Drenched

This is not how Maine summers should be. There should not be so many days in the 90s and there should definitely not be this sticky humidity all the time. That is for the mid-atlantic! But it seems more of this is most certainly in our future as climate changes shifts the warmer temps further and further north. 

Monday, I got out for a slow run on the powerlines. Legs felt a bit heavy and overall, I was definitely tired but otherwise, not bad. Overcast, heavy and humid. Stopped several times to snack on blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. (6.0 miles)

Wednesday, I hit the roads. It was misty and foggy so despite being out early enough, there was no sunrise to be seen. Once again, humid and I finished saturated. (8.0 miles)

At the end of the work day, we headed south to Ryan's parents for a few days. Of course, our visit coincided with some serious heat settling over the northeast, so my run on Thursday morning was seriously soggy. Whew. Nothing like an excessive heat warning! The air was so thick and warm - ugh. Had hoped to go further but six was more than enough, and totally sapped my energy. Lots of pretty August color along the roadside, but also so much poison ivy! (6.0 miles)

Joe Pye Weed and Purple Loosestrife

Ryan and Dana played 9 holes of golf in the morning - they rode due to the heat, but otherwise, we spent the rest of the day indoors, playing games and chatting. We did venture out after dinner for ice cream. By then, it at least seemed cooler, even if it was still in the high 80s, and the ice cream hit the spot!

I really wanted us to get out and do at least *something* outside during our visit, so we headed out early on Friday morning and drove over to Plum Island, part of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, to walk on the Hellcat Boardwalk Trail. We had been out to Plum Island years ago when Sam was younger, but the boardwalk is new and is a neat way to explore the refuge. The boardwalk loops through the scrub forest with several offshoots to different views along the way. It was definitely hot, but we took it nice and slow and in the shade, it wasn't so bad, and it was the perfect exploration for the morning, fairly short and sweet!

Plum Island is home to a large colony of purple martins, and there were hundreds of them flitting about above the marsh grasses in different areas. It was really cool! (1.5 miles walked)

The black specks are the purple martins

One of the offshoots into the marsh grasses

So cool!

😂😂

Another offshoot with a new view

Beach plums!

Ocean view

So many black chery/chokecherry trees along the boardwalk!

The final offshoot was off the boardwalk and out to the viewing tower in amongst the marsh - cool view!

Top of the tower view

I got up early on Saturday morning to get in a run before we headed home. Headed out around 6:30 and out on the roads to run through the marshes. I always enjoyed running out there when we are visiting, and the hazy sky made it look extra lovely this morning. It was a bit cooler, only 72 degrees, but the dew point was also 72 so it was still insanely humid and I was just dripping sweat. Ugh. Three little bunnies, one great blue heron and two goldfinch seen. (8.0 miles)

 

We headed home mid-morning, so it was a quick visit before Irene and Dana headed to the Cape to hang out with the grandsons for a few days, but it was great to see them and have a few days together!

Once we got home, the afternoon was spent getting things done around the house, doing the grocery shopping, etc before we finally sat on the couch to relax. Too hot to want to do anything else.

Mercifully, the weather shifted going into Sunday and I woke up to temps in the low 60s. Ahhh! Definitely still humid but heavenly compared to earlier in the week! Headed out around 6:45 and ran out through the Cathance to Head of Tides. So many mushrooms! There truly does seem to have been an amazing array of them this year.

Scarlet waxy caps

Spindle-shaped yellow coral

Clustered Coral

Looped back through the woods and to the house at 11 miles, where I picked up Ryan and we headed out onto the powerlines. It was nice to have company! We stopped for a bit of berry picking and found a new trail section of Gone Fishing, and I discovered around mile 18, that I was really quite tired 😂, but after a walking break and a caffeinated gel, I got moving again and we headed back to the house. I was definitely done that that point, but Ryan went back out for another loop to get in 15 - his longest run in a year! Hurray. Glad to have the legs hold up and feel decent. (22.0 miles)

After lunch and a bit of relaxing, we headed over to Mom and Dad's house for dinner and a walk around the block. (1.2 miles) Then on the way home, we stopped at DQ 🍦😃