Last little bit of Maine

And all this we did in just a week because we were spending two weeks in Idaho with family.

 

This was Cadillac Mountain which we took in and actually walked all over, picnic'd on and marvelled at whilst at Acadia National Park.

 

 

These were our wonderful hosts for this first week.  Seventy two years old, both of them and by golly they could out trek us both!

 

 

And boy oh boy we trekked.  The rock formation was seriously weird and you could just walk right out onto the mountain flats here and there.  In fact we found a nice flat spot and ate our picnic admiring the view.

 

Okay so that's more than enough about Maine but I have to share a bit about Idaho too before I get back to craft blogging.

More of Maine

Like I said earlier the hospitality of people in Maine, many of whom had holiday homes there and originally lived in Florida was just amazing.

Dave and Shirley's near neighbours used to have a shore line lobster restaurant that they had long since closed but still boated and fished for lobster.  They treated us to a fabulous lobster bake right on the shoreline with lobsters fresh from the sea, cooked in a big pot of salty sea water and oodles of melted butter for dipping. Obviously I didn't eat any being a veggie-tarian but still, the whole experience was so cool.

 

This was the lobster restaurant out on the water with a screened porch running all the way around it.

 

 

This was the lobsters, fresh from the sea going into the pot of boiling water.  As guest of honour Lew gave David the biggest one to sink his teeth into.

 

 

And there we all sat, right on the shore line next to their dock getting instructions from expert lobster catchers, cookers and tasters on just the best way to go about eating a lobster.

 

 

And earlier that day this was the view of their dock from up at their house looking out.  Although we were on an island there were several mini islands dotted all around the coastline and some had homes on them where the owners had the islands to themselves.

 

 

This is looking back at their dock, towards the shore line.

 

 

And this is a couple of holidays makers (can't imagine who LOL!) lounging around enjoying the sunshine on the dock.  This particular style of chair was everywhere we went, outside homes, on the docks, everywhere.

 

 

And in another time of day you could sit or stand and watch as the sun went down of an evening from the same dock.

 

 

I thought the sunset would be stunning so I hovered on the dock trying to capture some kind of amazing moment in time.

 

 

But it was Shirely who encouraged me to hang around a bit longer to see the wonderful array of colours that last only a short while as the sun lights up the clouds from underneath right before it finally disappears.  There were pinks, oranges, purples, blues, yellows - all manner of wonderful colours so it was well worth the wait.

 

 

But I was spoilt for choice in the many lovely things to photograph - not just nature and the world around us but all kinds of quirky Americana.

 

 

Don't you just love this sign that says 'Come in we're Awesome'.  The peeling paint just wouldn't look the same over here but there is fit right in and looked so rustic and natural.

 

 

And I loved that there were American flags flying in just about every concievable place they could put one.

Feet Back on The Ground

Well it's been about 3 weeks since we've had our feet firmly back on the ground and back in the UK and things are beginning to get back to norm somewhat.

It's been way longer since I posted anything.  There was just so much going on in the run up to our trip and quite a bit on the other side too.

Hubby underwent back surgery 3 days after landing - which still amazes me even thinking about it but he is recovering a little more each day.  In fact we say 'every day is a day closer to recovery' and it keeps us going.  Time to heal is really all he needs now.

There is so much I could share and way morfe that I'd like to share but I don't have the time or space and I don't know just how interested anyone is in our vacation piccies.  We had the opportunity to go somewhere different this trip around.  We always knew we would never go anywhere other than Idaho untill Mom was no longer with us and we prayed hard and saved hard and somehow managed to afford to do both!  It was for us a dream vacation.

 

When we decided to go see some very dear friends and then the date got changed because of a family wedding we had no idea we'd end up at their summer house in Maine.  I was secretly thrilled as I didn't fancy visiting them in Florida in August

 

 

They lived on a little place callede 'Deer Isle' and this brodge was the only link to the mainland.  It was way less scary than I first imagined.

 

 

We were surrounded by charm and Americana which is just as I'd hoped so it didn't disappoint.

 

 

Everywhere we went was beautiful and just oozing charm and yep, we did that weird thing over there that many Americans do here and snapped up pictures of stuff that they think of as perfectly ordinary but that we are just delighted with.  Whenever Mom came to stay we'd pull over now and then so she could take pictures of thatched cottages.  When we went there I'd take pictures of pretty white washed churches and painted houses.

 

 

Maine was surrounded by water so there was a stunning view just waiting around every turn.  This was taken at one of our hosts friends lake when they invited us over for a BBQ lunch.  Paul and Michelle were a really sweet couple.

 

Their log cabin home was set in 85 acres of beautiful surroundings with their own lake and wild blueberry bushes growing everywhere.  In fact Maine was littered with wild blueberry bushes and people just stopped and picked them all the time.  Who knew?

 

 

This was just the little place they called 'camp' which was no far from their cabin home.  We carried our picnic and burgers and BBQ'd them on the deck before going down to the lake afterwards.

 

If there was one thing that Maine did well it was hospitality. Just about EVERYONE was so warm and friendly that it really made our trip all the more special.

 

I apologise but I have a few more to share yet and then a bit of crafty posting to follow.