Welcome

[This is the letter we're leaving at hotels handing out at the dessert reception: I'm putting it up here so you don't have to carry it around if, unlike us, you have a smartphone. The maps referred to are online here.]

Dear Guests,

Welcome to Belfast!

We’re thrilled you made the trip up here, and can’t wait to celebrate with you this weekend!

Here’s an annotated version of the schedule and some maps to help you find your way around. We’re also continuing to post any updates on our blog at benandanneswedding.blogspot.com; check in if you want to know what’s new.

Love,

Anne and Ben
[click below the break for details]

Maps

Here's a map with some helpful locations in Belfast: I'm putting them in the frame here, and you can click on this link if you want to browse it a little more.



View Ben and Anne Wedding Locations in a larger map

Weather and packing

Something to keep in mind: Maine can be cold at night outdoors; and the reception is at night, outdoors. Lows in the 50s, currently.

Something else to keep in mind—pack a mitt for the softball game.

See you soon!

Travel Details

This is a post about New England highways, so Anne's leaving me in charge.

Maybe you're wondering how to get to Belfast. Keep one thing in mind: August is vacation season in Maine, and Maine is, as they say, vacationland. There will be traffic on Friday going up and Sunday coming down. To some degree, this is unavoidable, but some tips:

There are two basic ways to get to Belfast from the south: up the coast, or inland from Augusta.

• Google Maps says that the coastal route is only about 10 minutes than the inland route. It is lying. You want the other route coming up. Going down on Sunday, the coastal route can be very pretty, and takes you through a number of nice towns. Going up, the inland route will be faster, and will make Belfast seem more like the county seat it is. That route up looks like this:


View Larger Map

Highway signage in Maine will occasionally try to keep steer you to I-95 instead of staying on I-295 through Portland. It is also, quite probably, lying—midcoasters speculate that it does this to stick you with an extra toll, or to keep tourists from creating traffic in Portland. You're not a tourist, so don't worry about it.

ACTIVITIES UPDATE

Some new developments in the Saturday morning activity schedule!

What matters most, for those who don't eat, sleep, and talk a lot about stats involving baseball and thus might not have realized, is that we have quorum for the softball game. Ten people per team, preferably some combination of ever-competitive representatives from the MacDonald family and those who have married in, children whom the competitive MacDonalds will humor until they start getting on base too often, outsiders bemused by the whole scene, preferably with cameras, and then the handful of unknowns who seize the field, sunlight at their backs, and blow everyone away (Chris? Henry? or is this blowing your cover.).

Now. Because quorum for the softball game matters so much, we sort of stopped mentioning the other activities originally floated for Saturday morning. Hoping you all would forget. Hoping you'd think, wasn't there going to be...what was it...a parade? No, that doesn't make a lot of sense...oh, a craft fair? No, that's next week...oh well. Guess I'll go play softball!

But you didn't. Like elephants, you remembered: there was talk of a hike. So for those who would like to take a hike on Saturday morning, the fabulous hiking duo, Bethany and Adam, have volunteered to serve as point-people for meeting up on Saturday morning and driving over to the Bald Rock Mountain Trail in the Camden Hills State Park (about 15-20 mins away by car) for an easy hike to great views over the Penobscot Bay. Get in touch with me to get in touch with them!