Forty Augusts ago, we travelled north to Canada as a newly married couple, visiting Quebec and Toronto and coming back home by way of Niagara Falls. To celebrate the last forty years, we’ve headed north again.

But this time we’ve veered northeast through Maine instead, on our way to New Brunswick and beyond.

First stop, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay. . .

It was a beautiful day and the trolls were calling. If you’ve never been there, you may not know about the five (troll) art installations by Danish artist Thomas Dambo. We only saw three of the five, but they were impressive.

Before we found any of the trolls, though, we visited the butterfly house. It’s almost magical standing in the midst of countless butterflies flying overhead, all around, and even at your feet.

So many of the flowers were at their peak of color. Everywhere we turned, the landscape made me smile.

In addition to the troll sculptures, we found some stone creations and other interesting artwork.

We even found evidence of fairies at the end of the Back Woods Trail near the river.

It was a beautiful, relaxing afternoon. I highly recommend you put a stroll through the gardens on your to-do list this summer. And try to find those two trolls that eluded us.

After our visit, we headed to our son’s house in Winterport, just south of Bangor. We spent a rainy night parked in his driveway and the following rainy day visiting downtown Bar Harbor. It’s off to Acadia National park after that. A story for another day.