En Route to Boston

We left our hotel, again, in Auburn, Maine with the destination of Boston in mind.  We would make a lot of little stops that day along the coast, the first of which was Kennebunkport.  This, of course, was put on the map as the home of the Summer White House for George H.W. Bush.  It was more recently in the news (just days after we visited) due to a particular Zumba teacher sex scandal.  We were more interested in the summer home (duh).  Ben was most impressed by the secret service protection.  Sam and I were most amused by the Kennebunkport Romney/Ryan HQ which shared a building with a Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Shop.  Ironic much?  There's not much to do in this sleepy town, once you've driven by the Bush Compound, and so, we moved right along.

Next stop - York Beach, Maine. It was here that we would enjoy a lunch of Lobster Rolls in a seafood market where the locals talked politics and where we were treated to unsolicited homeschooling encouragement.  When you walk into a dining establishment in the middle of the day in October with four kids, people tend to notice you...even more than usual.  Maybe it was our lack of a Maine accent, or maybe it was obvious, given the fact that we were, in fact, there in the middle of the day in October, but one of the locals asked us if we were on some sort of Columbus Day holiday.  We told him we were on a homeschool field trip.  And he paused for a minute and said, "Oh!?  We love homeschoolers!"  It was completely unexpected and totally appreciated, especially after an unfounded funk I'd found myself in for the few days prior.

If you ever happen to be in York Beach looking for a lobster roll, we highly recommend the Shore Road Restaurant.  $8.99 lobster rolls that taste like pure butter?  Yes, please.  Sarah was most intrigued by the tanks of live lobsters inside.  Ben & Abby liked the gigantic acorns outside.  Kids...they're so weird.

Our other adventures in York Beach were a trip to The Goldenrod for some Kisses.  We got to watch saltwater taffy being made - the old-fashioned, but automated way. Here we are, holding our 1lb box of individually selected flavors.  Strawberry and blueberry were my favorites.  Sam liked peanut butter.

The beaches in Maine are not exactly like we're used to.  I mentioned in my last post that there were pine trees on the beach in Acadia National Park.  At York Beach, the entire coast was lined with rocks - no sand.  It was here we checked out the Cape Neddick Lighthouse.  It's an amazingly picturesque lighthouse.  As you stand on the shore looking across to the island that seems so close, you look down and see the waves crashing on the rocks and you realize it's much farther than it looks, especially by row boat, which is how the original lighthouse operators had to get over there.  Eventually, they constructed a cable with a hanging basket from shore to shore, similar to the sky trams you ride in at amusement parks, but it's not fit for human travel.  It's how they got provisions to and from the mainland.  I liked the story about how in a storm, the wife of the lighthouse operator sent her child over the crashing waves so he could go to school.  After that, the town prohibited operators from having school-aged children.  From the descriptions, the house on the island is very nice, but lacks indoor plumbing and did even through the last operator living there in the 1970's.  The light is now automated, which sparked significant controversy in this little coastal town.  It's funny the things people get worked up about.

That was our last stop in Maine.  We headed south on I-95 and stopped in Portsmouth, New Hampshire at a living history museum called Strawbery Banke.  It was, essentially, Colonial Williamsburg without the crowds and with even more hands-on fun and personal attention from the play-actors. 

We got to play various victorian games - like croquet (No, Abby!  Don't throw that ball!)

 
This "thingie where you use sticks to throw and catch a ring" (I think that's the official name)

And the game where you roll a ring along the ground with a stick (Abby was hilariously good at this, really).

I particularly loved this quote one the Victorian Games placard -

It so reminds me of my girls who lament when I mow over our dandelion-covered backyard.

In each of the buildings, there was either a tour guide or an actor/actress ready to tell you a story and answer your questions.  They were all knowledgeable and helpful, but we enjoyed the home of a Ukranian Jewish woman set in the 1950's the best.  She was kind enough to let the kids try on some of the clothes upstairs and let each of them take a try on "her daughter's" pogo stick out in the road. 

Yeah...I have no idea what these girls are doing here...

We shut the place down with some hula-hooping and a potty-break, and we loaded up the van for our final destination of the day...Boston, Massachusetts.  We arrived at our hotel near dinner time, but since it was a Friday evening, we were less than enthused about finding a sit-down restaurant.  Since it had been at least two weeks since any of us had eaten at Chick-Fil-A, we opted for the food court at the Burlington Mall.  Sweet tea tastes even better when you've been without it for that long.  (True story.)

We would spend the next three nights and two days in the historic city of Boston.  But more on that next time...

25 Hours from Home

The fifth day of our New England adventure included the longest amount of driving- from Auburn to Bar Harbor, Maine, or, as the locals say it, "Bah Hahbah."  To break up the 3 hour drive, we made a stop at Mount Battie in the picturesque town of Camden.

All I could see from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood;
I turned and looked the other way,
And saw three islands in a bay.
~From "Renascence" by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Mount Battie is one of two summits on the entire eastern seaboard where the mountains meet the sea, both of which are in Maine.  We made the ride to the top as exciting as possible, shouting "oohhs and ahhs" with every twist, turn, and climb.  It was no different than driving on rural backroads, but we were determined to turn our mountainous ascent into an adventure.  We reached the top in about 2 minutes (a very easy, almost laughable drive by comparison to what Mount Washington would have been).  But...!  Though it was overcast, visibility was perfect.  The views were absolutely breathtaking. We took the opportunity to take a rare all-inclusive family photo.

The top of the summit used to be home to a hotel, which ultimately met its demise in a fire, and was replaced with a monument to WWI soldiers.  We climbed the tower with the kids, up the windy stone steps with a single iron handrail on one side and nothing but the possibility of a fall to your death on the other.  When we reached the top, I thought, "This would make a great picture!"  So I left Sam at the top with all of the kids, made my way back down and snapped a few photos.  Then I realized how brave Sam was to handle all of that up there.  My fear of heights and I would have not have cooperated, I don't think, should the tables have been turned.

There wasn't a whole lot else to do atop Mount Battie, so we got back in the car and headed for Bah Hahbah, stopping only for lunch and gas, before entering Acadia National Park, the first national park east of the Mississippi and home to the tallest mountains on the U.S. Atlantic coast.  The park is enormous, but we had all day to take in the sights.  Despite the clouds in the sky and the threat of rain, it turned out to be an awesome day.  The first place we stopped was Cadillac Mountain, the tallest peak on Mount Desert Island, the other of the two places on the coast where the mountains meet the sea.  We stopped at one of the overlooks on the way up.

Sam was really happy to be there.

The kids were too.  If there are rocks, they will climb them.  And jump on them.

 

And jump off of them.  I mean, really, who cares if they're on the edge of a mountain?

The views from the top of Cadillac Mountain were, once again, amazing. 

To quote Ben:  "God does make things a lot better than man can."

(I just like this one because instead of jumping off the edge of the mountain, Abby is taking a little jog alongside of it.)

After we descended Cadillac Mountain, we hiked to the Overlook.  With the rocks and sea spray, it reminded me a lot of La Jolla, California...only on the Atlantic Ocean and minus the seals and sea lions. Equally gorgeous, however.

Just before we left for the evening, and right before it started to rain on us, we stopped at Sand Beach at the northernmost tip of the island.  Nestled between banks of rocks, it was the icing on the cake for the day.  The girls got to dig in sand (perhaps their most favorite activity ever).  Ben got to wrestle with giant driftwood.  And Sam got to tease Ben by writing this in the sand:

Even if it didn't last long...

 

And even though we're from Georgia, which might as well be the pine tree capital of the world, it felt so strange to be on a beach lined with evergreen trees.  

And because we wanted to see how cold the Atlantic is in Maine in the fall compared to the Gulf of Mexico in the summer, we stuck our hands in.  Verdict?  Pretty much freezing.

With that, our adventures in Acadia National Park were over.  So we took off our shoes, dumped out three tons of sand, and drove a rainy three hours back to Auburn for Boneless Wings night at BWW by our hotel.  Because, we all know how important food is to at least one member of this family. 

The next day would take us to Kennebunkport, York Beach, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire en route to a three night stay in Boston as we worked our way back down the coast and back toward home.  It wasn't even halfway over yet...

Heading North (Still!)

Turns out, real time blogging would have been better.  Now that I'm home, life seems to get in the way of sitting down and typing trip memories for posterity.  I may be delayed, but I won't be deterred.  I just need to be more diligent so I can get on to the other things I want to write about as well.  It's a unique problem that I haven't had in a while - more to write about than I have time to write.  So long writer's block!

On the fourth day of our trip, we woke up as early as possible after a full day in Vermont the day before, knowing our adventures in the White Mountain National Forest of New Hampshire would make for a long adventure, and we so wanted to make it to Mt. Washington on the way to our next hotel stop in Maine that evening.

We loaded up the car and the first thing we noticed was that the sky was a dreary shade of gray.  The clouds were low.  It was foggy, drizzly, and the wind was whipping.  As we drove from Lebanon, New Hampshire to the southernmost part of Franconia Notch we were feeling slightly discouraged by the weather and hoping things would clear up as the day progressed.  A quick stop at the park headquarters and a chat with a park ranger later, and we were advised to skip Mount Washington altogether.  The reasons being that the visability that day was terrible, and that it was significantly out of our way from where we were starting to where we were going (Auburn, Maine).

We left, shrugged, and decided to stick to the original plan, which was to drive up Franconia Notch, a road that traverses the White Mountains, similar to the Middlebury Gap in Vermont that we drove the day prior, only this was an interstate with exits to the natural attractions.  We visited as many as we could -

The Basin - a natural "pothole" created by rushing water carving a hole into solid granite.  Our sights were even more spectacular than usual thanks to the deluge of rain the night before.  The amount of water rushing through was incredible.

 

Don't let the Angry Birds shirts distract you from the beauty that surrounded us.  (wink, wink)

Boise Rock - a huge boulder with a pretty cool history - In a nutshell, Thomas Boise took shelter under it in a blizzard in the 1800s after getting stranded and realizing he would not make it to his destination before nightfall.  He had the foresight to slaughter his horse, wrap himself in the skin, and when a search party came to find him the next morning, the found the carcass frozen solid around him - but he was alive!  Pretty amazing stuff!

The Aerial Tramway to the top of Cannon Mountain, from which visibility was practically zero, and we could see almost nothing, but hey, it was still cool, even if only to see the stunted pine trees at the tops.  We did the little rim hike around the top and it smelled like Christmas.  Man, I love some evergreen scents.  While we were on the tram, I had a fun conversation with the operator about winters.  She said last year they'd had the least amount of snow ever, which was terrible for skiing - especially after coming off the best winter they'd ever had (aka Snowmageddon 2011).  What was interesting is that when I asked, "Aren't you expecting a bad winter this year?" (the almanac predicts a harsh winter) she replied, "No.  We're expecting a good one."  I guess it's all about perspective.  Only on a mountain where people ski would 4 feet of snow be considered "good."

And, my personal favorite, Flume Gorge...

(Whether you believe it's millions of years old...or not...The Flume was by far my favorite stop, perhaps, on the whole trip.)

In layman's terms, it's a stories-high crevice, carved out by massive amounts of water.  My pictures can't possibly do it justice, but I truly believe it was made even more spectacular because of the amount of water passing through due to rain on the day we visited.  

I also love this picture because it shows how uninhibited our eldest daughter is.  "Slippery when wet?  Who cares?  I got this.  See you slowpokes later!"

 

It really felt like something straight out of the movie, Jurassic Park.

God bless these little kids.  They did some serious hiking that day.  And I didn't hear a single complaint.

We searched and searched for a moose on the entire trip.  We never did find one.  Good thing we got this picture.

We left Flume Gorge after a picnic/snack lunch in our van in the drizzling rain.  Like I said, the weather was less than optimal.

Did that stop us from driving to Mount Washington?  No.  We took the scenic route from Franconia Notch across Pinkham Notch via New Hampshire Route 16, argued to be the most beautiful road in the northeast.  I think "they" may be right.  The colors were brilliant.  The oranges, yellows, and reds on the trees made them look like they were positively afire.  What we didn't know is that this little route would take us through the shopping hub of Conway, New Hampshire, with no less than 10,000 stop lights.  Give or take.  We got to Mount Washington four minutes after they closed...at 4:34pm.  We asked the gatekeeper for a favor.  He denied it.  If we'd have gotten there three days prior, the gates would have been open until 5pm.  Alas, we didn't.  So we couldn't.  There's a little more detail about that particular story in this post.

So, on to Maine we traveled.  We got over the disappointment relatively quickly.  And all things considered, I think it was pretty awesome that we skipped not one item on the list of all possible things to do on the itinerary up to Mount Washington.  Sam is a rockstar at trip planning.  (Have I mentioned that once or twenty times yet?) We arrived in Auburn, Maine after dark that evening, and to our delight our hotel sat in between a TGIFridays, Buffalo Wild Wings, and I-don't-even-remember-what-other restaurants.  It was so nice to be back in the middle of things.  Turns out, I'm a metropolitan girl through-and-through when it comes to conveniences and dining out.  We ate at Friday's that evening, enjoyed a dip in the pool, and rested up for another full day ahead.

Seeing as how we returned from this trip a month ago, I bet you weren't expecting this post on this day after Election Day.  You see, homeschooling (for me at least) is not conducive to blogging.  I'm choosing to view this as a good thing, because it affords me the luxury of time to sit on my thoughts before I spew them out.  Believe me.  This is a good thing.  I'm not without passion.  Don't worry.  That won't happen.

Next up, the beautiful state of Maine!

On the Way Up - Happy Birthday, Dear Abby!

We ended our second evening in Lebanon, New Hamphire just beyond the Vermont/New Hampshire border. We made it in time for the evening social hour (complimentary beef stew and salad) and had plenty of time for a dip in the pool. The next day, October 2nd, would be Abby's SIXTH birthday.

She'd been anticipating the trip for months, knowing full well we'd be in a hotel on her birthday, and all she cared about was having a swimming pool to get in, even if it was cold outside.  That was an easy request.

Bright and early the next day, we filled our bellies with typical Residence Inn breakfast fare.  Abby informed the breakfast attendant it was her birthday, so she was rewarded with a little Residence Inn satchel and crayons, which was totally not necessary, but an extra special touch.  It was all the excuse Abby needed to grin from ear to ear to start off her day.  We would spend the day doing a little bit of this and that throughout the Green Mountains of Vermont.

We kicked the day off with something that surely every new six year old girl wants to do.

We visited a granite quarry.

This was a nostalgic stop for me, because I came here with my parents and sister when I was 8 years old over 20 years ago, and now here I was with my own progeny.  Looking down into the giant hole in the earth where granite used to be.  As we waited for the tour guide to answer some questions, Abby lost interest and found other ways to occupy herself.

Like - writing her name in the pebbles with her shoe.

And taking pictures of Leah...

A few things we didn't get to do when I came as a youngster were bowl on the granite alley

 

 

And pick out our own pink, granite headstone...

One thing that didn't change is that we got dropped off at the end of the tour near a trailer full of granite chunks, free for the taking.  I watched as Ben, Abby, and Sarah each deliberated over size, color, and amount of shiny edge and found their perfect piece.

It's amazing, to me, that something so mundane and industrial as a granite quarry could be surrounded by such beauty - the leaves and the landscape were incredible.

From there we made our way towards Stowe, Vermont via Montpelier.  We gave Abby the [very short] list of options for lunch.  She chose Pizza Hut. Even it was a blast from the past with it's brick walls and red booths.  I thought I was back in Joppatowne, save for the Red Sox banners all over the walls. 

After lunch, we got to do something every six year old girl really does want to do.  We visited the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory.  While we were waiting in line for the tour to begin, Abby, once again, informed the tour guide that it was her birthday and she was rewarded with an "It's My Birthday" button and a free scoop of ice cream.  Not too shabby. 

Of course, by the time we ate the gigantic sample cup of ice cream, none of us were hungry for anymore.  JUST kidding.  We found room to squeeze some more in.

 

Oops...Sarah knocked over the giant jug of milk.  Hahaha.  (Seriously though, the samples were full scoops. Not sure if you can tell from the photo.)

 

I think you can spot the "It's My Birthday" button in this picture.

 

After we left Ben & Jerry's, we stopped by the Cabot Farms Annex on the way to the Cold Hollow Cider Mill.  Basically, we got free samples of delicious Vermont treats all day.  At the annex, we tasted every kind of cheese imaginable, among other things - syrups, popcorn, chip dips.  It was awesome.  At the Cider Mill, we indulged in some pumpkin butter, apple cider, and we actually purchased some apple cider donuts which were so fresh they were still warm.  Uh-mazing.

As if we hadn't done enough, we decided to take a ride through the Middlebury Gap, which is one of the few places a road traverses straight across the mountains in Vermont.  There are stops along the route where tourists can stop and hike, take photos, picnic, you name it.  Even if hadn't done any of those things, the ride alone was worth it.  It was curve after curve, rise after rise of amazing fall foliage.

The first place we stopped was called Texas Falls - a waterfall off the beaten path.  We saw four other people while we were there.  It's where we shot my personal favorite series of photos from the trip. 

 

I like to call this one, "Daddy, please don't leave me out here with them."

 

I can't decide which of these is my favorite. I consider them both Abby's birthday present to me.

After Texas Falls we stopped at the Robert Frost Interpretive Trail, just a stone's throw from his cabin and the school where he taught.  It was an easy 1-mile hike. 

 

This will be one of the images forever burned into memory from this trip.  Sarah hysterically chasing after Sam because she was afraid he was constantly leaving her.

 

We made it back to the hotel in time to catch some complimentary chicken sandwiches & Pepsi (always Pepsi in the northeast).  After that, you guessed it, Abby wanted to go swimming.

 

Daddy can really launch that little six-year-old stringbean.

 

Then it was up to the room for some [Little Debbie] cake (hey, you do what you gotta do in a hotel room)

Thanks to an ipad app, there was a candle that she could blow out and everything.  (She was a good sport, but I think she still wants a real birthday cake before her birthday month is over so she can blow out an actual candle.)

Then we all had to sleep fast because the next day included a full agenda in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. To be continued....

While I feel that I owe Abby a proper birthday post, I'll sum up in case I never get to it with a few words here.  At six years old, this little imp has become someone I never expected.  If you'd have asked me when she was two what I would imagine six-year-old Abby to be like, it would be something like "wild and crazy."  She has her moments, like all children, but she's far from exclusively wild and crazy.  Abby truly is a little ray of sunshine where ever she goes.  On our hikes, she always fell behind because she was picking flowers, or humming a tune.  She marches to her own drummer.  She  finds the silver lining in everything.  She can still climb a wall, hang from trees, and run like no other, but those are just a few more of the gifts that Abby has in her complete package.  I am blessed daily by her smile, her off the wall conversations, and her beautiful, unmatched imagination.  She is such a sweet spirit, always eagerly volunteering to help and serve others.  She doesn't do it because she wants recognition, but she eats up praise like no other child I've ever seen.  And she is so incredibly sensitive to harsh words, I am reminded to check my tone before I correct her.  She's such a joy, full of life.  And she helps me remember that there are indeed roses, and that I need to stop and smell them.  We love you, Abby Girl.  Thanks for being uniquely You.