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Hi! My name is Peter Gailitis. I credit this new blog endeavor of mine to the spirit and enthusiam I get when I read the blogs of my daughter Amber and her boyfriend Tommie. They're great because they're thoughtful, insightful, hopeful, creative and funny. Let's see how this blog evolves.



I have to say I have/had some trepidation about putting thoughts and events about me on the web available for public view. I'm social by nature but I really like my privacy. So why would I want to put my thoughts and private experiences "out there?" I'm not 100 percent sure. I think it will be cathartic. I think it will be fun. My large family can check in on me now and then to see if I've gone crazy.



So Androscoggin Bloggin....how did you come up with that name Pete? Well first of all let's face it...it's poetic. The Androscoggin River is a long and windy river that begins it's life at the outlet of Lake Umbagog in Errol, New Hampshire in the Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge and then travelling through the western mountains of Maine meanders generally south and east before joining the Kennebec River at Merrymeeting Bay and finally finding its terminus into the Atlantic Ocean on the coast of Maine near Bath. Don't worry, I don't usually use big words like terminus. For those who like facts, the river is 178 miles long.



My wife Lauren and I love rivers and we especially love the Androscoggin which we've kayaked along a few times around Bethel, Maine. By the way Bethel is our all time favorite New England village. It's our favorite because it's beautiful. Nature smacks you square in the face with her elements. Lush green mountains and open fields in the summertime. Big puffy white clouds hanging in a sky so blue it almost hurts to look at it. Bald eagles and big moose. Good people and good pubs, and of course, the river.



The river is like life and it is life. It has many twists and turns. You can't always see what's up ahead of you...around the next bend...but you keep flowing along. Sometimes you meet a challenge, maybe white water rapids making the journey a little choppy or a dam where all you can do is try to find a way around it. The river goes up and the river goes down. Most of the time the river is just plain beautiful. Welcome to Androscoggin Bloggin.