vacation

trip log:

from canada to new york to vermont to new hampshire to maine...

an old cemetery in ellenburg, ny.

inviting passersby in...

behind the cemetery...

next... burlington, vermont...

we decided we would be happy to live here. it's not unlike madison... at least on the surface, from what we saw. there's a lake (a bit more famous than mendota or monona, it's lake champlain), there's church street, which is the state street equivalent, and there's a university...

church street...

coffee and cake break...

i tricked greg into believing we needed to make a "vermont purchase." he picked out this lovely rug for the new hall in the new condo... it satisfied the shopper bug that was bugging me...

next, towards montpelier. did you know it is only 35 miles away from burlington?

on the way we are treated with green hills and low clouds...

montpelier...

howard dean's old office building...

on the way out of vermont, we stopped at a bed and breakfast/"fruit farm" to pick some blueberries...

these cost us $3.70! one of us was the more selective blueberry picker... i hate to brag so i won't tell you which one of us picked the ones on the left...

we camped in crawford notch state park in new hampshire...

a view from our campsite...

unfortuately we did not explore much. the rain having followed us from canada to new hampshire, reached its peak once the tent was up and dinner was cooked. we ate our spaghetti and green beans in the car and watched as our firewood got soaked.

the next morning, with a reserved site awaiting us in maine, we packed up the wet tent and left crawford notch...

on our way out of new hampshire we found the greatest place for some coffee and breakfast...

we discovered that our waitress had turned 30 the day before (8/20) so we gave her an $8.20 birthday tip to stay on new hampshire's good side, should we return someday.

maine!

a stop in naples, maine for some lake views

and ice cream...

we are camping at camden hills state park outside of camden, maine for 3 days. finally in one spot long enough to take advantage of its offerings. day 1 was a bike ride halfway up a mountain (seriously... a mountain, east coast style), then waiting in spider city as greg finished running up to the top and back.

day two: 6 hour hike up, around, and down another mountain...

on the way up... a caterpillar...
a camoflauged amphibian...
and a little bit of fall in august...

any ideas?

roots shun the underground...


at the top of mount megunticook... a view of penobscot bay...

how happy are we to have made it to the top?

this happy...

on the way to a place called maiden cliffs, a foresty kind of forest...

a view from maiden cliffs...

and a quote from an article entitled, "megunticook traverse has scenery, sadness": Maiden Cliff is the site where 12-year-old Elenora French fell to her death on May 7, 1864, while trying to catch her windblown hat. No matter how many times I visit, I never fail to get an uneasy feeling here.

i didn't get that uneasy feeling, but greg did when i was standing near the peak of one of the cliffs. but i made it! phew!

another crazy amphibian!

one might think that we were the type of campers who'd return to our site after a strenuous hike and rehydrate some camp food on our stove and have a campy evening... but, what do we do instead (at least after, what is for us, a fairly long hike)?

go into town for some fancy food...

and some peachy-plummy dessert...

from the peaks of the dessert spot...

a yacht... four times larger than our apartment...

back at our site, we discover that at least someone was dining on our purchased food...

here's a closer look...

someone likes peanuts and rye crackers...

evidence of the culprit!
can you see those footprints?
we suspect it was a raccoon riding on a bear's back. the raccoon got down to put the backpack on the bear's back... when they heard us drive up they dropped the bag and ran... hence its position far from the picnic table.

hey! you've reached the end of the post!