Rangeley Lake, ME (USA)

[CFLSW Inspection Trip] My work thought I needed to make it to the airport extremely early (ouch). I parked in the long term garage at 0445 and was able to board my United Airlines flight on time.  We departed Hampton Roads by 0610. I had a layover at Dulles (Virginia) departed there at 0845.  As a result of all this early morning transportation, I ended up in Portland, ME by 1030. In hindsight, I feel quite lucky about this because I encountered dreadful weather, oversold flights and a huge number of business travelers...  Fortunately, Maine had beautiful skies - we could see the White Mountains during the arrival!  I had my rental car (from Enterprise) by 1050 and, after talking to a lady at the Information Desk at the Portland Jetport, decided to head north to see lakes and mountains.  I picked up some lunch on the way, drove through Lewiston and continued north on ME-4, ME-108 and ME-17. Saw lots of interesting farm scenery on the way. The roads followed the Androscoggin River part of the way and then the flat land gave way to rolling hills. Reached the peak of some 1000+ meter mountains. Best view of everything was at "Height of Land" (just south of Rangeley Lake). Spectacular visibility - very remote and quiet. Drove down to the lake afterwards and continued around the north side on ME-16. Between the town of Haines Landing and the NH border, saw two moose (each separated by a few miles) right next to the road (couldn't get camera out in time...). I doubled back and they seemed uninterested in me - still missed the photos (some blurry ones...). After crossing border, continued on NH-16 all the way to Gorham (on the so called "Moose Alley" - but didn't see any more). Decided to check out the Presidential Range (still great weather and could see them all the way down from the ME border). Got to Mount Washington about 30 minutes after the road closed - too bad. Still had some great views of the range. Drove back to Maine on US-2. Stopped near a stand of trees called the "Shelburne Birches." Nice man at visitor center explained that a World War I memorial for fallen local boys began with one tree per soldier. Now they cover a nearly five mile stretch of highway. Continued into Bethel and saw last remains of the World's largest Snowwoman (now just a pile of snow). Maine lobster at a restaurant in town (most of the town was closed). Uneventful drive back to the coast (2000). I'm staying in Brunswick at the Naval Air Station CBQ.  Looking forward to the week!