Maine's golden road

the long version

Maine's Golden Road is a remarkable memoir of the annual vacation author John Gould took for thirty-two consecutive summers with his daughter's father-in-law, Bill Dornbusch. Affectionately named "the Grandfathers' retreats," these sojourns into the depths of the Maine woods have inspired Gould's finest and most emotionally resonant writing to date. With a naturalist's sensitivity to his environment, and an infectious sense of humor, Gould writes of beautiful hikes through dense forests, of fly fishing for salmon and trout in deserted creeks, of campside culinary triumphs, and of his and Bill's longstanding friendship and their rural vacation-inspired reflections on careers, family, and the modern world. The resulting book is a wonderful meditation on the natural beauty of the Maine woods as glimpsed through Gould's unique vision.