On May 21, 2006, the people of Montenegro flocked to the polls to cast their ballots in a referendum for independence. It was a dramatic proposition for this small Balkan region, whose populace had spent much of the 20th century under the umbrella of Yugoslavia. But by the slimmest of margins—2,300 votes out of more than 400,000 cast—Montenegrins declared themselves an independent nation.
A few years ago, if someone had asked me what I knew about Uruguay, I wouldn’t have had a whole lot to say. I might have remembered that its national soccer team won the first World Cup back in 1930. I would have guessed (incorrectly, as it turns out) that it shares a border with Paraguay. And I probably would have ventured that it’s a country with a rich gaucho heritage—an accidental correct answer, since I was really thinking of neighboring Argentina.
A few years back, I had my first experience as a solo traveler. After deciding to make a career switch, I was in need of a new adventure—and a new place in which to find some inspiration. Enter Midcoast Maine, the rocky stretch of coastline between Brunswick (the home of Bowdoin College) and the quaint towns of Rockland, Camden, Belfast, and Bucksport.
In September 1604, the French explorer Samuel de Champlain landed off the rugged southern shore of what would one day become the state of Maine. Upon observing the bare, rocky slopes that defined the landscape of one extraordinary island, Champlain named the isle Île des Monts Déserts—the Island of Bare Mountains.
Back in 2005, Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn gave us a comedic gem in Wedding Crashers, a tale of two friends’ escapades as they conned their way through nuptial celebrations in and around Washington, D.C. Besides introducing us to Chazz Reinhold, the film offered a glimpse of Maryland’s Eastern Shore—a place where madras pants, nautical-themed wedding vows, and jerks named Sack Lodge were supposedly normal parts of life. Cue to the real Eastern Shore, a collection of beautiful towns, quiet peninsulas, and vast wildlife refuges on the eastern edge of the Chesapeake Bay.
The Long Weekender 