Happy Summer 🌞

First full week of summer vacation for Sam, the longest day of the year, our annual end of June camping trip to MDI... It all points to summer! 

Monday was a day off from work for Juneteenth, so of course, I had to get in a run. Just kind of wandered around, hitting the Cathance trails and some roads. Found the new bridge they are building farther out in the Cathance - very snazzy! - but not entirely sure how they are tying it in to the trail system on one side 🤷‍♀️ River is flowing well after all the rain we've had. Legs felt tired but ok overall, especially given that the run marked 60 miles in 6 days. Definitely a rest day on tap for Tuesday! Warm and muggy. (9.2 miles)

Scenes from Sparkplug's backyard that evening. 😍😎 I love all the critters, and oh my, those baby raccoons were so adorable!

Coexisting with the neighborhood groundhog 😊

Later in the evening, one of the skunk and two of our gray fox came by too. 😍

Tuesday and Wednesday ended up being complete rest days with a whole lot of work and packing and organizing taking up all my time and energy. But it's OK. A down week it is! Thursday before we got the car packed up and ready to go, I did get out for a road run through town. Felt a bit tired and clunky, but a nice morning to be out. (7.0 miles)

Then it was off to MDI! And this year, we were bringing Anne too! It was really great to have her join us and she and Sam had so much fun together. And of course, way better than having to hang out with only Mom and Dad 😉😆 We stopped at Eat a Pita for lunch and then headed up to Beech Mountain for a short hike before checking in to at the campground. The west side of the loop up and over the peak was under construction, so we took the girls back the long way around, down the Southwest Ridge Trail and back on the Valley Trail. Beautiful afternoon. (2.1 miles walked)

We got set up at camp and after a bit of time in the hammock, the girls headed up to the pool for a bit before dinner at Beal's. 

Then it was back to camp for some relaxing around the campfire, and sparklers of course! A lovely evening, and a great way to kick off the trip!

My air mattress deflated under me in the night so not much sleep was had, and there was no reason to stay in the tent with nothing but gravel beneath me, so I was up and out early on Friday morning for a Western Mountain tour over Beech, Mansell, Bernard. A lovely, cool but humid morning. Saw no one, caught all the cobwebs. Felt a bit tired and bumbly, but always so good to get up into these rugged little mountains. And oh my, I know this, but truly, so many stairs on the Perpendicular Trail! (9.0 miles)

Looking at the forecast, Friday was definitely going to be the best full day of the weekend, so after I got back from my run, we headed down to get breakfast at Cafe Milagro and then back to camp to get ready for a hike up and over Acadia Mountain. We started off with the fire road, where we saw some nice twinflower, one small garter snake and a few frogs. Then it was up the back cliffs of the mountain, which is always fun for some climbing, to the summit. Such a nice morning, and I do love this peak. The girls did great, and Sam really does have a good engine as much as she says she isn’t a hiker/runner. 😉(2.6 miles walked)

We had lunch back at camp and the girls got back in the pool for a while before we headed across the street for a game of mini golf. Suprisingly, I managed to win, and even get a hole in one! It was a fun afternoon activity.

Then it was back to the campground for dinner, some relaxing around the campfire and s'mores to wrap up the evening. 

Was hoping the air mattress deflation on Thursday night was operator error and I just hadn’t secured the valve but apparently not. Woke up on the gravel again on Saturday morning, oh so comfortable!🤪😂 Also woke to a thick low layer of fog, so decided to stay down low and ran some mellow miles along Lurvey Spring Road and along Long Pond. The wind was trying to push the clouds away along the pond and there were a few glimpses of sun but back in the fog at the campground. Muted, damp, muggy morning. (7.0 miles)

Ryan cooked up pancakes and bacon for breakfast, and then we headed out to take advantage of the weather before the rain inveitably started later in the day. We hiked up Thuya Terrace and toured around the formal gardens before walking down the street to loop through Asticou. Always good to check out the gardens. Definitely some nice blooms but a lot of green too as summer kicks in. This was enough for the morning - the kiddos are pooped. (1.9 miles walked)

After lunch, we had planned to head out for a short hike, but the rain started up in earnest, so we decided to stop at Seawall to walk out on the rocks and then down to check out Bass Harbor Light instead. 

We picked up pizza at Little Notch for dinner (gotta hit all the good eating spots!) and then the girls spent several hours in the pool while the rain came down and Ryan and I sat at the picnic table under the pop-up tent playing cribbage. Everyone was tired and we all headed to bed early!

Oh yes, and we had managed to find an aerobed to replace the one with the leak, so I managed to get a good nights sleep and actually woke up feeling alive 😆😜However, everyone else was feeling rather dead 😉Unfortunately, there was no little fairy around to pack up camp for us, so that was what awaited us in the morning. Always the downside of going camping - having to pack up for the ride home! And of course, everything was damp and wet. Ugh. Oh well, at least it wasn't raining, it was just incredibly foggy and muggy. 

We couldn't leave the island without one final walk, so we headed out to Ship Harbor. Anne, not entirely used to the camping lifestyle, was toast. 😂 But a nice mellow walk. Very foggy, but beautiful as always. (1.6 miles walked)

Then it was off to Ellsworth for lunch before we continued the journey home, where we managed to convince the girls that we should eat asian/sushi and not Wendy's. Score! Yummy, and a nice way to wrap up a fun weekend!