vacation

We just recently spent some time in Maine with monk and little house on the prairie. We rented a little cabin for a week on Somes Sound on Mt. Desert Island, which also has a large portion of Acadia National Park on it.

I have never been to Maine before. This part of the country now has a special place in my heart - it has sea, mountains, and lakes to paddle on. The little towns are just so cute, and I loved seeing water where there are tides! I miss the sea - every Christmas we'd go down to Cape Town (summer in the Southern Hemisphere) and mess about on our relatives' boats.

Beer Farmer and I just bought a couple of kayaks as my parents have now got a place on the Rock River, and we took them with us. It was a great opportunity for us to get used to them and to practise wet entries (also known as BBF - Bellybutton, Backside, Feet). Unfortunately, mine, which we actually purchased in Maine, has a manufacturer's defect which makes my kayak take on water, but we're working on getting it replaced or fixed. I was so nervous about driving Beer Farmer's kayak (which we bought in Illinois) all the way to Maine, but the Thule Hull-a-port system keeps those puppies securely in place - they didn't budge anytime we had them up on the car.

We visited Bar Harbor, and went on a whale-watching tour. Little House and I also went for a mini-hike on the carriage roads which were built by John Rockefeller so he could travel around the island on horseback without being disturbed by cars. Meanwhile the guys were on this intense hike which involved rungs, ladders and cliff faces.

The scenery was just incredible. Beer Farmer and I got up early and drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain (1532 ft) to be one of the first to see the sunrise in the United States. My camera was never far from my side - I have posted some pictures here and here on my photo blog.

The week was entirely too short.