We left Emily's house around 9am Saturday morning and made a quick jaunt up the road to Concord to visit Minute Man National Historic Park. Once again, it was clear how little I really know, even about things I thought I knew about! The video here was the best we've seen so far on our trip; it helped that so much of the presentation was multi-media.
They worked on their Jr Ranger booklets, and since this park had a separate booklet for the 4-7 age group, Nellie completed most of hers by herself!
When it was time to be sworn in, she was extra excited to get her badge. For once, she actually earned it.
We discussed taking time to visit Louisa May Alcott's Orchard home and Walden Pond, but the consensus was, no, continue up to Maine. So, to Maine we went! Maine is another state I've always wanted to visit.
We checked into our "cottage" at an RV park and discovered "cottage" is a generous way of saying "dumpy trailer." It took us longer to get settled than usual because we had to bring our own bedding and make up all the beds. There was once double bed in the "master" bedroom, a set of super skinny bunkbeds in a tiny bedroom, and another set of super skinny bunkbeds in the hallway.
It was a frustrating process, and I didn't handle it well. When it was finished, I went to the back bedroom, closed the door, and threw myself on the bed. The kids wisely gave me my space. Mark kindly decided to take them all to the swimming pool and give me a little time on my own. Thirty seconds after they left, I fell soundly asleep and didn't wake up until they came back 90 minutes later. I felt much better after the sleep booster. Mayhaps I was a little over-tired...
The kids were cold after swimming, so we got them all showered and re-dressed, then set out for dinner. Becky had recommended visiting the Maine Diner, so off we went.
We wanted to try some food specific to Maine, so, in addition to a few kid's meals, we ordered lobster macaroni and cheese, clam chowder, and a seafood sampler plate. We shared most of the items and the reviews were primarily favorable. Aubree really liked the clam chowder and lobster macaroni and cheese.
Sunday morning we drove up to Saco for 10am Sacrament Meeting. The Saco Ward meets in a tiny building that is in the process of being expanded. Pretty neat to see! As you might expect, it's a small congregation with a large number of visitors. Just like in Seattle, when people found out we were visiting, they immediately commented on the fortunate weather blessing our trip, "You sure picked a good weekend to come with all this sunshine!" Aubree was one of only 4 young women, and the other three girls were sisters!
After church, we changed into street clothes and set off to see some sites. We drove north to Cape Elizabeth, found a coveted parking spot, took a quick picture in front of the lighthouse, then got busy exploring the coastline.
At first we thought this area was covered in piles of logs, but as we investigated further, we discovered it was rock that looked a heck of a lot like logs.
We luckily arrived at low-tide, and the kids quickly turned into mountain goats (coast goats?), leaping from rock to rock.
The views were stunning.
Eventually we made our way to a little beach. Nellie dug in the sand.
The boys threw rocks and tried skipping stones.
Bryce couldn't resist climbing to the top of this ridge, then wanted me to take a picture to document the accomplishment. I wanted to stop by another park/scenic spot on the way back to our trailer, but the kids were not interested. It's a tricky balance sometimes between taking advantage of our short time in each area and not over-extending ourselves. Instead, they spent the afternoon watching a Harry Potter movie marathon on TV. Mark commented, "Now, whenever they see Harry Potter, they'll think of Maine."
Monday morning it took a lot more work than normal to pack up, clean up, and leave, but we managed to be out by 9am. I wasn't sorry to leave that "cottage." The bed was horribly uncomfortable, and with Mark, Nellie, and me sharing the double bed, I don't think any of us slept very well. The ceiling and wallpaper reminded me of the double-wide mobile home where I grew up. I have fond memories of my family, but oh, do I hate mobile homes!
We treated ourselves to Congdon's doughnuts on our way out of Wells.
Apparently this doughnut shop is a big deal in the area. For sure, the doughnuts were tasty, but I'm not sure we're the biggest doughnut fans in the world.
Monday was primarily a drive day. We had 7 1/2 hours of drive time from Maine, through New Hampshire and Vermont, and back to New York. Those are all gorgeous states, but the roads we took through them were small and windy, and we experienced our first bout of carsickness thus far on our trip. When Bryce complained his stomach was hurting, we took that as a sign it was time to stop for lunch and Dramamine. We found a little park in Wilmington, Vermont, pulled out sandwiches, and took time to run around and play.
Then we were back to the grind. Here's a funny story I don't think I've told yet...
When we bought our van almost 9 years ago, we were excited about the built in DVD player. However, when we got it home, we discovered there was a DVD stuck in the player. We tried everything we could think of to get it out, but after a few weeks, gave up. A few weeks before we left on our trip, I thought, "Huh, I wonder if I looked up 'how to get a stuck DVD out of a Toyota Sienna' on YouTube, if I could find a tutorial?" Approximately two minutes later, we had found and watched a tutorial, and successfully gotten the stuck DVD out of the van!
So, this trip is the first time my kids have ever watched a DVD in our van (with the exception of the time they watched the stuck DVD, which happened to be old black and white cartoons with no sound). As we prepared to leave, they explained to each other, "Mom said we can only watch movies on drives longer than 5 hours."
I sure didn't remember saying that, but it sounded like a reasonable guideline, so I didn't contradict them. So, even though it was a long day of driving on Monday, the kids were excited because it meant they got to watch a movie (they chose National Velvet this time) the last two hours.
We stayed the night at a hotel in Syracuse, New York. Here's the longer story on that hotel...
On Sunday afternoon, I went to my email to check the address for the hotel in Palmyra where we had reservations for two nights, Monday-Wednesday. Except, when I pulled up the email, I found that our reservations were for Tuesday-Thursday. Oh no!! That was my first major logistical error of the trip. I looked up the Palmyra hotel and discovered that they didn't have any available rooms Monday night, which left me feeling mildly panicked.
"Uncle Gosh" to the rescue! Josh works for Marriot and oh-so-generously got us a letter allowing us discounted rates under his employee benefits. Thanks to this, we were able to secure rooms at a great rate in Syracuse. Phew!
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