Vacation Week

Monday was a day off for me, so I had a relaxing morning reading and sitting with the cats on the couch before finally heading out to run around 9:30. It was misty, drizzly and damp out, with some nice sights of spring along the way - blueberry buds starting to show, pussy willows tinged with raindrops and a lovely patch of pinkish trailing arbutus seen. (8.0 miles)

Then it was home to watch the Boston Marathon, get a bit of work done and go to the dentist. So much excitement 😂 Meanwhile, further south, the kids were exploring Gettysburg, Arlington Cemetary and touring the Pentagon and Marine Corps memorials. 

Tuesday was a long work day, and Wednesday was looking to be the same. Wanted to get in a bit of movement before the day got away from me, so headed out a little after 6:00 am onto the powerlines, but no need to run as I was taking Thursday off from work and would get in a run then. Damp and overcast and no color in the sky - darn. Birds chirping and startled up half a dozen deer, their white tails flashing as they bounded off into the brush. (2.0 miles)

Meanwhile, further south, Sam and crew were touring the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial and the Holocaust Museum before heading to a dinner theatre to see Grease on Tuesday evening, and then touring the WWII and MLK memorials and Mt. Vernon on Wednesday. 

Lincoln Memorial

Holocaust Museum

💔 Grateful the kids got to this museum. A powerful look back.

All dressed up!

WWII Memorial

Inside George Washington's house

Thursday, the kids headed into NYC to stand in the audience at the Today Show, walk around Central Park, have lunch at the Hardrock Cafe and be tourists for a bit before the long drive back to Maine. What a busy, tiring, fun, amazing experience for them all! Grateful for all the volunteers and Y staff that helped to make the trip happen, and we are so glad to have been able to have Sam join them!💗

I had originally taken the day off on Thursday thinking the kids would be back mid-day, but even though it turned out they wouldn't be back until around midnight, I figured I would still take most of the day off. Wasn't quite in the mood to do the long drive all the way up to Camden and back for an adventure run, so decided to head to Bath and run the Whiskeag Trail since I hadn't done that in a while. Love all the water views along the route but oh, so rooty! 😂😂 Woods are still pretty brown but some false lily of the valley leaves coming through, a big area of periwinkle in bloom and some lovely trailing arbutus patches. Cool bright and windy! Just kind of meandering along today. (9.0 miles)

Along the Kennebec

Pretty pink trailing arbutus!

After my run, I crossed a few errands off my list, did a bit of work, and spent some time relaxing on the couch and reading. Ryan picked Sam up when the buses returned at midnight and I got out of bed to give her a hug. Unsurprisingly, she was exhausted, so we didn't do much more than that, but good to have her home 💕

Hard to get back to sleep and then the cats woke me up early, so I did t head right out for a run. I wanted to be around when Sam woke up, so I did a few things on the computer, then went and did a few errands, including picking up bagels and donuts 🍩😋, thinking if I waited until midmorning that she would be awake. When that didn't happen, I went out for my run around 10:00, running the cart paths and down to the river and back, and when I came home, she was still asleep 😴😂 Tired kiddo! She didn't end up waking up until 1:00 pm. Wow, now that is impressive!! Nice morning to be out, with a bit of crispness in the air, and things are greening up! (8.0 miles)

Hobblebush is progressing from last week's photo

The colts foot is getting quite leggy!

Saturday, I met up with Emily for a run on the West Side Trail in Yarmouth, someplace I have heard about but not yet explored myself. Emily is getting over being sick this past week so, while the trail itself is 10 miles out and back, we chose to just do a portion of it. It was great to catch up and to run another new-to-me trail! Very well marked and obviously well used. It winds between woods and powerlines, crossing several roads, and eventually makes it way across the bridge to Cousins Island. Once onto the island, we took what seemed to be the obvious path, which led us to a steep set of stairs down to the ocean, but which did not go further than that. Backtracking, we found the continuation of the West Side Trail at the far end of the parking lot on the other side of the road, but decided to head back at that point. I'll have to come back sometime and run the whole thing! Some nice woods, with a lot of starflower and false lily of the valley leaves beginning to green up the forest floor, and a number of eiders floating below as we crossed the bridge. Neat. (6.8 miles)

After the run, we met up with Ryan at Mast Landing for beer, lunch and some VT 100 discussions, in that order 😉😂 Fun!

This morning, I headed out to finish up the week with my long run. Ran from home and wandered around town connecting up the multiple trail sections via the roads. Hit the trail running behind Mom and Dad's neighborhood, where I found a lovely patch of seemingly early trout lilies, then down on the short trail along the Androscoggin below Elm Street, then up into the Highlands on their trail system, up along the top of Foreside Field and across the street to run once again along the Androscoggin before crossing back over Foreside to hit the powerlines and a short section of Gone Fishing, then finally up the back dirt road into Highland Green to run a few cart paths and a short stretch of the Cathance trails along the bottom of the Heath before finishing up with a bit of the Mt. Ararat trails. So all in all, 9 different off-road/trail components. I think next time I need to get in more miles, I'll make it a longer route and head out to Head of Tides after Gone Fishing and come back via the Cathance. That would mean I really hit all the trails! But in any event, a nice meander today. Spring is showing in the woods now, for sure! (15.25 miles)