Pics from St. Sauveur & Acadia Mountain

 Sally and I hiked St. Sauveur and the Acadia Mountain Trail while we were up in Maine last week.  As the title of this post suggests, these are our pictures.

The hike wasn't too bad save for the climb up Acadia Mountain itself. The mountain is not quite seven hundred feet high, but the way is extremely steep.  We also got turned around a bit at one of the trail junctions.  I blame myself, but we were trying to follow the signs instead of looking at our map, which was an obvious error in retrospect.

I should note, too, that we took our dog but left our kids at the campsite.  This would've been a little much for them.  For better or worse, this just isn't their thing.

Our route, via AllTrails.com. 
As you can see, it's steep towards Acadia's peak.

More pics after the jump. 

Sunrise at Cadillac Mountain

We went to Maine last week.  I don't think that's a secret.  While we were there, Sally and I trekked to the top of Cadillac Mountain to watch the sun rise.  Given that this was at 4:00 am on Wednesday, we decided to drive. 

We weren't the only ones.

These are my pics.  Enjoy!

Frenchman's Bay and the Porcupine Islands at first light

Blog in Review: Top 20 Posts of 2015

I enjoy this blog quite a bit, but it can be frustrating, too.  A certain tension exists between the subject matter that I personally enjoy and the stuff that I know will bring in readers.  This is nothing new.  I’ve known for years that the parts of my own work that I myself prefer are only rarely favorites of others.  By contrast, I’ve written things that I think are obvious or pointless and had literally hundreds of people tell me how amazing they are.  This is one of the reasons why I write a lot.  I never know what’s going to strike a chord with others.

Very occasionally, I’ll write something that I like that other people also really like, and those are the days—rare though they may be—that make me love writing.  In the meantime, I hope to balance the need to write what I enjoy with what I think other people want to read.  

This list seeks that same balance.  It chronicles a very good year of blogging.

Views from Pemetic Mountain

Our last hike of vacation was up Acadia's Pemetic Mountain to perhaps the most spectacular views we saw all week.  It was a fairly steep climb, especially in the tree line before we broke out onto the ridge trail, but we all made it, and everyone had a good time.

Pemetic Trail starts down by Jordan Pond.

Climbing Penobscot

We took our first hike yesterday, up the south face of Acadia's Penobscot Mountain. This was noteworthy because it had the hardest section we'd ever climbed as a family, a section of the Spring Trail that the guidebook noted required a series of "iron rungs and wooden handrails" built into the ascent. I pictured something like a ladder bolted into the rock face and wasn't sure how we were going to get the dog up that, but we decided to try it and carry her somehow if necessary.

We're Home

If there's an upside to being back at home, it's that we have TV in the house.  I watched part of the Giants pre-season game last night while flipping back and forth to try and catch Johnny Manziel's debut for the Browns.  Sadly, the Browns put Manziel in too late, so that by the time he was in, Sally and I were already watching Suits.

I keep wanting to tell myself that it's good to be back, but I miss my beautiful lake view in the morning and the call of the loons.  I slept so well up there, but last night I was restless from the drive and--as often happens--couldn't stop thinking about the million-and-five things that I need to get back to now that we're home.

Heck, even our dog seems to miss Maine, but she's re-adjusting better than Sally and I are.

Christmas Letter, 2013

Dear Friends,

Dixie

I hope this letter find you happy and healthy this Christmas season.  2013 has been an interesting and exciting year for our family, certainly full of its share of moments worth sharing.  For one thing, our dog Dixie passed on this year, which made me sad, especially since she was the last remaining member of my family from Tennessee.  But we also welcomed a new puppy into the family, Faith, and she’s brought a lot of joy and happiness into our lives.

Back to Reality

Our vacation is coming to an end, and it makes me sad.  We had eight days up here on the lake, living pretty much off he grid, and it was nice.  But now we've got to pack up and drive back--seven hours south and west to Coastal Connecticut. 

Don't get me wrong. Connecticut is not a bad place to live. In fact, after something like thirty-five moves that have taken me all over the country, our adoptive hometown of Stratford is easily one of my favorites. I don't know that it quite beats out Fallbrook, California, but I like it better than I liked either Washington, DC, or Tampa, Florida, and I was very happy in both places. Besides, the one thing that Stratford has that's much more accessible than it is in those other places is the beach. We live all of two miles from Short Beach in Stratford--so close that most of my favorite run routes go down along the water. Those other places have beaches, too, of course, but in every case you have to load up the car and drive at least half and hour or so. In Stratford, it's right there. 

But, y'know, Stratford, Washington, even Tampa, are all places where the hustle and bustle of everyday life is ever present. It's not like I can get away from it. I mean, I like working in Manhattan, but it's still the biggest, bustlingest city in the country.  Going back to reality means going back to the pace of real life. And I guess that's okay, but I know for a fact that I'll need these memories of the serenity of Green Lake to get me through some of the chaotic times ahead. 

As summers go, this certainly hasn't been bad. We've had one week of hot weather--granted, we could always have more--but mostly it's been quiet and relaxed all around.  Even triathlon season is coming to a close. I've got a race next weekend, and another one in early September, and than that's pretty much it for the season. 

*sigh*

We rented a second bike attachment and went out on the carriage roads as a family in Acadia yesterday.  It was a nice day--riding is easily my favorite thing that we do as a family--but even that has to change. Hannah is definitely right up at the weight limit for the attachment; pulling her yesterday was a serious challenge, even though I could feel her helping with her Trail-a-Bike's pedals. But what are you gonna do?  Any way you look at it, Acadia is a hilly and at least moderately challenging place to ride. Sure, I'm okay out there, but I ride every day. For a nine-year-old, the place is a significant obstacle. Fact is, we've got to get her out on the bike a lot more as part of our regular lives. 

Anyway, we went to Bar Harbor for dinner and souvenir shopping after our ride, and that was fun, too. Dinner was terrific--the best we've had in a long time. 

All in all, I have to say that it was a terrific way to close out the trip. 

Now, of course, we have to drive back, but I least I can do it with Sally and the girls. It's nice having them around. 

Hiking on Great Head

Hannah bounced back beautifully from her fall Tuesday, and we were able to have another great day yesterday. 

It started out kind of lazy at the cabin. I went for a long swim, up and around the peninsula on which we're staying and then out into the open water of the lake. I set my watch and planned to be gone for around twenty minutes, but I ended up pushing a little further, so that by the time I got back, I'd been gone a bit more than twenty-six. Call that a mile exactly with the occasional stop to stretch and get my bearings out on the lake. 

I got back, took a shower, and saw that Sally was making pancakes. That gave the girls and me time to finish the game of The Legend of Drizzt that we'd started on Monday. We started with Dungeon on Sunday, then played Legend of Drizzt Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and then planned to play the full version of Dungeons and Dragons after Legend of Drizzt was done using the latest version of the D&D Next Playtest Rules that came out last Saturday. 

I was a little annoyed when the new ruleset came out because I'd spent time putting characters and an adventure together for the trip using the old Playtest rules, but as it happens, the new rules were a blessing. Wizards of the Coast (WotC) stripped the new ruleset down to the bare bones, leaving a game that my 8-year-old and my 9-year-old could follow easily and completely. That was a pretty good improvement. Heck, we even got Sally involved, although I don't know how much she was a chalky playing and how much of what she was doing was more-or-less hunkering us. 

Anyway, it didn't take us long to finish up Drizzt once we got going again, and after that we had breakfast and headed out for what was supposed to be a short day-hike around the Thunder Hole and Acadia's Great Head.  

We wound up going quite a bit further than we'd planned. We were out maybe four hours total, and I bet we hiked (and climbed) at least five miles total. Needless to say, by the time we got back to the car, everyone was pretty smoked. Even the dog crashed out, and in fact, she's barely moved since we got back. Lazy puppy!

Today we're taking it a little easier. We're gonna hang around the cabin this morning and then head into Ellsworth this afternoon and hit Cadillac Mountain Sports, get dinner, and then watch The Great Lumberjack Show this evening at 7:00. 

Some Pics from Cadillac Mtn

Sally and the girls and I hiked up Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park yesterday. The mountain is, I believe, the highest peak on the Eastern Seaboard, although at 1500 ft, it's not in the league of some of the summits out west. 

We picked up the Northwest Ridge Trail off the northern part of Acadia's Loop Road--itself at a height of about 350 ft--and climbed about 1150 ft over the course of a little more than two miles.  I confess that I'd have preferred to do the climb on my road bike using the road that runs parallel to the trail, but alas, the girls just aren't ready for that yet. So we hiked up the trail, and they did great, even our puppy Faith. 

I took a couple of really cool panorama shots, too, but I don't think they're worth showing until I can drop them onto Photobucket and link them here. Because, bottom line, you need the full resolution for to really do those pictures justice.