Kind of weird in a way, as there were no big plans but it was nice to just have a mellow week at home with no real expectations or schedule to follow and to just try to do a few fun extra things with Sam and relax. One of things I wanted to make sure we did was do some sort of non-screen project each day as well as get out of the house every day as long as it wasn't nasty out, and do a bit of exploring. And since the Cathance trails are closed and we want to avoid trails with a lot of people, this time has forced me to do a bit of 'out of the box' thinking and I've really been enjoying our explorations in different places! Also, we are incredibly lucky to have so many small land trusts and local preserves within a 20-30 minute radius of our house!
Monday: Since I didn't need to be anywhere, I thought I'd make at least a few days of running this week explorations away from home. Nothing too crazy and nothing too far away of course, but still. So Monday, I headed over to the Chase Reserve and ran the trails between Flying Point Road and Pleasant Hill in the morning. Trails were pretty mucky, making it even slower going than it has typically been on these technical, rugged trails, but the woods were pretty and I was (mostly) protected from the whipping wind. Plus, only saw one other person and just enjoyed meandering along. Saw a pair of phoebes and a mallard at the boggy pond off Jack's Trail, heard a Hermit Thrush singing out in the woods, and saw about a half dozen Common Eiders out in Maquoit Bay when I went down to the viewpoint off the eastern Calderwood Trail. (6.0 miles)
The rest of the day was a mix of helping Sam finish up her ocean puzzle, reading, playing a family game of Sorry, relaxing and taking an afternoon family run to Dairy Queen! 😋🍦 We've been trying to convince Sam to run with us, and apparently all we need to do is make ice cream the end stop of the run to make it happen 😂😂 We ran the 1.0 mile (exactly) to DQ together - Sam did great! - got our ice cream and then walked back home. It might have been a slightly chilly and windy day for ice cream and all of our hands were freezing by the time we got home, but the sun was warm at least! Plus I got to try out my new road shoes, which although very gaudy looking are pretty comfy! (1.0 mile run + 1.0 mile walked)
Tuesday: No running this morning but we did at least get out of the house before the rain started mid-afternoon. I made a quick trip up the road to Fairwinds Farm for some veggies early in the morning, and then Sam and I got out a bit later to work on her science challenge for the week, which was to pick a patch of ground and observe and write down what you've found in it. We are going to test out a few different spots over this week, but the first one was in the front yard, where we found one violet blooming, a lot of clover, some grass and no insects or other living creatures.
Then it was onto the rainy afternoon indoor project - pretzel making! I found a recipe for soft pretzels similar to Aunt Annie's and we decided to try it out. I must say, they were pretty delish! 😋And unlike a few months ago when we made pretzels from an Aunt Annie's pretzel kit, these ended up looking a bit more like proper pretzels too 😆 A successful, yummy afternoon baking experiment!
Wednesday: I left the quiet house around 6:45 and headed over to Wolfe's Neck, parking down by the tidal river just beyond the campground. Temperatures were hovering right at freezing and when I got out of the car, I noticed that snow was falling. Whaaaatt?!? I headed out through the campground, connecting the two bays with the short trail in between and then went down the road to the far end of the Farm Loop Trail, which meanders through the woods behinds Wolfe's Neck Farm. The snow was falling harder now, and the bog bridges and ground were rather slick and semi-frozen. The trail is rugged and rooty with lots of twists and short ups and downs and slow going, but there are some nice viewpoints out into the far reaches of the tidal river along the way.
Snow falling, and accumulating on the edge of the bog bridge down at a marshy vista...
...and then the skies cleared a little further up the trail.
Once I got up to the barn at the farm, I took the road, stopping to take in the glorious vista back at the bridge, and hopped on the park trails further up.
Meandered through the woods and along the shoreline, stopping to watch the osprey fly from the island nest, and also happy to see the second pair in their nest off trail further into the park. A second snow squall came through just as I had stopped to snap a photo of some fiddleheads beginning to unfurl. Lots of false lily of the valley and trout lily leaves coming up through the leaf litter too, plus some flowering trailing arbutus to be seen as well. All told, a lovely if chilly morning meander out through the woods and along the ocean! (8.0 miles)
Then it was home for some slime creations! Sam has been trying valiantly to get the shade of peach just right and I think she finally succeeded today. Plus she made a few really big slime bubbles!!
After lunch, we went over to the middle school to pick up lunches for the week and then Sam had her Wednesday afternoon class meeting. Once all of that was done, she and I headed back over to Harpswell for another trail exploration. This time to the Long Reach Preserve, which sits across the water from the Cliff Trail. Another new to us preserve with some really neat woods, a bog we didn't completely explore (just means we'll have to come back!) and some nice trail winding through the mossy, pine needley, trailing arbutus covered woods up above the turquoise waters. It was chilly and windy, but definitely worth the trip and fun to walk and talk in the woods and explore a new place with the kiddo 💗(1.8 miles walked)
Thursday: Headed out at 7:00 am for a road run around town. Wore my buff around my neck in case I came across anyone on the bridges in particular where there wouldn't be room to give space, but it was quiet out. Perhaps because it was also only 30 degrees?! Brrr. Still, nice and sunny, if a bit breezy (the ever-present theme for the weather this April, apparently...), and I warmed up quickly. Attempted to keep the pace uptempo, just to ensure that I'm not shuffling along on all my runs 😂, and enjoyed the cushiony comfort of the Pegasus 36. I think that they will be a fine road shoe. (7.2 miles)
Later in the morning, we got to work on Sam's chosen project for the day - jewelry, specifically putting together some of the charms that she had gotten for Christmas and seeing what was in one of the DIY kits she had gotten for her birthday. These things are always a bit more time consuming than you would except for DIY but we had fun with it!
Then after Ryan got in his run and we all had lunch, the three of us headed out to explore some of the Freeport Conservation Trust trails. We parked at the little lot off Ringrose Road and meandered through the forest on the Brimstone Hill and Forest Ridge trails. The woods out here are fairly quiet without a lot of undergrowth but there is a lot of moss, some neat rock formations, rock walls and big trees to marvel at, and I just think it is a nice stretch of woods. Always good to get out exploring together! (2.2 miles walked)
Friday: Spent the early morning hours getting the grocery shopping and cleaning done and then Sam and I spent a bit of time before lunch doing some art with her neat woodless colored pencils, which was fun.
Then, mid-afternoon the three of us headed down to Harpswell to walk on the Devils' Back Trail. We had hiked the west side of the Devil's Back trail back in 2016, but had never gone back to explore the east side, which, from a bit of internet research, appears to have opened right around the time we first explored the west side, but with a much younger kiddo who likely was just not up for additional mileage!
The small lot was fairly full when we arrived but there was space, so we pulled in and decided to hike anyway. Coming up from the east side were two ladies who told us the seals were out! Yay! This was one of the reasons I thought we should check out this east side loop. Seal Rock! And with seals today. How exciting!
We took the high route down to the water. A very thin ribbon of trail on a very thin ribbon of land, wandering through the hemlock and cedar forest with turquoise waters down below. Once we rounded the bend and were on the trail along the edge of the water, we could see Seal Rock from afar out in the middle of the cove. At first the seals sort of just looked like rocks, but as we drew parallel to the rock, we could see them moving around and there were several out in the water too, jumping and bobbing about in the waves. So fun!
Seals!
Lone Common Eider floating along
One little patch of trailing arbutus blooming in a protected spot on the shoreline
Although the east side was only a mile loop, it was really fun to be walking along the side of the cliff and down along the shore, with interesting changes in terrain and ecology. It was pretty nice afternoon and with only a mile down, we decided to walk the west side loop as well. We stuck to the outer loop. Much less windy on this side, and definitely more hardwoods, plus some old apple trees and stone walls away from the water.
All in all, a very pleasant family meander! (2.5 miles walked)
We finished up the day with takeout from Portland Pie and then Ryan and I watched the first Indiana Jones movie while Sam sequestered herself in her room 😂😃
Saturday: Although I understand the reasoning, not being able to access the trails along the river out in the Cathance honestly just makes running from home a lot less fun and certainly limits the 'run from home' trail options. Yes, there is still dirt to be had, it just isn't quite as beautiful! I am really hopeful they will reopen the trails soon for everyone to enjoy. In any event, set out this morning at 7:00 am and ran the new bike path to access the short Highland Trail loop before crossing the connector to run the cart paths. Lots of skunk cabbage coming up down along the stream's edge and in the wet spots along the Highland Trail!
Along Highland Green Road, the daffodils are blooming and the forsythia is beginning to show color as well
Ran the cart paths and along the Heath. Always worth stopping to take in the view!
Common horsetail coming up in a few spots up from the water's edge
Poweline view
After the cart paths, I headed out on the powerlines to run the dump loop. Added on the one section of the Gone Fishing mountain bike trails that I like the best before heading back. Should have added another section as I realized I was going to short once I got back to the hill before the Rt. 24 crossing. Ah well. Just did a little extra meandering up around Mt. A. to round things out.
It was a nice morning to be out and definitely warmed up in the time I was out running. And with no wind, I was most definitely also overdressed! Feet were a bit tight - I really want to be able to get a massage with Lauren again, my body is missing that! - but otherwise felt good, and enjoyed some good laugh out loud laughter while listening to the most recent Work, Play, Love podcast and the Off the Couch podcast with the Jureks. Saw more people on this run than I have in a while, but was still able to keep my distance. (15.0 miles)
Later in the afternoon, the three of us set off for another trail exploration. After getting slightly confused as to where to start, we wandered down the hill at Mast Landing School and did the Quarry Woods loop from there. A fairly short loop, with a lot of roots, a fair number of salamander/frog egg masses in the wet spots, a neat quarry, one small garter snake, and some quiet woods. (1.5 miles walked)
Oh, and we made an extra stop en route to support our local brewery and pick up some Moderation beer. Cheers! 🍻 And Gigi approves of her new box. 😻😹
Sunday: Nice morning for a mellow road meander around town. Just ran along, listening to podcasts. But how can someone not know what cribbage is?! It is just a northern thing? (see I'll Have Another podcast with Courtney Dauwalter, Maggie Guterl and Sally McRae) (10.0 miles)
We ended up having a really lazy day with no walk and not much else other than a family game of cribbage, inspired by the podcast! Always fun.
And just like that, vacation week is done and it's back to the grind!
