Mall Fun

Since we went on the road, we haven't had a day yet where we went shopping all day. Today we drove up to Portsmouth to hang out at a mall. It is so interesting to me that even though malls can look very different, they mostly have the same generic feel to them that is just so, well, mall-ish for lack of a better word. I was shocked to see Christmas decorations already up at this mall. It isn't even Halloween yet! We had a great day and found some good buys for a few cold weather items that we don't normally own. We like the feel of New Hampshire. It is pretty close to Maine in many ways which we enjoyed also. One complaint though, paying tolls to drive on I-95. What is that about?

Bar Harbor Maine to South Hampton NH

Today we scooted out of Maine bright and early. Actually it was more like we fled, due to the hurricane threat. We woke up at 3 am and were ready to leave by 6 am. It was dark and raining hard when we left. We drove through rain all the way to New Hampshire, but it was a smooth drive otherwise.We stopped at an outlet mall on the way to see if I could find a particular jacket I have been searching for, but no such luck. We had some silly fun there though that I'm guessing we'll remember for years to come.

We are now at Tuxbury Pond resort. I almost feel as if I should say, "This post has been brought to you by Tuxbury Pond" because they have free wi-fi that works great. After almost a month of slower than dial up if any connection, I feel down right spoiled.

Jordan Pond Nature Trail in Acadia

It is still raining here. I miss sunshine and I miss warm weather, but out of the two sunshine is a more pressing need for me. I am used to the Sunshine state, so days on end without seeing the sun are not pleasant at all. We are heading out tomorrow and crossing our fingers that we leave the rain behind. The leaves on the trees have really popped in color just over the last few days. I am loving that.

No pictures due to the rain, but Nathan and Auburn took Ace back over to Acadia to do the Jordan Pond Nature Trail. They had a great time.

More Bar Harbor

During the time we have been here, the kids have taken advantage of the propane powered buses that are free to ride. They discovered they could even get groceries by doing this and one day Austin went and got milk for the family by riding it. Pretty cool. Because of this, we have spent less time just driving around than we normally do.The shop where Austin bought his ukulele and penny whistle. I have to stop for a minute and brag on him. This kid, without a single formal lesson, has learned to play drums, guitar, harmonica, and now is learning his two new instruments. He has tremendous perseverance in this area and just doesn't stop until he gets it. While he may not know all the ins and outs to do with these instruments, he has found a way to feed his love for music and I think that's so coolWe spent some time today without the buses so that we could snap some pictures while wandering by car and foot. This is one of the neatest places. The houses are so full of character and are huge. We talked a lot about different styles of homes based on different areas of our country and how fascinating that is to us.
The best part of the day was that it was date night, so we went back to the restaurant we enjoyed and had some adult only time. We are going to miss Maine!

Gorham Mountain Trail in Acadia

Today we visited Acadia again and hiked the Gorham Mountain Trail. This park is so incredible. We think we could stay here a few more weeks and still not feel as if we'd seen all of it.

Cadillac Mountain

Our traveling buddies are leaving first thing tomorrow morning, so we borrowed their kids for some last minute fun and headed over to Cadillac Mountain in Acadia. A geeky little fun fact: this is the first place the sunrise hits the United States. We plan to drive over at dawn to witness this event. Tonight, we watched the sunset there. It was really incredible.At some point, two year old Joshua noticed that there were boats below and became very excited about that fact. I pointed out the big sailboat and said how big it was. He looked and told me, "it's little". I asked how he knew it was little. He held up his fingers, squinted while he visually "measured" it and then while holding those fingers up for me to see them said, "It can fit in my pocket." LOL And this is why I find talking to littles to be a priceless experience.The kids were much more into this than I had thought they might be.These views really take your breath away.Afterwards we ate at a fabulous Mexican place, Miguel's. So far this was by far the most impressed we were with dining out here and if we ever return, I'd love to visit this place again. Great food, great prices and the staff was superb.
More pictures here and here

Hanging out in Bar Harbor

One of the things I love best about traveling with others is that you get so much time together that way because all aspects of your life are woven together. Although we are still working out some of the quirks of traveling with other people, overall it has been such a joyful thing to us. Not only do we enjoy their company because we just like them as people, it just makes the mundane so much more fun. It gives me a fellow friend to share things like laundry and cooking with and gives the kids someone different to spend time with. Some of the things we've had fun doing this week are playing basketball, kick the can, riding bikes, football, and dog training. There doesn't ever seem to be a lack of something to do because of there being so many of us to come up with ideas for fun.

As for our location, we have really enjoyed Maine tremendously. This is one of the main reasons I wanted to come to New England during the fall months:

Bar Harbor Maine

We haven't had an opportunity to see much of Bar Harbor yet, but what little bit we have has been very charming. We've always loved seashore towns and we think this one is as neat as any we've had the chance to visit so far.

We saw this on the way back to the campground. I don't know the context, so can't share why this gentleman was playing the bagpipes . I do know we loved it! It's not something you see every day to be sure.

Moosehead Lake

Today we drove over to Moosehead Lake. Moosehead Lake is the largest lake east of the Mississippi, contained within one state.


We had a few people tell us that we'd see a moose for sure if we went there. We were quite impressed by the lake.
We visited Lily's Bay where we saw a red fox.Ace showed us some dog tricks that he is getting so skilled at.
We ate lunch and had fun.Did we see any moose? Well, we stopped at a place where it appeared people must have spotted some and got out of our trucks. Off in the distance, we saw the outline of two big moose. They spotted us and went back in the woods. That was that.

More pictures here and here

Whale Watching Tour

As if we weren't already in love with Maine, today we were able to take a whale watching tour. The tour included a big boat:
The usual suspects:
And three incredible whales: