, and that's all I can think of for now. If I've missed anything, just ask. |
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