About Maine...

I have an important announcement to make...


I am moving to coastal Maine.  


Okay, not really. I'd never survive the winter.  But I will definitely be returning at some point in the future.  We went to escape the heat and escape the heat we did! I don't think it got above 80 degrees the whole time we were there and the day it rained all day, the temperature remained a steady 61 the entire day.  And I had grown  so tired of the humid 95 degree heat that I didn't even mind the cool rainy day all that much.  


I really did not know a lot about Maine since I had never even been to New England at all but after flipping through a travel book I bought Charlie last Christmas, I knew I wanted to go.  


Here are just a few things I learned about coastal Maine...


1. It's all about the lobster or as they like to say in Maine, "lobstah"!  I still don't like the taste of it though.  I tried Charlie's and honestly, it just tasted fishy to me.  Just sayin'....

2.  They have quite a few vineyards there and the wine was pretty impressive. Who knew?  

3. The sun rises really, really early!  I woke up the first morning and would have sworn it was at least 7:00.  Nope. It was only 5:00.  I then woke up an hour and a half later, walked out on the porch, grabbed my little Canon powershot and snapped a couple of pics before going back to sleep.  I try my best to avoid mornings if at all possible but even I couldn't resist this....

4. The wildflowers, especially Queen Anne's Lace and  Goldenrod,
are abundant and breathtaking.  The Hydrandeas, Lilies and Blackeyed Susans seem to love it there too.  And I couldn't believe this big beautiful bush of Rosemary growing on the edge of the water as we were about to make our way onto the nearly mile long jetty leading out to the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse...

 

5. They are extremely fond of colorful Adirondack chairs there (me too!).  They were everywhere but this colorful row overlooks the vineyard at the Cellardoor Winery in Lincolnville...

6. If you are not enjoying the current weather, no need to fret because it will most likely change in a few minutes.  One minute you're warm and comfy in a t-shirt and flip flops and the next minute you're reaching for your jeans and rain jacket...

7. The beaches are rocky, not sandy...

8. The mountains meet the sea...

9. The towns are quaint and the people are friendly...

10.  I am a huge fan.  

Until we meet again, Maine...

Adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood...

We are not big planners around here.  Last Wednesday night we were sitting on the couch and I got the notion to maybe go somewhere for the holiday weekend.  So I looked at Charlie and said, "So do we want to try to go somewhere this weekend or what?"  And since usually all you have to do with him is say the word GO and he's in, I began my online search for a quiet little weekend vacation rental with a view in the mountains.  


BwaHaHaa!  Turns out I was not the only one who had the idea to head to the mountains for the Fourth of July weekend and all those planners had already reserved everything within a 50 mile radius of Asheville and Blowing Rock.  But I am not easily defeated.  I finally found an available house Thursday night and got a call from the rental company Friday morning to confirm and to make darn sure I had a four wheel drive because "you're gonna need it to get to this property" she said.  


Luckily, Charlie has a four wheel drive truck with a backseat so we were good.  


And she did not lie.  


This place was way up atop a winding mountain one lane gravel road and each time we made the trek back up to that house, my nerves kicked in and made me feel a little like I'd just eaten a greasy cheeseburger. 

But the view was worth it...

And no, we don't normally let Dracen drink wine but it was a holiday weekend.   


Kidding.  Just kidding!  He just likes to steal my seat.  

We had a quiet relaxing night on Saturday and were enjoying our sleeping in on Sunday when I awoke about 9 am to a noise outside our bedroom window.  And since we were on top of a mountain surrounded by the great big woods, my first thought was bear.  Then I thought maybe I was just imagining things so I closed my eyes back when I swore I heard voices.  


I peeked in on the boys to make sure they weren't up and into some crazy shenanigans outside but they were both still sound asleep.


So I peeked through our bedroom blinds and there was Billy Bob sharpening what looked like a big ole knife on the back of his old blue pickup truck in the middle of the driveway while Bobbie Sue walked around puffing on a Marlboro and when I glanced into the woods on top of the hill I saw what I thought was a shirtless man but as my eyes began to focus more clearly, I realized it was a very in shape and muscled up woman in a brown tank top.  


What.in.the.name.of.Pete?!?


I had all kinds of crazy thoughts start zipping around in my mind as I tried to make sense of this and most of them were based on Deliverance and serial killers.  


"There's somebody out here!" I shouted to Charlie.  He leapt outta bed and came over to the blinds with me and that's when we saw that what I thought was a blade was a chainsaw and Billy Bob and muscle man Marla proceeded to cut wood LOUDLY while Bobbie Sue supervised with her cell phone and Marlboro.  I just wanted to know one thing...how in the bajeebies did she have cell phone service up here?!  


"What should we do?!" I asked.  "Where's the number for the rental place?" Charlie wanted to know.  I got it for him and he got in touch with the person on call who happened to be the owner of the rental company and he had no inkling as to who these people were or why they were here and said that the owners of this house are a three hour time difference away so he would just come up there and talk to them.  


But I guess Charlie's manly man protectiveness kicked in because he started putting on his clothes and shoes and said he was going out to talk to them.  Ohhh No!  I thought, as I began to chew on my fingers...This could go bad...This could go very, very bad!    


The boys and I hunched up at the windows and as soon as he walked out on the porch I saw Bobbie Sue put her hand in the air and wave and smile with a WTH? look on her face.  Oh good, she's smiling and waving.  They come in peace...They come in peace.  


But I was still nervous and couldn't watch anymore so I walked away from the window until he came back in and informed us that "Mac" (the owner, I guess) had asked Billy Bob and his assistant, Manly Marla, to cut some firewood and put it under the porch and when he saw Charlie's truck with the orange toolbox on the back he assumed he was somebody there working.  He said Manly Marla seemed the most uncomfortable about the situation as she threw up her hand and said, "Aww man, I understand, you're on vacation." 


But Billy Bob apparently just had dollar signs in his eyes because he wanted to at least get one load done so he asked Charlie if he'd just let him do one load before they left.  He told him that was fine since we were all awake now anyway but they were gone within 10 minutes after he came back inside.  I suspect Manly Marla made that call. 


Yesterday before we came home we headed to Mount Mitchell State Park, the highest elevation this side of the Mississippi, and our GPS lady decided to take us down an unmarked gravel road through the hundred acre wood to get there.  And she didn't even know we had a four wheel drive.  


I have to admit that although it was a little nerve-wrenching at times, it was all kinds of exciting, especially when we had a wild turkey and her babies run across the road trail in front of us. I just kept saying, "Are you sure she's (the GPS lady voice...we have conversations with her regularly) taking us to the right place? What address did you put in there?"  


We finally made it to the top of Mount Mitchell... 6,684 feet up in the clouds...

  
Then we got real adventurous and decided to hit the hiking trail and although I thought I was going to keel over before we made it back up, it was breathtakingly beautiful and somewhat magical and I kept having thoughts of Pooh Bear, Piglet, Eeyore and Christopher Robin  dancing around in my mind because it felt exactly like we were in the same hundred acre wood....


I was having me a jolly good time with the camera...

 ...Right up until I saw this sign...

"Bear Sanctuary.  BEAR SANCTUARY?!!"   And then I forgot all about Pooh Bear and started thinking of real life bears who may or may not want to eat one of my wiener dogs for a snack and I was suddenly all about making our way back out of the hundred acre wood!  

WW...Objects in Mirror are Closer than they Appear

For more Wordless/Wordful Wednesday posts, visit Amanda at Parenting By Dummies, Angie at Seven Clown Circus, Alicia at Project Alicia, and Kristi at Live and Love...Out Loud.

Some Things I Learned On Spring Break

1. Driving along Skyline Drive is a lot like driving the Blue Ridge Parkway.

2. Residence Inn Marriott is a great pet-friendly place to stay.  We spent two nights at the Williamsburg, Virginia location and three nights at the Roanoke location.


3. Smith Mountain Lake near Roanoke is one of the prettiest lakes I've ever been out on.  

4. Seeing is believing, or in this case, I guess it's more like feeling is believing.  The boys didn't believe us when we told them how cold 62 degree water is.  They just had to find out for themselves.  It took about 2.3 seconds for them to get back in the boat.  And then they had the nerve to ask why we didn't tell them it was cold!  

5. U.S. History is way more interesting as an adult and touring historic Jamestown and Yorktown made me question why I didn't pay more attention to it in school.  

6. It doesn't matter what you do or where you go with boys...  Their most favorite things will always include souvenir knife shopping, competitions, beating things with sticks, and fighting.  

7. It doesn't matter what you do or where you go with dogs...Their most favorite things will always include wind in their ears, napping, , and sniffing new ground.

8. Beautiful sunsets will never cease to awe me.

9. Luray Caverns in the Shenandoah Valley is unbelievably amazing.  I took about 100 photos down there.  

10. Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway all the way from Roanoke, VA to Blowing Rock, NC is a long drive home but well worth it and beats the boring old interstate any day of the week.  

11.  As nice as it always is to get away for a few days, there is no place like home.