There and Back Again

No, this is not a tale by Bilbo Baggins, which is too bad because if they made a story of this movie, I'd really make a lot of money. The title will make more sense as you read on.


So has happened since I last wrote. Quite a bit actually. I went white water rafting on the Kennebec River with some friends from work, which was awesome. It is such a rush and, surprisingly, it wasn't that cold. Granted the wet suits probably helped some. We got up to camp very late Friday night and pretty much went straight to bed. The next morning we woke up, ate a small breakfast and started getting ready to head out onto the river, but not after some training first which included a lot of shouting and throwing. We then stacked the rafts onto the van 3 high and headed to the dam. After carrying the raft down the steep steps to the river and jumping in we were we on our way. There were a lot of sweet waves. I was sitting in the front and think that most of the time I was so far off of the water that my paddle was mostly only pushing air. The other great thing about a front seat is that you catch a lot of waves right to the face and chest.

At one point, Buddy's brother had fallen off this raft type thing that he was on himself. So we pulled over to the side of the river, and the next thing I know, Buddy was handing Lee the rope telling him to hold on and a second later he was jumping into the water action hero style. After a little delay, his brother showed up to guide our raft until we were able to meet up with Buddy again. After eating lunch, I was told and shown how to jump into a whirlpool. It is pretty sweet. It sucks you down, spins you around, and then spits you back up down the river. That night after getting into dry clothes we went to check out Moxy Falls and also had a fire which Sarah (my co-worker) lit with a large blow torch. The Moxy Falls are beautiful. On Sunday we went to the Common Ground Fair on our way home. Buddy and I liked to refer to it as "Hippiefest". It is all about organic living for the most part and anything else you can associate with hippies, except Woodstock. When I got home, I was able to wrap up my already fun weekend with a cook out at the Foley's. Mmmmmmm... grilled food.

Now, remember the title of this blog? It is about to make sense:
I was referring to the fact that I was able to take a brief weekend excursion to the motherland (aka Minnesota) the first weekend of October to participate in the celebration of the joining of my friends/classmates Jeff and Carrie in Holy Matrimony- not holy macaroni, but that is what I was saying when referring to how much fun it was see be there and to see so many friends again. Duluth was a little on the cold side, but the wedding and reception where a lot of fun. The dance was quite a blast as well. You should have seen me cutting the proverbial rug (is that the right use of proverbial? what I wanted to get across is that I wasn't actually cutting any rugs. Don't want anyone thinking I was participating in vandalistic acts). I digress. I don't want to brag about my dancing skills, but....





The next day I was able to hang out with Alicia, Bryan, Rob, Julie and Andrew. I did lose both games of Settler's but it was still fun. Watch out if you play with Rob though. He is a self-proclaimed cheater. It was fun to hang out with all of them again. We went to the playground for awhile, and I learned that I can still tolerate a pretty sweet tire swing ride, and I can swing quite well still. More weight equals more momentum though I guess. The flight home was very non-eventful which was nice. I was able to sleep the whole way and enjoy Benny and Joon on the bus ride back to Portland.


Upon return home, I met my new roommate who had moved in the night before. Matt will be joining the ACMNP kids (Sarah, Rob, Kim). So we spent the rest of the weekend hanging out. We tried to do some fishing off of Land's End, but unfortunately didn't catch anything. However, it was a beautiful night and was great just sitting out there. Maybe we would have caught something if we would have remember a flashlight considering how dark it was. Actually, it wouldn't have mattered. We tried fishing again on Wednesday. Again, it was dark. We tried going farther south this time and finding a beech right on the open ocean. We finally got directions to a state park where there was a good area. We parked outside the park, as it was closed, and walked in. We got down to the water and climbed down to the waterline. Granted this was more difficult then it sounds as it required walking down semi-steep slippery rocks. I almost lost it once but managed to maintain standing. I'll admit I was a little nervous that night of rogue waves and of getting marooned as the tide was coming in as we were fishing. Not to mention, the wind eventually got a little cold. Unfortunately, we were again unsuccessful in our endeavors to catch fish and haven't been able to go again since. However, we would have to go quite a ways south by now as they are all migrating.


Last weekend Rob, Matt, and I went hiking in White Mountain National Forest. We hiked Caribou Mountain which is 2828 feet above sea level and about 6.5 miles round trip. The leaves were vibrant, the air was brisk, the sun was bright, and the company intelligent and ridiculously humorous (and a little gassy). We crossed numerous rivers, streams, and creeks. There were a lot of water falls and cascades. The view from the top was pretty stellar as well. You could see the rest of the surrounding mountain range, including Mount Washington (not seen in picture) which is the highest point on the Appalachian trail and I believe East of the Mississippi. It was a sweet hike. On the way home, we found a great little greasy spoon restaurant where I ate a ginormous greasy burger. It was so good. If that wasn't a great enough find, further down the road about an hour or so, we found an ice cream shop that was closing for the winter and giving away 2 for 1 ice creams. Talk about luck. Unfortunately, despite our best to charm the young lady at the window she would not give us a 3 for 1 deal considering our odd predicament. (Catch the pun?) I got Maine Black Bear ice cream. Let me tell ya- that flavor is sinfully good. Honestly, I can't believe they don't have in everywhere.


I wrapped up the weekend with a good Sunday. I went to church, which was followed by a potluck (Mmmmmm... potlucks). Then after doing laundry, the Foley's, Matt, and I went over to Nate and Jen's to watch the Patriot's vs Cowboy's football game. They have the best place for hosting, not only do they have a big TV, big living room, and really comfortable couches, but Nate loves to make delicious foods. I mean, these two have hospitality coming out of their ears. After the Patriots ran over yet another team, we played a rousing game of TriBond. My proudest moment came when I found the connection between the following three words: Danke, Tank, Grazie. Take a minute to see if you can figure it out. Maybe you are really quick, but it took us a minute. The trick is to not pronounce them in English as they are all ways to say "Thank you" in foreign languages.


In general, life here has been great. Work is going well. Having a roommate has been phenomenal. We get along great and have a lot of common interests. In addition, he likes to bake and cook. He has made me really jealous though by telling me about he past jobs. He did the ACMNP ministry 4 years in Yellowstone and spent the past summer working just north of Yellowstone for the National Forest Service maintaining trails and collecting wildlife/plant data. He has some awesome pictures and stories. He started traveling this week though for work, so now it will be like I'm still living alone with a visitor who keeps stuff here. I've been getting to hang out with other friends a lot more as well. I've really been blessed with some amazing friends out here which made returning from my Minnesota trip a lot easier. The bus ride home from the airport had me really questioning my decision to move. I am comforted though, that God wanted me out here. I can see the difference people here are making in my life, and I believe I am fulfilling a need in their lives as well. I'm glad I followed my heart out here rather than staying in Minnesota for the higher pay.


Will I stay in Maine? I'm still not planning on this being very long term, but I can't say when I'll leave or if I'll return to Minnesota when I do. I am actually feeling a strong pull to the west and to the mountains. There is so much out there left for me to explore. Huge beautiful vistas that God has created for us to enjoy. I'd hate to not appreciate as many of them as I can. I imagine someday I'll be back in Minnesota. My family is still there and some of my best and truest friends.


God bless!

A Bit of Minnesota

So I know it's been a while a since I posted. Unless you blog, you might not realize how long it actually takes to write a post. I suppose if I wrote more often it wouldn't take as long. I digress- I should tell you about my last couple weeks.

A couple weekends ago my friends Josh and Amy Johnson came out to New England for vacation. So Saturday I drove down to Rhode Island to meet them and hang out for the weekend. We met at a Polo match which was pretty cool as none of us had ever been to a match. It is definitely an upper class sport considering the rest of the crowd and the spreads that brought to enjoy during the match. It was interesting to watch nonetheless. At "half-time" between the 3rd and 4th chukka, you can go onto the field and help replace divots. If you ever decide to help make sure to watch out for the horse apples that were left on the field. After watching nearly a full game, I still have no idea what the rules are. I did eat a pretty tasty sausage there though. They really decked the thing out too.

We left at the beginning of the 6th and final chukka and went to check out the mansions of Newport, RI. You should see these places. They are ginormous and to think that most of them are second or vacation homes. We then drove along the oceanview road and finally went downtown to grab a bite to eat. Josh and I each ordered Quahogs (aka clams) and Josh has an Oyster. The waitress thought it was pretty odd that we only ordered one of each, but hey!, they're expensive. We also had some pretty stellar clam chowder. Finally we drove up to Plymouth, MA to spend the night. We woke the next morning to walk down and see Plymouth Rock. Not to burst anyone's bubble, but it isn't overly exciting. The history of it is really the cool part. There is also a replica of the Mayflower, called Mayflower 2, which was built in England and sailed over. It is pretty cool to tour. We then went to the Plymouth Plantation which is similar to a live museum-type thing. For those of you from Northern Minnesota, it is sort of like White Oak Society. I learned a lot about the real story of the first Thanksgiving. After the plantation, I went back to Maine and the Johnson's headed to Vermont, the Green Mountain State.

I was able to see them again later in the week up in Boothbay Harbor which is a beautiful place in Maine. They were staying at a Bed and Breakfast that had one of the most amazing views I've ever seen from an Inn. It was called the Topside Inn if you are ever in New England and looking for a great place. The bathroom in their room was about the same square footage as my whole house. Amy and Josh were also kind of enough to share some of the tasty fudge they had bought earlier that day. You should also join them for breakfast sometime as not only is Josh a really good cook, but they bought a bunch of delicious syrup. We went out to eat again that night. Josh and I split a tasty crab cake appetizer and I finally had the lobster roll I'd been craving.

Last weekend, while the Johnson's were wrapping up their trip in Boston, I headed up to Katahdin for another take at the mountain. Again I made it up to the top, but alas the weather was again crappy so I was not able to get much of a view. I went with a group of people who I didn't really know. Out of the 9 people who also went on the trip, I knew Peter and had met Jenny once before, but I figured it is always good to get to know more people. We rented a bunkhouse so we had hard bunk-bed type "beds" to sleep on, but more importantly we had a fireplace which came in very handy after we got back from hiking all day in the rain on Saturday. Sadly Friday and Sunday were beautiful days, but I didn't hike either of those days. On Saturday, it was raining as soon as we woke up. The hike up went quite smooth. About half of the group, including myself, decided to hike to the top of Hamline Peak rather than Baxter (the tallest that I did last time). I am determined to get up there at some point and check out the sweet view that I'm sure awaits me up there. Nevertheless, I did manage to get a few cool pictures. The leaves are starting to really change here. I'm pretty excited for the fall foliage, but not the soon arriving winter and cold weather that accompanies it. I saw part of a Maine moose. Sadly, it was disappearing into the woods before I got up to a point where I could see it in the middle of the trail. Sunday morning, we took one last small hike to a pond to see if we could catch a glimpse of any more moose. We didn't see any large animals but caught a pretty nice view anyway.

In other news, I've started watching more movies again which was quite rare during PT school. I've played some more tennis. Got paid again (always exciting). Worked a lot. I'm getting used to the 10 hour days. The extra day off is quite nice. Got to know some of my friends out here a little better. All-in-all I've had a pretty good couple of weeks. It's always good when I get to see Minnesota people out here though. I also bought an antenna (bunny ears) for my TV so I now get a few channels. PBS comes in the best. I will hopefully have my DVD player all lined up soon so I can watch some movies here. Not that there is anything wrong with watching them on Sarah's 13 inch TV. That's about it for this posting. Plus I'm close to falling asleep.

Becoming an Adult- Sort of

Wow! Well it feels like a lot has happened since the last time I wrote, but I think that is more the result of me waiting so long as I haven't been overly busy. Something really pretty exciting did happen a little over a week ago. It was a pretty new experience for me: I got a pay check. Yep, that's right. My first ever paycheck for doing physical therapy. It is a crazy concept getting paid to do it. I'm sure all my classmates and anyone else who has done unpaid internships can relate. I sat at home almost all day anxiously awaiting its arrival (partially because of its significance and partially because I really just needed the money). The mailman, bless his/her heart, decided not to deliver my mail until about 4:00 pm that day so by that time I had already wen to work and made some phone calls. Luckily, people already know me and know that I'm not always that high-strung.

The last weekend of August, Kim, Sarah, and I woke up bright and early to drive about 3.5 hours to Baxter State Park (which we somehow got into for free) to climb Mount Katahdin, the highest point in Maine. We had wanted to climb the Knife's Edge trail but it was too late and the less-than-pleasant ranger ladies at the visitor station in Millinocket (that's not even close to the craziest name upstate) highly advised against climbing that route due to potentially inclement weather conditions. So we picked a different route and headed into the park. As we started hiking up were baffled by how quickly the sweat started. Granted we were walking up a steep incline and at a fast pace (we're pretty much hiking all-stars considering how many people we passed) , but apparently it was almost about the most humid day ever experienced in Maine. At least the worst I'd experienced. Eventually that didn't matter because the higher we got up, the winder it got. The trail changed from a slightly rocky trail through the woods into a huge bolder field where you had to climb over all these giant rocks and ledges. It was awesome, except for the part where I lost my sunglasses, which were totally unnecessary on this trip. Thankfully they were a cheap pair that were on the verge of breaking, but I did buy them in Vegas so they had some memories tied to them. What was even worse is that I could still seem them, but they were out of arm's and leg's (yes, I thought about using my legs and toes) reach. The farther we went up the mountain, the cloudier it became until we were actually right in the cloud, which is pretty wet and still windy. The view at that point became much less impressive as we couldn't see much past 10 yards away. As we neared the top, the wind picked up quite a bit, and we contemplated turning back. However, we were only a mile from the summit and someone told us the wind settled down a little when you got a little higher up. So we pushed on and eventually summitted the highest point in Maine and simultaneously reached the "Terminus of the Appalachian Trail". There we met some people who hiked the Knife's Edge partially on their hands and knees. We also met Max, a Cornell student from Pennsylvania, who is taking a semester off to hike part of the A-Trail. He hiked back down with us, which was probably a good idea for him not to go back down alone due to the slight slipperiness of the rocks. We all made it down safely and then drove home in wet pants.

The weather for Labor Day weekend was nothing short of phenomenal. You seriously could not have asked for nicer weather. It was warm, but not too warm, with a nice breeze. On Saturday, I headed up to the Camden area again to hike Mount Megunticook. I found a trail that sounded fun online so I decided to try it and was not disappointed. It took me to Maiden's Cliff which is a cliff (obviously) that overlooks Lake Megunticook. It is also the site where 12-year-old Elenora French fell to her death on May 7, 1864, while trying to catch her windblown hat- hence the large white cross. The view is spectacular. From their I continued on through thick woods with sporadic views of the lake or the ocean. The summit of Megunticook is less than exciting. All it has is a sign stating the elevation, but as it is still below the tree line, you can't see much from the summit. However, I shortly thereafter arrived at Ocean Lookout, which provides stunning views of Camden village, Penobscot Bay, and Mount Battie (which Greta and I visited my very first ever weekend in Maine). I sat here, enjoyed the view and a snack before heading down the last leg of my hike. The lamest part of the trip was the mile hike back to my car along the road. I had met some rock climbers before I started hiking so I tried to find where they were climbing but was unsuccessful, unfortunately because after talking to them I had an itch to get back into it again. I then took a quick dip in Lake Megunticook before heading home. It was a quick dip too as the wind picked up as soon as I got there, and the water wasn't all that clean. Not to mention the sketchy looking ducks that were hanging along the shore. But man was it refreshing. I think it may be all the "swimming" I have done this summer. I haven't made it into the ocean yet. I might be running out of days to do that. It might have to wait until next year.

The rest of my time has been spent with friends. Tennis has become a common occurrence in my life. Rob, Nate and I have played a lot over the past few weeks. Today, we were able to sucker a fourth person into playing so that we could play doubles or two singles games. Last night, I hosted Texas Hold'em night. I took 3rd place so I didn't win any money or even break even, but it was still fun. Sarah, Rob and I helped Leah celebrate her birthday. I tried to even let her win in Scrabble, but Sarah and Rob weren't as giving that way as I was. I still don't have a TV, well one that gets any channels anyway. This rarely concerns me, but I'm slightly worried about my absolute lack of knowledge of the news. I mean, who knew they were having forest fires in Montana and that a mine caved in Utah (right? Utah?). Farmer's Markets have continued to be a source of pleasure for me. Not only in attending, but also in the crazy good food I am able to make. Mmmmmm... corn-on-the-cob. And who knew Eggplant could be so tasty when not with Parmesan. I for one didn't have a clue, but they look cool enough to entice me. In other news, Pomegranates are in season and my health insurance has kicked in. Now I can go to the dentist before all my teeth rot out.

Finally, I just received some VERY exciting news via e-mail. My friends Josh and Amy are planning a trip to New England and are going to be arriving next weekend. September is going to be awesome! Well, best get to bed so I can be on top of my game tomorrow after a 4 day weekend.

I'm Back!

Not just to the blog but back to Maine. Due to popular demand, I've decided to return to blogging. Oops, pardon me! (Shout out to Krisanne- "I blogged") And by "popular demand", I mean Elisa wanted me to, BUT maybe someone else will read it too. Now I considered blogging while I was in Minnesota but one avid reader told me I shouldn't worry about it as the blog is titled "CraigInMaine" and so to write while in Minnesota would make the title, well- untruthful. However after my month and a half hiatus back in Minnesota I have returned to Maine with a degree and license to practice physical therapy. The story since last time goes something like this...

After spending the last week or so of my internship in Maine saying good-bye to friends, hurting my foot, and deciding if I wanted to take the job at the clinic I had been working at, I accepted the job Friday afternoon (despite having a much better paying offer in Minneapolis- God works in mysterious ways) and jumped in my car and headed home. The first night I stopped in to visit and stay with the Halgesens near Boston for the night. Then left early the next morning for Detroit where I would stay with my classmate Megan and her husband Kevin. On the way, I stopped at Niagara Falls and was stopped at the US/Canadian border (I knew that Marijuana scented air freshener was a bad idea). The only time I've ever been randomly picked for anything and it wasn't even a prize. Wait! I guess I did win a PlayStation through random chance once. From Detroit, I headed back to the GREAT state of Minnesota. There I stayed at Bryan's apartment for the week while taking a Licensing Exam review class, going to out graduation party, and finally GRADUATING!

Yep, I finally graduated for the 3rd and hopefully, final, time. See there's a picture to prove it. After 7 years of secondary education I finally got my DPT degree. Yep, that's right- Doctor! It was a little bit of a bittersweet event. It was a great culmination of years of hard work which was exciting, but it was sad to part from a great group of people. I could never say enough good things about the UofMN DPT Class of 2007. I have been known to be one of the greatest advocates for officially titling us the greatest class ever which has to do with the fact that I truly believe it. We went through a lot together and had some really great times. I wouldn't trade even a second of it for anything. Even the months of taunting I received after getting prone and supine mixed up in front of the class, or when Jaynie showed most of my not-so-attractive buttocks to the class during a palpation demonstration, or my ever infamous quote "I've been saving them for special guests". For any of you reading this: You guys rock and made the past three years probably the greatest years of my life. I miss you all and hope you are all enjoying your careers.

Enough of the mushy stuff! After graduation, my family and some of my closest friends gathered for a cook-out and some yard games to celebrate my entrance into adulthood- finally! Well almost. Before that happened, I went on a BWCA canoe trip with the Boys (Geisler, Dewey, Petey, and little Dewey) which is anything but adultlike despite most of them being married and fathers at this point. After a brief visit to Millerville, MN to celebrate my grandpa's birthday, I headed down to Minneapolis (perhaps the greatest city in the US of A) and stayed with my extremely good and giving friends, the Engessers. Where Joshy and Mari helped keep me young despite the stresses of trying to study for an exam, prepare to move to a new state, and get quality time in with friends all in a short amount of time. The process to take the exam was a messy one. I ran into several hurdles and delays and waded through a lot of stress and frustration. Elisa was beyond patient hearing me vent about it everyday. Finally I found out one Monday night that I could sign up for the exam. So I called Tuesday morning to schedule it and took it Wednesday morning.

Wednesday afternoon my parents showed up and we loaded their trunk and my car. We left Engessers home at 4:30 and after some mild traffic were on our way in Wisconsin when I heard on the radio that the 35W bridge had collapsed. I hope that no one knew anyone involved. I almost felt like I was abandoning my city. My parents and I made decent time heading out to Maine. We ran into some road construction which slowed us down but we made it here on Friday, August 3rd around 4:30. We got a tour of my new place, which is small but comfortable thanks to the help of my parents. We took a lot of trips to Target, Wal-Mart, and the Home Depot the next several days, but took some time to do some site-seeing as well. We all ate our first whole lobster and on Tuesday morning went deep sea fishing where we caught some blue fish (that is the actual name, I'm not just describing them). We caught 5 between the 3 of us. It was a great time. I can't even express how much I appreciated having my parents out here. That made the move so much easier, gut even better, we got to spend some needed quality time together which hadn't happened for a long time. They even got to meet most of my Maine friends. It was hard to come home from work on Thursday to an empty house.

I've stayed busy here adjusting to work, getting reacquainted with friends, and trying to finish the settling down process. Work has been great but a little slow as they are easing me into it. The schedule is picking up and getting better every day. There is another new PT at the clinic, Lee, which is great because not only is he new to the career as well but he is also a male which this clinic didn't have many of. Before Lee and I showed up, there was only one male OT and no male PTs. We are trying to persuade the supervisors into giving us our own office, the Man Cave, complete with a flat screen TV, mini-fridge, and maybe some cigars. Otherwise, I have spent a lot of time with friends. I've been playing tennis with Rob, which has been nice as it makes me feel right at home- he kicks my butt just like Greta did back in Minneapolis. A bunch of us went to see The Bourne Ultimatum- Awesome! And I read the last Harry Potter book in two days. Yep, I know I'm a nerd, but I'm ok with that. I had my first Friday off after working 4 ten hour days. It was great. You can get so much done on a weekday. Mostly I enjoyed going to the Farmer's Market. If fact, I enjoyed it so much I went to another one today. Mmmmmm... corn-on-the-cob. I think that should be one word- cornonthecob.

Well, that's all for now. It's long enough I think. Feel free to give me a call or write, but remember I'm in Eastern Time now. Come and visit!

Bubbles, Beehives, Beaches

So as the end of my time here in Maine approaches, I've been trying to get in some last minute must-do's. The most obvious being going to Acadia National Park. Sarah and I headed up after she got off of work and made it to myself. Sarah is my Acadia expert friend as she worked in the park for two years. We got to Bar Harbor about 9:00ish. I dropped Sarah off at her friend's place and then went and got some ice cream. I don't remember the name of the flavor but it was awesome. It had carmel, chocolate, grahm crackers, and other deliciousness in it. I then drove down to the seawall which was beautiful. There was a full moon reflecting off the ocean and rocky shore. Breath-taking really. I went and parked at the picnic area and after walking along the shore for a bit, and I decided I was too lazy to set up my tent and didn't want to pay for two nights of camping. I figured I'd just sleep in my car in the parking lot of the picnic area as Sarah said the Park Rangers wouldn't be patrolling it too heavily yet this time of year. Well, after about an hour and a half of "sleep", I was awoke by bright lights shining in the back of my car. So I sit up and see an officer standing next to the car. So I go to open the door and my car alarm starts going off, so I fumble for my keys and finally manage to shut off the alarm. I open the door and the officer asks, "You know you aren't suppose to be sleeping here?" I go with the ignorant tourist act and reply, "Oh really?!? Ok, I'll move." He replies, "Well, if you're really tired, I don't want you going back out on the road, and I don't really care if you stay here, but the Park Rangers might." I reply, "Ok, thanks." I'm thinking "Sweet!- I'm set." He then states, "I'll stop by every couple hours to check on ya, a lot of heroin addicts come down here." gulp "Thanks." So I decide I should be safe since this nice officer is going to come and check up on me, but then I start having images of me being drug out of my car and pillaged by herion addicts and the cops shows up to find me after I've lost everything. I sort of have an active imagination. Needless to say, I decided I needed to move and luckily remembered that the Rangers manning the camp site would be long gone and I'd be up and gone before they showed up. So I drove across the road and slept peacefully until about 6:00AM.

I then woke up to a cloudy, humid day and went and check out the nearby lighthouse. I was able to watch some lobster boats heading out to check their traps. After that I figured I get started hiking right away. Sarah had provided me a list of sweet hikes I should check out so I take out my not so good maps and try to find where they are. I start driving to where is seems as those the trail heads should be. Eventually, I realize that I'm farther north than the first hike I was planning on doing and after driving around somemore I think, I'm just going to do Acadia mountain since I know where it is. Well, I thought I knew where it was. The parking area is actually on the opposite side of the road from the trailhead, which they don't bother to tell you in anyway so I head down some other trail which ends after about 500 yards. However, I was still determined this was the right trail and figure I know right where the trail must really go and keep walking through the woods. Eventually I run into another campground and realize I'm not even close to the trail. So I walk back to the road and then to my car and decide to go set up my tent for the next night and get a better map.


I then went to the camp site, and battled the misquitos as I put up the tent. I grabbed a good map from the fine Camp site rangers and headed off to try again to do some hiking. So I'm following my much more detailed map to the trailhead of Bernard Mtn only to find that both roads leading to it are closed. Sad that I won't be able to hike that mountain today I headed to Mansell Mtn. The hike started out very humid but I didn't want to take off my long sleeves as the bugs were thick. When I'm finally totally drenched in sweat and sick off bugs and starting to wonder if this was worth it, I turned around and saw an amazing view. I also realized there was now a nice breeze and the bugs were significantly less and things got much better. I made it to the top of Mansell and realized I could easily hike from Mansell to Bernard. Well, that all took a little longer than anticipated and I was 15 minutes late for picking Sarah up in Bar Harbor. She didn't seem to be too upset though.

We then checked out the beach she used to life gaurd at, hiked Beehive and the South Bubble mountains. The Beehive is pretty cool as it has ladder parts to help up the reallys steep parts. We went to Thunder Hole which is a spot on the shore where when the waves crash into the whole in the rocks it sounds like thunder- hence the name. After dropping our bikes off at the top of Cadillac Mountain, we drove down to the bottom so we could hike up it. Cadillac Mtn is the highest land point on the East Coast until you get to Brazil. It still doesn't compare to anything out west in the Rockies, but the thing about east coast hiking is that they don't appear to believe in switchbacks. You just gotta go straight up. Finally, we summitted a little humbled after scoffing at the 1.5 miles hike at the beginning. It was tough. However, then we got to ride out bikes down the mountain. No peddling needed as most of the time I was going so fast that I thought I was going to wear out the brakes before I got to the bottom. My significantly greater mass than Sarah tended to make my bike want to go a lot faster so I also had to be careful not to fly past her or into her.

That night we roasted S'mores over the fire after we ate supper at Poor Boys. I had some delicious stuffed haddock and Sarah had the hugest plate of eggplant parmesean I've ever seen (not to mention her's was a bottomless plate). The rain managed to hold off until I was going to bed and was done by the time Sarah woke me up in the morning. Thankfully, I stayed dry and slept very well. The ground in a tent was much more comfortable than my car. That day we went a visited the people who were working for A Christian Ministry in the National Parks which is who Sarah works for in the main office. We went to the Jordan Pond House for some warm beverages, seafood chowder, and popovers. Luckily, Sarah's connections came in handy and we only paid for the drinks. We ended our Acadia trip with a bike ride down one of the carriage trails and some ice cream.

The rest of my week has been pretty low key really. I saw Shrek the Third on Tuesday. On Wednesday, my CI invited me over for dinner and made me lobster rolls for dinner - Mmmmm. I went kayaking for two hours on Thursday. Just when I was turning around to head back toward my house a seal popped his head out of the water about 100ft from me. I got my camera out and he disappeared. I waited a while with camera in hand and he wasn't to be seen. So I put it away and started back toward home again. After about 10ft he popped his head up again about 60ft from me, so close I could see his whiskers. So I got my camera out again but by this time the kayak was facing the wrong direction and by the time I got turned around he was gone again and didn't come back. It was exciting anyway, even without a picture. Friday I went kayaking again with my CI on the river by her house. We went around a few islands, saw a beaver, an osprey, and some other cool birds.

Here is a view from my house.






It is sad that my time here is almost done. I have a lot more I want to do, and I'll miss the people I've met. However, I do get to go back to Minnesota and see all of you, which will ROCK! And there is a very good chance I will come back out here for a year to work. See you all soon.

Encore

So I've had quite the stellar time since I last posted. Last Wednesday I had a BBQ at my house, which was a blast despite the weather being the worst day of the week, but good company and food more than made up for the clouds and cold. God miraculously placed a grill in my basement as up to the night before the BBQ I still wasn't sure what we were going to grill on. Everyone got a tour of my gigantic house and were awe struck by the Chinese Wedding bed in the basement. Thursday was we played possibly the most fun game of ultimate Frisbee I've ever played which could potentially be due to the fact that my team dominated Team Libby. There black eye paint didn't intimidate us. There were a lot of stellar plays and even more laughs. The only downfall of the night was getting my first wood tick of the year which latched on. To add a little more excitement to it, he was at the perfect stage where you couldn't tell if he was a harmless wood tick or a disease infested deer tick. Thankfully, it is clearing up and I don't have a bulls-eyed shaped rash. Thank you Jesus! One souvenir I don't want to bring home from Maine is Lyme's Disease.

Friday night was the first night a an AMAZING weekend. The weather was perfect for an outdoor baseball game so that's what we did. Rob, Leah, Sarah, Kim, and I headed down to Portland to watch a Seadogs game. It was a good game and a great crowd and the food/drinks were actually vaguely reasonable. Sarah and I busted out early Saturday morning for Boston where we explored the town for the day walking the Freedom Trail, soaking in the history and eating some tasty food. Yes, Sam Adams Boston Lager does actually taste better in Boston and Canoli's on the north side are quite good. I recommend. In addition to the Freedom Trail we were fortunate enough to be there during Earthfest- a free music festival held in the park next to Charles River. We were able to catch KT Tunstall and Guster. Sweet! We then bailed to hang out in the park before grabbing something to eat. We spent the night in Manchester BTS with Dokken and the Halgesen's who were as hospital as always and gave us quite a surprise when we walked in the door.

Sunday we left early to head to a church in Fairfield, Connecticut to watch Sarah's sister perform in a musical called Encore, which was hilarious. I was really quite impressed. After narrowly missing out on Broadway tickets, we headed down to NYC where I got my first chance at driving in the BIG city and trying to find parking, but with are mad skills (and since it was Sunday) we were able to find free parking for the day. Super Sweet! We did a lot of walking through central park, to St. Patrick's Cathedral, Time's Square, the Chrysler building, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Plaza, and Mariella's Pizza (good food). That night we stayed in a hostel which was a little sketchy but really cheap. We stayed dorm style with 8 other people in the same room. Which was all fine until, the last two people came in and decided to whisper for about an hour (Sarah managed to sleep through this part). Finally the guy sleeping below them hit the wall to get them to be quite (I don't think he spoke much English) and the rude guy starts talking out loud giving him crap saying hitting the wall isn't normal, what's wrong, etc, etc. Meanwhile Sarah woke up to a loud bang on the wall and some one telling someone else they aren't normal. She was a little freaked. I just wanted them to shut up so I could sleep. Needless to say the couple finally stopped whispering, which unfortunately lead to the him snoring VERY loud.

We woke up early enough Monday to catch the Today Show and luck would have it that Maroon 5 was giving a concert there. So yes that does mean another free concert for us. This one was even better because we were able to get behind the stage and be ridiculously close to the band, not to mention we got on TV. Woohoo- 2 seconds of fame. We met up eventually with Sarah's sister, Nikki, and her friends from Crown College in MN. We hung out for the day experiencing the NYC subway, Chinatown, the Staten Island Ferry, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island (from a distance), and Ground Zero. Ground Zero looks like a construction site as that is essentially what it is, but there is a museum there now which is quite moving. Funny, or sad, how quickly our country became united and how quickly we've forgotten and divided. Finally after a lot more walking and site seeing we headed back to Maine and got back to Freeport about 1:30 AM. I got back to my place and to bed by 2:30 AM and woke up at 5:30AM to get to work. I'm still trying to catch up on sleep.

The rest of the week has been low key. The weather is going down hill again. We had a guys night last night as the girls were painting pots for Kim's birthday. So we got cigars, and hung out on the coast and discussed deep thoughts. Quite scholarly of us, I know. But honestly it was a lot of fun.

This weekend- ACADIA National Park, finally. Hope all is well. Two weeks left here... or a year???

Good Idear: Eat a Bananar in Your Cah

Tips for talking Mainish:

Beginners--
-Add an -r to words ending in vowels. Some good examples are listed in the title- idear and bananar (yes, I've heard both of those used within the past week).

Slightly more advanced--
- Take the "r" out of words and replace it with an "h". A good example I heard just today was "cah" which translates to car or pahk which means park. (This one is useful in all of New England.)

Let me give you an example of a real life scenario:
Gifted PT Student: So was there a specific incident that lead to your shoulder pain?
Mainer: Yah, it happened when I was working on my cah.
Gifted PT Student: Sorry, what was that?
Mainer: I was working on my cah.
Gifted PT Student: (to himself) Oh! his car
(to Mainer) What exactly happened?
Mainer: Well, I was working on my cah, and I had my ahm extended really fah out, and I was turning the....


That's all the detail I really remember at this point. That might not be the actual conversation but very close. Just remember- if you try these tips, especially both of them together, if people from the MidWest are looking at you weird and having a hard time understanding you, you're probably doing pretty well.

Otherwise, what have I been up to? Hmmm... well Tuesday at guy's night, we watched this Navy Seals training camp video. Holy Crap! They guys are crazy and huge. I wouldn't mess with one of them if you can help it. I can't think of a reason you couldn't avoid it. Well, I guess if you had an unresistable urge to become a tyrant of some small country, then I guess it could become an issue. Anyway, the training is freakin' intense. It starts out with about 89 ridiculously jacked guys and ended with only about 20. Two guys finished "hell week" with broken legs. Yep- a little crazy.


Wednesday was a surprise going away party for my friend Amy. I missed the surprise part unfortunately, but I didn't want to confuse them have and a good surprise wasted on me. It was probably safest for me to be fashionably late. I had a good excuse though. I had to go all the way to Damariscotta for my first day of house sitting. I didn't want to make the poor dog hold his bladder for a whole day right off the bat. I was house/dog sitting from Wednesday to Sunday. The dog's name was Simon (part wiener dog, part Beagle). He was able the easiest dog ever to take care of. He was pretty laid back. He had some attachment issues though and felt the need to follow me around to every room. The home owner provided me with a ton of food which was nice, especially the ice cream and cookies part. Mmmmmm!


Most of the week was really gloomy and rainy. On Saturday, the rain managed to quit long enough for my friend Sarah and I to spend the day outside. We chilled out at Popham Beach and ate some delicious sandwiches prepared by your's truly. (Note: Avocado on a sandwich really adds a tasty twist.) Tide was pretty high when we got there but eventually went out enough to allow some additional beach space. The waves were pretty big and it was awesome watching them splash against the islands. All the waves crashing put a sort of mist into the air and it looked pretty sweet. Some guys were crazy enough to go surfing out there. Yeah- Surfing! Who knew anyone did that in Maine. They obviously had some dry suits on because the water is still COLD. Gotta catch the waves when they're there though I guess. Anyway, we then went over to Seawall Beach and to Morse Mountain. I can't get over the view from Morse Mountain. It's incredible.



Sunday I returned home from house-sitting to see a huge mess all over the house courtesy of my landlord which I had the pleasure of cleaning up.









Well, that's all for today. I'll attach a picture of a part of my house as Elisa has asked several times and since I don't have anything to really add, it is a good time.

"Never Stop Exploring"

So I know that it has been a long time since my last post. The biggest news of the last two weeks is that the weather has finally gotten nice. In fact, they've been amazing. The last weekend of June was a little rainy so I didn't really do much but relax at home. Saturday, April 28th, I ran a 5k race that was a fund raiser for an organization called Safe Passage which provides schooling for poor children in Gautemala (I believe). I didn't have my best race ever, but I did alright and it was fun. Quite a flat course for New England. There are hills everywhere here. The most exciting part of Sunday was that my landlord had a guy at the house checking the energy efficiency of the house and he had a infrared device so you could see where all the heat was leaving the house. Anyway, he let me play with it a while after he was done. That was pretty sweet. I found that I really do have poor circulation to my fingers and if you look in a mirror with it while wearing classes, your head looks just like a skeleton.

I've also met some people my age to hang out with which has been awesome. I finally have some sort of social outlet, and I don't have to talk to myself as much. The girls have a "girl's night" every Tuesday so me and a couple other guys get together and hang out. So far I've watched The Village, I learned to play chess, and went to see Spiderman 3 (which I recommend). We also had a Cinco de Mayo party with a piñata and everything. Unfortunately, the piñata was broke and candy was spilled without even a swing of a bat. Apparently it was tied up real well. More candy with less effort, can't really complain I guess.

My friend Eric came up from Manchester BTS last weekend and we did some mountain biking at Bradbury Mountain State Park (which I found isn't one of my strongest skills, but I got better) and then went kayaking at my house. Kayaking is much drier and easier on the shoulders if you have a decent paddle. Don't be fooled by the guide books on the view from Bradbury Mountain, you don't really get a good view of the ocean. It was nice nevertheless. On Sunday I went up to Pemaquid Point to see the lighthouse with some friends. It was an amazing area. The rocks around have some unique formations and the lighthouse just adds to the scenery.

The weather continued to be just awesome on Monday so I decided to head out to Morse Mountain/Seawall Beach. Seawall Beach is this great sand beach that is about a 2 mile hike to get to, but there was no one there. It was quite serene. I then booked it up to Morse Mountain to catch the sunset. However, I booked it a little to fast as I got there about 30-45 minutes too early. So obviously I got out of control taking pictures thinking, "I have a digital camera, I can take as many pictures as I want." Which is true, but only as long as the batteries last. As the sun got lower, I got colder (my hands started moving pretty slow) and the worse I had to go to the bathroom. While waiting though I did get inspired by my North Face fleece (which was actually keeping me quite warm). I found that it was printed inside it several places the phrase "Never Stop Exploring." It seemed so profound as I was sitting at this awesome outlook that I found watching a spectacular sunset. I learned another lesson, which I probably already knew- The best and most colorful part of the sunset actually comes after the sun has actually set. So as I'm truckin' down the mountain, I look up and see between the trees one of the most spectacular sunset skies I've ever seen, and I had already left my lookout spot and was out of camera batteries. Oh well, lesson learned. I still have time to get back there.

Tonight I was able to go out kayaking again. It was SUPER SWEET! The water was like glass for the most part and the weather was perfect. I went to a new area I hadn't explored yet and I'm apparently getting at the whole kayaking deal because I got back to my place and still had plenty of high tide left.

Well I guess that's all for now. Remember: "Never Stop Exploring!"