I've been having so much fun this summer that I haven't had time for blogging! Thus, these three posts all in a row. I apologize, but I also hope that you all have been having too much fun lately to read my blog.
Anyway, all my fun in Ann Arbor was only a warm-up for the "Maine" (haha) event: my trip to Waterville, Maine, to hang out with Colin and his family. I had never been to Maine before, and my impressions of the state came mostly from two childhood books,
One Morning in Maine and
Blueberries for Sal. What I remember from those books is a lot of fog, bears, and rocks. I had also heard that Maine has great lobster.
Well, Maine has so much more! It's a bit chilly for summer (a really hot day might get up to 82) but that just made me glad I wasn't there in the winter. In the week that I was there, I managed to cover the south, east, and west portions of the state, and I've been informed that nobody except moose live in the north, so I didn't miss much there.
Day 1: Colin and I had a loooong morning of traveling, starting out in Ann Arbor at 5:00am and driving to Detroit, hopping on a plane to Baltimore, then another plane to Boston, then waiting for a bus to Portland, Maine, and finally riding sleepily back to his house in Waterville. In the meantime, though, we spent the day in Portland with Colin's parents and the dog - who, much like Maizie, has become the favorite child and clearly rules the roost. We walked around the harbor, saw several lighthouses, and ate flatbread pizzas for dinner at a waterfront cafe. Everyone - including the dog - had ice cream for dessert. (Maizie doesn't know what she's missing...) Then Colin and I fell asleep in the car for the hourlong drive to Waterville.
But Day 1 wasn't over yet because the next morning, Colin and I were headed to Acadia National Park for a camping trip! Time to pack (again)!
 |
| First lobster ever! I ate it like a pro, and it was delicious. |
Days 2 and 3: When we first arrived in Acadia, Maine was (like in the books) very foggy. Not exactly ideal for sightseeing and hiking mountains, so Colin and I took a scenic drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain, the first place to see the sunrise in the U.S. and decided to spend the rest of the day exploring Bar Harbor.
 |
| Me atop Cadillac Mountain! But you'd never know it because of the fog. |
 |
| Believe me, it's Cadillac Mountain. |
The next day, Colin and I had been planning on hiking a mountain called the Beehive, but we woke up to rain on our tent. Sad... By the time we packed up our campsite, though, the rain had lightened up and we decided to try a less precarious-when-wet hike, the Bubbles. First, though, this is where we ate breakfast:
 |
| Breakfast at Thunder Hole, which despite the rainstorm, was not thundering. It was about as calm as a lake. |
 |
| Thunder Hole merely gurgled for us, but look at that blue sky! |
And here are the Bubbles!
 |
| North and South Bubble, overlooking Jordan Pond. |
The trail to the Bubbles was beautiful, starting out around crystal-clear Jordan Pond and then ascending through the forest with a little bit of rock-hopping to keep it interesting.
 |
| Unfortunately, Jordan Pond is the local water supply so they forbid swimming, wading, or any human contact. :( |
 |
| We made it to the top! That's the Atlantic Ocean in the distance. |
After the hike down, we finished the circuit around the pond and ended up at Jordan Pond House. The tea room there is known for its popovers, so despite being dirty and sweaty, we waited for a table to have afternoon tea. In the meantime, we and the other 300 people waiting cheered on a wedding on the Pond House lawn.
 |
| Popovers and tea at Jordan Pond House. |
After our trek up the Bubbles, we drove to another section of Acadia to see Sand Beach. (You can tell by its name that this is a notable thing, to have beaches of sand and not rock.) Look at this picture below. The other strange thing about beaches in Maine is that... no one is swimming! And I don't blame them because I stuck my toes in what must have been 35 degree water and promptly decided that was a bad idea. (Even Colin thought it was too cold.)
 |
| Lots of people at Sand Beach, few swimmers. |
Day 4: What Maine beaches are really good for is sailing. Luckily, Colin has some family friends who live on the coast and own a sailboat, so we packed picnic lunches for four and spent the day cruising around the harbor. We even saw dolphins swimming by the boat!
 |
| This sailboat is actually at Sand Beach in Acadia, but I thought the imagery was appropriate here. |
Days 5 and 6: After so much driving for the last several days, Colin and I were eager to hang out in Waterville and see the sights of his hometown. We kayaked up and down a stream near his home (the Messalonskee) and saw numerous frogs and turtles. We helped a Colby biologist survey frogs in a pond on his family's property. We grilled for dinner, hiked a muddy trail through his family's land, had tea at a local tea-and-pastry shop, and watched several movies. (Incidentally, Colin's dog also loves popcorn, maybe more than he does ice cream. I had no idea we should be feeding Maizie these things!) It was action-packed but at the same time restful, which was perfect to prepare for....
July 4th! Day 7: For the 4th of July, Colin, his parents, his grandparents, and I all went to the beach (another sandy one) at a state park. We packed picnic lunches and brought our beach chairs and towels for a lovely day of relaxing. It was even hot! (82ยบ) And sunny! (Though the fog did roll in pretty quickly.) Anyway, in our excitement, Colin and I both did a sloppy job of putting on sunscreen; luckily my olive complexion kept me from getting too rosy, but poor Colin got a free backrub with aloe every night for the next week...
 |
| Yay, beach! |
 |
| The weather turned pretty foggy, but that didn't keep people from enjoying the beach! |
 |
| Pre-sunburn. |
Colin pointed out that this sandy beach was really more of ultra-fine gravel, but that made it easy to brush off all that "sand." And it didn't get in the way of our frisbee playing, wading (me), swimming (Colin), or beach walking. And to top it all off, we drove home and grilled again with a homemade, homegrown strawberry-rhubarb pie for dessert!
 |
| Homegrown strawberry-rhubarb pie for dessert. Yum. |
After dinner, Colin and his parents and I (and the dog, of course) piled in the car to go watch fireworks. We found a nice spot up on a hill near Colby College where we caught the best of several local firework shows. And despite the vicious mosquitoes, we all had a great time.
Day 8: Last day in Maine! That's sad, but Colin and I still have some things on our to-do list. First thing that morning, we head for Tumbledown Mountain, which he assured me was an awesome hike. And it was. You hike up through the woods and then scramble vertically upwards for what feels like forever (easier for someone Colin's size rather than mine), but when you get to the top, there's a pond! And because it's standing water baked by the sun, it's even refreshing!
 |
| Beautiful scenery from the hike up Tumbledown. |
 |
| Yep, I'm hiking in a swimsuit because I know there's a pond at the top! |
 |
| We made it to the summit! (Perfect lunch spot.) |
 |
| The scenery looks prettier than we do at this point. |
 |
| Next stop: the pond! |
 |
| The pond can also be accessed by a much easier trail from the other side, so it's a popular place. |
The swim at the top was incredible. It felt so good to jump in after climbing a mountain, and Colin and I swam all the way to the little island in the middle. About the time we got there, though, we discovered that the bottom was
covered in weeds reaching up and grabbing at your legs, and we both freaked out, looked at each other, and decided we'd rather turn around and swim the whole way back without a break than climb through that mess. We later watched a preteen boy swim out and shriek and cry to his dad to save him at the same spot, but he didn't have it in him to swim back, so between whimpers he did manage to make it ashore. (Not sure how much convincing it took for him to leave the island, though.)
That night, despite both being tired from our hike, we challenged Colin's parents to a round of mini-golf. I had only played once in the last fifteen years or so, but - wait for it - I made two holes-in-one! And Colin and his mom both hit a clown in the nose to win free passes. It was a windfall of a night! (Not sure who ended up winning, though, because our scorekeeper Colin said the math was too hard...)
Day 9: Back to Ann Arbor. So anticlimatic, plus it's hot here.
All in all, a
wonderful vacation! Thanks to Colin, his parents, and the dog for being excellent hosts. And I certainly hope to be back again, though maybe not in the winter...
