It’s back!

Just when you think you know all there is to learn about Maine, along comes a Maine-born Marvel villain, famously stranded sailors and a 12-foot fiberglass statue of a fisherman holding a . . . wait, what is that he’s holding? No, really?

Really!

It’s the Sun Journal’s 7th annual Summer Road Trip Quiz!

Soak in the trivia from rocky coast to impressive inland, learn something new and then hit the road to explore!

1. Kingfield native Freelan Oscar Stanley and his wife, Flora, built the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, in 1909. Sixty years later, Stephen King stayed for one night and was reportedly inspired to write:

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1) “The Bloody Closet”

2) “The Shining”

3) “My Haunted Slippers”

2. In Netflix’s summer camp comedy “Wet Hot American Summer,” fictionally set near Waterville, the camp director turns into:

1) A talking can of mixed vegetables

2) A talking spatula

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3) A talking raccoon

3. Maine Guide trivia! At Oquossoc’s Outdoor Heritage Museum, near Rangeley, you’ll find:

1) A delicate beaded pouch gifted to Maine Guide Cornelia “Fly Rod” Crosby from sharpshooter Annie Oakley.

2) A portrait of Maine Guide Don Cameron painted by President Dwight D. Eisenhower while Eisenhower was in office.

3) The 100-year-old cabin of Maine Guide Leeman Wilcox, dismantled and reassembled indoors in its entirety. Yeah, that’s right, entirety.

4. True or false: Maine has an official state ballad.

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5. What is the 12-foot statue of the fisherman near the Eastport commercial pier holding?

1) A Pacific salmon. Ahem. Feet from the Atlantic ocean.

2) A black-and-white kitten named Boots, a popular wharf cat in the 1950s.

3) A love letter to his mistress. We know that because the weathered scroll clutched to his chest reads, “A love letter to my mistress.”

6. After the Nottingham Galley ran aground in 1710, miles offshore from York, what did the men eat to stay alive until they were rescued?

1) Mussels

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2) Unexpectedly, pineapples

3) The cook

7. At the 60th annual Potato Feast Days in Houlton next month, you’ll be hard pressed to find a baked potato in sight. That’s because:

1) Houlton’s entire harvest this year has been committed to a potato vodka processor in Michigan.

2) An 1886 town law explicitly bars the cooking of baked potatoes on Saturdays and Sundays.

3) Just like every year, the crop won’t be in yet.

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8. At Maine’s International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, you’ll find Bigfoot footprint casts, a Fiji mermaid and any number of photos, models and supportive evidence for dozens of yet-to-be-discovered beasts. Curiously, though, you’ll also find:

1) A cataloged collection of every shirt that museum founder and cryptozoologist Loren Coleman has ever worn on TV. It’s extensive; he’s been interviewed a lot.

2) The largest collection of scat replicas on display in the world. We’ll just leave that right there . . .

3) About a dozen rabbits that circulate among the exhibits — it was a lease requirement that they remain in the space. Watch your step.

9. Sure, you’ve seen Maine’s current state flag in its navy blue, official-seal glory. But what did Maine’s very first short-lived state flag, circa 1901, have on it?

1) A tree and star.

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2) An eagle that sort of looked like a dragon.

3) A fellow named Henry with his hand on the head of a bear also named Henry.

10. M.O.D.O.K., a villain in the Marvel universe, looks like a GIANT brain stuffed into a robot suit. He’s creepy as heck and . . . drumroll . . . he’s from Maine! According to his official bio, where was he born?

1) Bridgton

2) Badville

3) Bangor

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Bonus: What does M.O.D.O.K. stand for?

It’s not Moose Only Drive Oil Karts. We’ll wait while you give it a whirl.

ANSWERS

1. What was Stephen King reportedly inspired to write after a night at the Stanley Hotel?

2) “The Shining”! You knew that, right? But did you know the hotel was built by Mainers?! Wild.

Now go: To the Stanley Museum in Kingfield! It’s open Tuesday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the summer and celebrates twins’ Francis Edgar and Freelan Oscar Stanley’s life and inventions. (It has several early Stanley Steamer cars.) What will a visit inspire YOU to do?

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2. What does the “Wet Hot American Summer” camp director turn into?

1) A talking can of mixed vegetables. It doesn’t make sense but that doesn’t keep it from being any less delightful.

Now go: To Waterville! Visit the Colby College Museum of Art (admission’s free!), mark your calendars next year for the Maine International Film Festival or dine at The Last Unicorn Restaurant, which says it uses “the freshest and finest ingredients to prepare creative and intriguing cuisine.” Like . . . perhaps . . . unicorn? Only one way to find out.

3. Found at the Outdoor Heritage Museum?

Trick question! All three! Oakley gifted “Fly Rod” Crosby a Native American pouch, which is on loan from the Maine State Museum, according Assistant Museum Director Nick Bucci. Eisenhower indeed painted a portrait of the man who guided him during his Rangeley fishing trip, and the museum also has letters between the two.

And yes! An entire cabin.

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Now go: Bring your waders and take your time — you’re headed to the Outdoor Heritage Museum. The museum’s open seven days a week 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through August.

4. True or false the state has an official ballad?

So true! In June, Gov. Janet Mills signed “An Act to Establish ‘The Ballad of the 20th of Maine’ as the Official State Ballad.” The song is by the band The Ghost of Paul Revere and starts, “My name is Andrew Tozier, I’m a child of Litchfield, Maine. And I left my only family for the sea, the salt, and rain. And when Lincoln called the banners in 1861, well I joined the union army for the land that I am from.”

Now go: Litchfield, ho! Cruise through old Purgatory Village and take a selfie (may we suggest #VISITINGPURGATORY?), then take a stroll through Smithfield Plantation, 103 acres of walking trails and an outdoor amphitheater. MaineTrailFinder.com says you’ll find the entrance by slowly driving Libby Road.

5. What is the statue of the fisherman in Eastport holding?

1) A Pacific salmon, of all things! The statue was created by Jeff Poss for the Fox show “Murder in Small Town X” in 2001, according to Atlas Obscura. The show had contestants solving faux-murders “Clue”-style. New York firefighter Angel Juarbe Jr. won and tragically died days after the show’s finale in the Sept. 11 attacks. There’s now a plaque honoring him on the statue.

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Now go: It’s a lovely time of year to see Eastport. Take a pic with the fisherman any time and plan a trip around the Eastport Salmon Festival on Labor Day weekend or, arrgggh!, the Eastport Pirate Festival the weekend after!

6. What did the crew of the stranded Nottingham Galley eat to stay alive?

3) The cook! Allegedly. (That’s the story as told on The Ghostly Tours of York Beach; they did eat someone or someones.) The Travel Channel even filmed an episode of “Mysteries at the Monument” about the “lonely island outpost that witnessed unspeakable horrors.”

Now go: To York! Take in a ghost tour and see the Boon Island Lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse in New England, from shore. (That’s where the men were stranded, pre-lighthouse). After that, visit York’s Wild Kingdom or stroll the busy downtown. Really, you can do most anything there — just be nice to the cooks.

7. Why no baked potatoes at the 60th annual Potato Feast Days?

3) Like every year, the crop isn’t ready yet.

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“Oddly enough, I came on six years ago and I don’t know how Potato Feast Days got put in August, because there isn’t a potato to be had in this county in August,” said Jane Torres, executive director of the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce.

The fall harvest doesn’t start until late September. You may, though, she said, find new potatoes, some that are dug up early and still quite small, made into a popular regional dish with fresh peas, cream, butter, salt and pepper.

“People just devour that,” Torres said. “It’s the cream and the butter that puts it over the top.”

Now go: I mean, is there a question? Potato Feast Days runs Aug. 23-24 and features a lobster feast, quilt show, touch-a-truck and Doll Parade, an annual tradition itself for 80 to 90 years.

“All of the little kids come with their decorated wagons and their decorated doll carriages,” said Torres. “It’s probably down two blocks and back up the street and they just think they’re little rock stars. It’s really sweet.”

8. What unexpected curiosity will you find at the International Cryptozoology Museum?

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2) The largest collection of scat replicas on display in the world, according to Coleman. There are dozens of poos from around the globe, for people to practice identifying in case they come across some on a hike: Black bear, timber wolf, wild boar, skunk, cougar, people, mule deer. . . . Some things you just can’t make up.

Now go: To the International Cryptozoology Museum! Take in the poo! Take your Christmas card photo in front of the giant Bigfoot statue! There are two floors of beasty goodness, and when you’re done, enjoy the rest of Thompson’s Point with a concert, wine tasting or brewery visit.

9. What was on Maine’s first state flag?

1) A tree and star. The Maine Flag Company in Portland hand sews replicas of the first flag, which only flew between 1901 and 1909.

Now go: To Augusta, the state capital! Where the secretary of state is now at work designing a new flag to commemorate Maine’s bicentennial next year! Exciting stuff. Take the kids on a tour of Fort Western, active from 1754-1767 and “America’s oldest surviving wooden fort,” according to the city.

10. Where is Marvel villain M.O.D.O.K. from?

3) Bangor! For no obvious reason!

Bonus: Pat yourself on the back if you guessed Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing. Surely, he got teased a TON growing up.

Now go: Visit big ol’ Paul Bunyan in Bangor! Take in the American Folk Festival Aug. 23-25! Ask passersby if they know M.O.D.O.K. hails from here! Because they will not, and you will, and already this newfound trivia is paying off.


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