Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Mainly Maine

Whew!

After 3.5 weeks, we are home!

Home, where the cushions feel just right and where we know the location of each of our possessions. Living out of a bag and a car is GREAT, don't get me wrong, but it's nice to be home.

Adventure is deep in our bones and we got a WONDERFUL fix this summer. So, do you want to see some pictures?

We spent the first two days of the road trip at Catskills Park in New York. Our campsite was across the road from Colgate Lake, a great place to swim and relax.

The campsite was private and perfect (see below) and so we stayed two nights rather than one. We explored the towns, saw many creative Rip Van Winkle statues, and went on a hike to Inspiration Point.

Then we went on a quick trip into Boston. We both decided that we'll need to spend a whole weekend in Boston one of these days, but I enjoyed seeing Boston Commons, King's Chapel, and the Granary Cemetery.

Next we spent the night at Wompatuck State Park before heading into Maine. We stopped at the L.L. Bean Flagship store in Freeport, where they are celebrating their 100th year. It was neat because a Louisianan Band was playing in the front lawn AND they were giving our free ice cream!

On to Mount Desert Island!

A glimpse at the inside of our beautiful cabin! Yes, the TV was on... for a couple who has NO TV all year, we indulged in some news in the morning and then Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy after a long day.

We spent many a morning on Rockefeller land around Little Long Pond. It's a place that the Rockefeller family set aside as a place for people to bring their dogs and let them run off of the leash. It's basically a glorified dog park, with a gorgeous lake, 4+ miles of carriage trails, kind people, and blueberries were everywhere! Somehow we timed our visit perfectly and hit the beginning of blueberry season; it came two weeks early. This field was all blueberries.

Jim went running with Leif while I read or picked blueberries... rough life.

We hiked (slowly!) Gorham Mountain, Dorr Mountain, Gilmore Peak, and Sargeant Mountain. Fortunately the trails in Acadia are mostly 1-2 miles long, so they were doable!
A fellow from England told us about Rats and we ate his seafood for the next three days! YUM! He fetched the lobsters, cherry stones, steamers, and mussels each morning and then sold them out of his garage. Jim really enjoyed talking to him- amazing man with great stories!
On the one dreary day we took the mail boat to Great Cranberry Island and Isleford (aka Little Cranberry Island). It was an interesting day of exploring, dreaming, meeting with an elder of the village for an impromptu hour whose aim was to convince us to move there, dropping and finding the camera, and getting eaten by mosquitos. We were happy to be back on Mount Desert Island, but it was a neat day!
In the late afternoon of almost every day we went to Back Beach, which is where the locals go. Each time we were there we probably shared it with one other group, but most of the time we were all alone on our private beach! We found 11 sand dollars there, too. I had never found any before, so it was exciting!
Neither of us had ever had lobster before, so we came to the right place! Jim was partial to the steamers while I enjoyed lobster the most. I am so grateful to Jim for washing ALL of the dishes and making all of the food! It was a true vacation.
It was a wonderful week.

We'll be making it back there at some point!
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Neuro appointment and family doctor appointment update from today: MRI on Friday (!), my INR was a 2.2, and we'll have a follow-up with the neuro doctor on Monday. We'll see what comes! We appreciate thoughts and prayers!

Thank you to both of our families for WONDERFUL family visits! Pictures to come soon.

2 comments:

  1. Wow! That sure looks like a fun trip! If you want the measurements for the teacher bag I made, I would be happy to give them to you so you can make one, too.

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    1. Kelly, I'd love to attempt it! Thanks for bring willing to share :) It was a great trip; we highly recommend the location and the cabin!

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