Maureen and I were so lucky to have my parents come out to see us this past week. It was sort of their anniversary/best son's birthday/Mother's Day celebration week. We were sad to see them off this morning but had a great time while they were here!
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| Lovely Chuck and Sue out for my birthday dinner at Silly's Diner. We hadn't been there before but it sounded like a place I might like. Turned out to be great. It was one of those eclectic diners with great traditional diner food but also lots of vegan/vegetarian things to. Great sweet potato fries! |
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| The other side of the table. I should not be in the foreground for pictures as it makes me look larger than life. |
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| Birthday cake from coldstone! Peanut Butter Playground I believe. My sister Emily is in the picture as well, on the other end of my phone call. |
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| While Maureen was still slaving away at her last week of grad school Mom , Pops, and I went to Grafton Notch State Park. It was about 2 hours northwest of Portland near the New Hampshire border. The first stop we made there was Screw Auger Falls. |
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| Hi! We like waterfalls! And each other apparently! |
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| Dad being contemplative. |
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| Peering into Moose Cave. Moose Cave is a deep ravine/cave that apparently Moose have been known to slip into. Bummer for the Moose. No trapped Moose this day. |
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| Mom through trees. |
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| We were near the edge of Mother Walker Falls, and insanity. |
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| Ma and Pa Green. |
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| Next we decided to do (what we thought would be) a nice little 2.5 mile hike through the park. This is near the beginning of the trail. It is actually a part of the Appalachian Trail that goes from Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in central Maine. We took the Table Rock Trail to see Table Rock... |
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| It turned out Table Rock Trail was suuuper steep. Almost 1000 feet of elevation over about half a mile. It really kicked our butts. Oh and also it kind of started to rain a little and get really windy! This was turning out to me more than a little walk through the woods... |
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| Resting for a bit. |
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| We kept going and made it to Table Rock. One of the peaks of Baldpate Mountain. It was worry about your hat and yourself blowing away windy up there! Which was too bad because I'm sure my dad would have loved to sit, look, and ponder for a bit. |
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| Trying to smile when it's windy! |
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| Cloudy but still a great view! |
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| Father, Son. |
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| Mother, Father. |
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| Mother, Son. |
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| Map of the trail. We did the loop on the right. We were definitely hiking noobs. It got colder, ranier, and windier, than we were ready for. Also it was still pretty early in the season because on the blue and white part of the trail above it was very wet and sometimes snowy. Whoops! Wet shoes when we got home. Also, had we taken the white and blue trails to Table Rock it would have been a nice easy rise through the woods. Instead we climbed up the steep rocky side that made us tired and nervous when we looked down! Had a blast though!!!! |
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| The next day Chas had a meeting in Boston and also wanted to swing by Walden Pond. He has read a lot of Throeau and gets a lot of inspiration from his writing. Here he is being excited to be there! |
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| This is a bit of a pilgrimage spot for a lot of people so to prevent erosion the trail is fenced in near the water. |
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| Moms and Pops. |
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| Sitting on a rock in beautiful nature is like his favorite thing. |
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| Walking along the Walden Pond Trail. |
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| Well put Hank. |
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| This marks the site of 10 x15 cabin he lived in while he was here. Cozy. |
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| Didn't have time to get the whole scoop but this house had somethinh to do with Louisa May Alcott and Little Women. Not sure, but we took this picture for Sadie and Emily. |
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| Finally! Maureen had all her papers and projects and homework and grad school crap done! Here she is by the ocean! |
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| Me and Chuck on a public dock. This was way down on one of Maine's fingers of land that are the coolest to drive down. |
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| Seagull in the parking lot at land's end. |
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| Mom and Dad and the lobster guy statue. |
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| We stumbled upon the coolest restaurant! Dolphin Marina and Restaurant. They had just opened up their new building the week before. It is on the southernmost tip of Harpswell Neck and has crazy amazing views. Also great food and also the BEST blueberry muffins I have ever ever ever had. |
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| This is what they mean by location, location, location. |
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| Windy again! |
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| Chas. |
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| Dock and ocean. |
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| Windy Self pic!!!!! |
Long story long it was great to have my parents out to celebrate and do some Mainey stuff with us. Maureen's friend Ashley is coming out next week! So look forward to seeing similar pictures with her swapped with my parents. Also there will be more of Maureen since she is done with her first year of grad school! Woo!
