Acadia In Spring

This weekend Jen, Brooke and I all headed up to Bar Harbor for a nice long weekend. The weather was supposed to be nice Saturday and not nice Sunday but we figured we'd be driving home Sunday anyways and decided to at least enjoy one good day away. We got a spring rate at the Bar Harbor Grand right in town, which we'd highly recommended if you ever want a nice weekend away. The hotel was very nice (If you want to check it out more click here) and the breakfast was very good for a continental breakfast. They also offered a package deal with a very nice dinner at a highly discounted rate for guests that we declined because it wasn't really Brooke's type of place but we did get some good Chinese food in town. As a bonus the weathermen were wrong, in our favor for once, and Sunday ended up being even a bit better than Saturday, although both were in the low 60's with lots of sun and puffy clouds. Not nice enough to use the beaches like we did last Summer but not bad at all for April.

I can never get enough of the place and we squeezed a lot into our two and a half days. A nice drive or three along Ocean Drive with some short walks, a longer hike up Pemetic Mountain, a shorter hike up South Bubble, a few walks around different parts of the park, a drive up Cadillac Mountain with a walk around it's summit trails, a stroll around town and a walk out on the sandbar to Bar Island at low tide and more. It's a great place to get outside and walk around, with everything from steep rocky trails up the dozen or so major mountains to the wide flat gravel carriage roads for leisurely strolls and everything in between. Needless to say, if you follow this blog at all, there's a lot of pictures. The original/regular pictures and a few dozen HDR's are all mixed together in one big post. It might take you a while if you care to see all of them but if you do you can either click here or on the pictures above. We enjoyed our weekend and hope you enjoy all the pictures.

Older Stuff I Thought I Put Up. Oops.

Well it's been a while since our last update. A couple weeks ago it was in the 80's and we were out hiking in shorts and t-shirts, now for the last few weeks it has been much cooler around here. Brooke has still been out and about a bit. A couple weeks ago she went on a little trip up Stratham Hill with her friends Jack and Clara. I wasn't there but Jen took some pictures of the outing which I finally got off her camera and linked up after a couple weeks.

Brooke also got the hand, foot and mouth virus. It's one of those things they never tell you about until your kid gets it and then they say it's like the chicken pox and almost every kid has it by the time they're ten. It would help to know that before your kids face hands and feet are covered in blisters and bumps and you think they have the plague or something but that's just the way it goes I guess. She's over it now, although she was the first case of the season in Exeter (lucky us), but she was sort of quarantined for a week or so and we just hung around playing in the yard and watching birds at the new feeders that Brooke and Jen put up. I'll spare you the pictures of the virus but there are some pictures of the birds in the yard that we've taken. They, along with the Statham Hill ones and a few other recent pictures are all right here if you'd like to see any of them. You can also click on the pictures below if you'd rather do it that way. Also, not this past weekend but the one before, Ryan and I set out for a nice spring hike up Saddleback and The Horn up in Maine. The Horn was another of our New England 4000 footers and we decided to check it off the list. Our luck, that day turned out to be what I hope was the last blizzard we will be hiking in this spring with whiteout conditions above treeline and a windblown 12-18 inches of snow for us to trudge through. We used the ski trails of the closed resort to go up and down Saddleback on and a section of the Appalachian Trail to get to The Horn and back. There aren't a whole lot of exciting pictures from that trip because of the weather but the ones I have are located here or on the picture below if you want to see any of them.

I'd say that's all for now but it's not. There's a whole other post on our recent trip to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park so when you're done with these pictures if you haven't had your fill go to the Acadia ones. If you've had enough of us for now check them out later if you want to. OK, that's all for this post. Check out the other one sometime if you want to.

Enjoying It While It Lasts

The weather has been so nice lately we've tried to get out and enjoy it while it lasts. Summer isn't far away chances are some crummy weather isn't either so with that in mind we've been out and about whenever possible. Last Saturday when we hiked Welch and Dickey it hit 81 degrees. This past Wednesday I got out of work at 1 and again it was up in the 80's. There wasn't a lot of time to go anywhere but while Brooke napped, rather than sit home, we drove up to Mt. Major for another hike. It started off really nice (87 and sunny) but it went downhill and by the time we were on top it was about 75 and windy with a few raindrops. I wish I could get the job of the weathermen who told us it would be nice all afternoon. Anyhow that didn't ruin the day, it made for some nice pictures and kept us cool. There's a bunch of pictures from that hike here if you want to see them.

Also this Sunday Travis, Tim and I hiked up Mt. Chocorua. The weather was not quite as warm as the other hikes but it was in the 50's for most of the trip, except up high where it was probably 45 or so with wind speeds to match. Travis hadn't joined me in over a year and Tim had never been with us but we took the adventurous trail anyhow, lots of ledges and rock scrambles to get up. There was still a little snow up above 2500 feet in the evergreens but the rocks and ledges were clear which was nice. The clouds cleared out as the day went on and other than the wind it was a really nice day for a hike, which of course means there's a lot of pictures. If you want to see them all and go on a virtual hike with us you can click here. If you'd rather see the much shorter HDR version with just a couple dozen pictures you can click here.

Jens camera is still broken and we're waiting on a repair or replacement so there aren't many other pictures to put up which I guess means that's about all for now.

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone had a happy Easter. I know ours was filled with lots of family, friends and food so we definitely did. Brooke and I started the day with the basket and egg hunt and then went to my parents for feast number one while we waited for Jen to get out of work. Later on we all went to Jens parents for feast number two. Brooke ate a lot of ham and a lot of Aunt Karen's cookies but other than that she wasn't all that interested in the food. She had more fun playing with Cameron and later "Fia" and Brianna. There's a bunch of pictures from the day because, well, it's what I do, so if you're interested you can see them by clicking here or on the picture above.

Also on Saturday Brooke, Jen and I went for our first real hike of the season. The sun and 80+ degree temps were too good to pass up so we headed north to Waterville Valley to hike the Welch and Dickey loop. It's only about a 5 mile loop and the mountains are only 2600 and 2700 feet high but they have a lot of open ledges and the summit of Welch is mostly bare so there are lots of great views as well as some fun rock scrambles on much of the hike. I think it's the best small mountain hike in New Hampshire. Its actually a lot more like the hikes in Acadia than most of the ones in the Whites because of all the exposed granite and because it gets to the views so quickly. Either way, the bugs weren't out yet, the sun was shining and it hit 81 degrees on April 3rd. What's not to like about that?

We had a great time. Brooke is quite entertaining on these trips so even if you don't love hiking we hope you'll join us sometime. She'll keep you entertained and smiling by saying things like "Whoa!" and "Woooow" when there are great views and "Stuck!" when I'm going slowly and carefully up the rocks and she thinks we're, well, stuck. You're all welcome any time so watch the blog for invites or arrange something with us. We're always happy to have people along. For now if you'd like to see some pictures from this trip on an absolutely perfect spring day click here or on the picture above. That's all for now.