trip 1

We begin the vacation blog with a question:


If you have to set the alarm for 4:00 AM, does it really count as the first day of your vacation?


Catching an early flight meant that we could get from Austin to Deer Isle, Maine in one day, but it makes for a long damn day.


Driving from Boston, we took our little Kia (or was it a Hyundai?) up the coast, past 50 Dunkin' Donuts shops, through quaint New England towns, including Wiscasset, ME, home of Red's Eats, famous for their lobster rolls. On this Monday, the horrendous traffic that this town is also known for, was not bad, and the line to get food was reasonable, though the wait for food delivery was long. To be honest, the crab roll was better than the lobster roll, but it was all worth the stop, especially because Red's is featured in a Rick Sebak(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Sebak) PBS documentary. As Carrie and I drove past Red's, we both thought, "Whoa, that place looks familiar." It was a must stop situation.


The first full day in Maine started out as a planned self-guided, half-day sea kayak trip around the small islands near Deer Isle. In the picture, you can see that there was foggy haze as we set out. Things cleared up as we left the cove, and we confidently crossed the shipping lanes to get to the scenic islands. The first couple of hours were great, although I wished for sunscreen as the cloud bank passed.


Then things got scary. As Carrie later said, it was the most frightened she had ever been as an adult. As we attempted to head back to the safety of the cove, the thick fog rolled in, making visibility nearly zero. We lost sight of the next island, paddled for a good 20 minutes without seeing anything but a "ghost ship" sail boat, and became totally disoriented. When we could finally see again, a nice couple on a "non-ghost ship," helped point us in the right direction. Still, the fog rolled in and out, and we went from island to island, paddling madly when we could see well enough to travel further.


Sea kayaking had stopped being fun, and there were moments - long moments - when I wondered how we were going to make it back. Three hours had turned into five hours, and we exhaustedly made the final run back to the dock. We joked later about how Carrie and I are "land people," but it took a while before a real sense of humor about this misadventure returned.


** All who read this are under strict instructions not to inform Carrie's parents about this portion of our trip. **




Julie and Ken live in an old church, which Ken converted to a small home, and a large workshop in the space that had been the sanctuary. The cemetery is right out the back door (pictures in a later post), and room for a large garden and a greenhouse. We picked fresh berries, and ate a huge salad from produce from the garden.

The next day, Julie, Carrie and I drove to Castine, a peninsula town nearby that the British really wanted to control during the Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812. Losers.

We took a nice hike that the guide book said might include eagle and seal sightings. Seeing neither, we settled for nice chicken salad, and BLT sandwiches in town.

Julie, resting mid-hike.

To be continued in the next post.

JS4