Summer Vacay in the North Maine Woods

 

What a week away we have had! We got to spend the first two nights with Grammy and Grampy at Smith Pond. We had such a great time relaxing, swimming, paddle boating, and tubing.  Everyone was definitely exhausted after long days of playing in the beautiful weather!

Part two of this trip was camping for 2 nights at Abol in Baxter State Park so that we could hike Katahdin.  This part of the trip was certainly full of adventure.  First of all, the only time it wasn't raining was while we were setting up, when we were hiking, and when we were tearing down.  Other than that it poured, which, I guess in the grand scheme it could have been worse... although the hard rain and thunder made sleeping in a tent less great. BUT, no one got wet, so there's that:)  

Besides the rain, on our first night there we got all ready for bed and packed everything except what we needed for sleeping and some books back in the vehicle.  Naturally, we locked the keys in it...along with all of the food, clothes for hiking the next day, etc. Thankfully a kind ranger showed us where we could get enough of a signal to call AAA... long story short, it was dark and raining... the AAA operator really didn't know where we were... by 11pm we gave up waiting for the poor tow guy that the rangers said was approaching the gate at 9pm... Gabe got up to call AAA again and see what happened at 5am... they sent out the same person again. We felt terrible for the poor man they kept sending out to help us. By 7 we figured there was no way we would get to hike the mountain that day, but when AAA showed up at 7:45 to unlock the doors we sprung into action and were on the trail by 8:30! As it turns out the tow truck driver kept getting sent to another campground not even in the park, thankfully this time when he couldn't find us he tried IN the park.  We thanked him profusely. All in all it didn't set us back too much and the kids handled the whole situation so well.  

Now to the hike and the actual reason we were there in the first place.  This was the first time hiking Katahdin for James, Ben, and Audrey.  We have been preparing all summer and the kids were as physically and mentally prepared as possible.  They did so well, we made it up and back in only 8.5 hours!  There were definitely times when they weren't impressed and the last mile across the plateau to the peak seems to stretch on forever, but they made it!  You can certainly tell from Ben's face that the peak wasn't as exciting as he had hoped... mostly because he was tired, but also the clouds had us pretty socked in, luckily we had glimpses here and there.  We only stayed for a few minutes at the peak because they were predicting a thunderstorm and we wanted to be sure to get off the plateau before that happened.  The storm never came to pass and we had beautiful views all of the way down the rock slide.  We were able to take this part of the trip much more slowly and everyone was a bit happier:)  All in all it was an amazing day that none of us will soon forget!

The next morning before packing up we took a "walk" through the woods to explore the waterfall from the campground.  There was minimal griping since it was flat the whole way;)  After our walk we packed up for our next destination which was Jo Mary Lake Campground.  There we met Nannie, Aunt Amy, Trey, and Lily for two more nights of camping.  The rain continued each night, but the days were beautiful.  We had another wonderful few days relaxing on the lake and reliving my childhood in such a beautiful spot. The best part was the gorgeous view of Katahdin across the lake.  It was so clear that we could see the rock slide we had climbed up just the day before.  The kids were pretty proud of themselves to say that they hiked that "whole mountain".  

While Gabe is Away...

Gabe was away at the Civiello Invitational last weekend so the kids and I got to work;)  We spent a morning picking raspberries then making pies.  We spent a day exploring Grafton Notch State Park (which we had never been to) by hiking the Eyebrow and exploring/swimming at Screwauger Falls. It was a bit cloudy at the top, but such a cool hike, we will definitely be back!

We loaded up Edna with a canoe and two kayaks and headed to the boat launch on the other side of Wilson Lake for a paddling adventure.  We saw so many loons, turtles, and other fish.  It was really great to be able to slow down and explore this side of the lake that we usually don't take the time to see.

Mid-coast Adventures

As this pandemic drags on we are trying hard to find a balance between being safe (keeping others and ourselves safe) and still enjoying life, just in a different way.  Thanks to the Samoset having a special deal for healthcare workers, we headed their way for a night.  It was actually really bizarre to pack to go away for a night as the last time we packed for anywhere it was the beginning of March!  

Thankfully, there weren't many people around and it was pretty easy to keep our distance and enjoy the outdoors.  These kids are all so great, no matter where we drag them they are always making up games and enjoying their time together.  We started the day at Birch Point State Park (while the dads golfed) where they spent the afternoon designing towns and having a boat building competition. They spent time at the pool, on the tennis court, played lots of Stratego, Magic, and chess with an enormous lawn chess set. While the grown-ups were making PB&Js for lunch they created a pandemic tag type game on an open part fo the lawn.  I don't remember the exact details, but it was very specific about infectivity, self protection methods, and other things most kids probably wouldn't bother with;)  They also tolerated an evening stroll out on the breakwater which is further than it looks which made the walk back in the dark a bit harrowing, but everyone made it!

The next day we had a bit of time to explore downtown Rockland and stumbled upon the Center for Maine Contemporary Art.  We had the place to ourselves and were able to wander around and explore different media of contemporary art as well as work on interpretation.  It was super neat and a great space, we will certainly be back!