Brian, Of those you want to see I would rank their likelihood in this order: Southern Black Racer, Mississippi Green Water Snake, Green Tree Frog, Mud Snake, Bird-Voiced Tree Frog. I've seen all but the Bird-Voiced Tree Frog there and Racers and Mississippi Green Water Snakes are reasonably likely finds on any given day. The swamps along the road are the best spots for Mud Snakes and Mississippi Green Water Snakes (for Mud Snakes especially the swamp near the South road block...the end opposite Winter's Pond). That entrance is also the best place for Green Tree Frogs. Racers I usually see on the bluffs.

Matt, I ran into a guy on Sunday morning who had seen 5 cottonmouths on the road and had seen many many cottonmouths on the bluffs that morning and who had lifted tin the day before and seen very little. Either someone else had a very similar weekend to yours or it was you. Out of curiousity was it you? Sounds like you had a great trip even with the lack of species diversity! The cottonmouths were definitely out Sunday morning. I didn't get to herp the bluffs, but even on the road I saw 9 in one there and back pass.

Hi Missymoo, Our beachhouse is in southern Maine, near Portsmouth , Oqunquit and Kennebunkport. Portsmouth is a fine place to have a bite for lunch and walk around a bit ... but no. 5 small town in the world? Sorry not even close. To me, there are several towns like this in NE ,, small towns on the water with cobblestone streets, a few ice cream shops and restaurants, galleries and boutiques. A harbor. Nothing particularly special about Portsmouth IMHO. I like their Flatbread Co. pizza and Anju noodle bar. It may already be too late for hotel reservations at places most in demand, I'd guess. Also brace yourself for traffic, esp. on weekends. Don't know if you are renting or buying a car, but we really like having a convertible up there ... it makes getting stuck in a bit of traffic along a scenic road or in a cute town relatively pleasant. I don't find any of the shopping compelling, but then I don't like modern so called "outlets" because it is so fake. There is now more sq footage of "outlet" retail space in the US then "normal" retail space. And a lot of what is sold in outlets is produced only for outlets. But I digress... We discovered the area where our beachhouse is when we drove back from Canada on vacation a few years ago. I am trying to recall our itinerary. We did stop in BarHarbor, lovely if crowded and wall to wall t-shirt shops. Maybe because it was toward the end of our trip and we had seen so much scenery already, but I admit I did not see why people adore Acadia. And bring insect repellant. We took a ferry from Rockland to the tiny quaint island of Vinalhaven (sp?) and stayed in a lighthouse we had to ourselves (great fun if a tad rustic) called Goose Rocks lighthouse. Portland is a pleasant town, and we liked taking a ferry to nearby (15 min) Peaks Island for the day, then riding bikes or renting a golf cart. Portland has super restaurants. Central Provisions is one of my favorites. Duckfat is fab too. There are many great places to eat (and I am allergic to shellfish) in Maine. I find Opentable and Chowhoud more reliable then TripAdvisor, which I feel overrates a lot of popular but not particularly good restaurants. Book tables ahead! One of my favorite spots is the walk along the Marginal Way in Oqunquit, a lovely meandering paved path. You can pick it up at tiny quaint Perkins Cove (where they might ask you to push the button to open the wooden bridge up for an incoming sailboat). From there it goes right along the coast, great scenery, and ends pretty much with a grand huge vista of sandy beach and then winds back into the cute downtown. Better to go in the morning or dusk when crowds are less. MC Perkins in Perkins cove is delicious. In Kennebunkport, another town I think is far cuter than Portsmouth, they have great Mexican food at Pedro's and a fun atmosphere. Also be sure to try Earth at Hidden Pond, very cool atmosphere and wonderful food!

It took me a while to find this, and I had to do some odd searches to finally find it! Anyway, I did want to respond... IdaClaire - yes, I am somewhat of a compulsive story-teller, and when I was in First Grade, I won first place in the UL story-telling contest. I had to look up David Sedaris, but he does sound inspirational. I've always wanted to write in the style of James Thurber, which I think is somewhat similar. Anyway, I have to thank for this comment because it has gotten me back on the short story collection I was working on. I had started to write my autobiography, not because I think my life is special, but several friends have asked me to do this, including Dolores Deluxe, who is an actress and also an author. I met her in San Francisco in 1974 when I was living in a theatrical commune where she was rehearsing a play that some of my roommates at the time were in. Our commune was in a storefront on Valencia street that had been a dance studio before, and so it had one cavernous room with 8' high mirrors and ballet bars. I recently saw Dolores again at one of her book signings, and then we had lunch near her bungalow in Venice on the beach. I have her autobiography and thought that I should try to write something similar, but that really didn't work for me, but when I read your post, I got the idea that all I need to do is get a collection of short anecdotes - something that would be much easier for me to do. I've decided that they do not need to be sequential, and I can try to make sense or order out of them after I've finished writing them. BTW, when I was at Rice, I took Larry McMurtry's creative writing class and got an A in it. I was told that some of my writings were Kafkaesque, which I did agree with, but those were especially the ones I wrote in high school and college. They tended to be a bit surreal. 3katz4me, you would have to fly your cats to Palm Springs, which is Cathedral City adjacent. I just had my pool resurfaced, and it has new equipment as well, and the heater works well, although I certainly don't need that in the summer. In September the water temperature was 85° without using the heater. I'm going there this week-end to do some more work on the house.