At My Leisure

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be invited to the baby shower for two lovely ladies from Via. Rachel and Meghan are due within a day of each other and so a joint shower seemed appropriate.

The shower was held in the Biddo (Biddeford for those of you who aren’t up with the lingo) at the house of another Vian Elizabeth. The theme was 50’s Diner so of course I dressed the part, Maine has never seen a pony tail to high! However, as it turned out, the theme was really just an excuse to serve sliders for lunch and pretty much no one else dressed up, but c’est la vie!

Nevertheless it was a lovely day! The sun was shining and it was New England springtime at its best. Elizabeth has an actual grown-up house (as opposed to an apartment) with a gorgeous garden, so we basked in the sun and tried to give our winter pale skin some colour whilst gossiping, eating, drinking and generally having a great time!

Lovely ladies in the sun

There were no games (by request of the mums-to-be) but there were plenty of presents for the respective babies. Neither Rachel nor Meghan have found out whether they are having a boy or girl, so it meant we had to get creative with gifts. After much deliberation I decided on some good old Aussie classics - Possum Magic and Hairy Maclary. Each book was accompanied by a kangaroo or koala toy so Australia was properly represented.

Meghan with her kangaroo

Rachel enjoying Possum Magic while Mattie the present helper looks on

The kids at the shower thoroughly enjoying the wrapping paper

By late afternoon we were all stuffed to the brim and the mums-to-be were getting tired so we headed back into Portland to meet up with the male contingent of our friends. 

Whilst the girls had been sipping champagne at a classy and sophisticated soiree the men had gone to the local baseball game - read that as sat in the sun and drank beer for 3 hours - before retreating to a friends roof deck for more beer drinking in the sun. 

Needless to say they were all nice and relaxed by the time we found them! We joined them on the roof deck for the last of the spring sunshine and beers before heading into town to the local bowling alley for the opening of their outside beer garden. Once at the bowling alley we partook in some skillful games of corn hole (a very American pub game where opposing teams toss bean-bags onto a wooden board with a hole in the middle. Points are awarded depending on whether you can make your bag land on the board or in the hole. It is harder than it sounds!) whilst the light held before heading inside for some equally skillful bowling.

Phil and Suzanne take aim…

Only Crista could look this good in a pair of rented bowling shoes!

Traci and Suzanne

Pats deliberated over ball selection…

Closing time came around a lot quicker than expected and it was a long and wobbly walk home, and I managed a good couple of hours sleep before heading to the airport on Sunday morning to pick up Kev (he had been in San Diego for work).

It was a brilliant day, made great by the sun and even better by the people who enjoyed it with me! Thanks peeps - I had a ball!!

xxxxx

Life in Portland Maine has been chugging along nicely as life can tend to do lately which is lovely, but it does leave me with little to blog about!

As it happens I have started volunteering at the York Center for Wildlife once a week which I am really enjoying. The center is a not for profit that takes in wild animals that have been injured by humans. They mostly get birds and small mammals and fix them up with the aim of returning them to the wild where they were found. 

The center is actually really quiet at the moment (which is great for the animals, but not so great for the volunteers as there isn’t really much to do) but I have been assured that this changes as summer sets in. Plus it means I get to go out on road trips to pick up and release animals. 

A couple of weeks ago I went on a retrieval trip with some interns. It was actually pretty funny. We drove around New Hampshire meeting random people in random parts of town (outside the post office, in the parking lot of a fast food joint) and exchanged various animals - it kind of felt like some kind of shady deals were going on - “you got the turtle?” etc. 

Last week, was an even better road trip - we were returning a mallard duck to the wild. So four of us and the duck piled into the car and went in search of a nice place for a duck to live near the area he was found. We settled on a lovely wooded area with a nice pond well off the road, that already had other mallards living in it.

As we released our duck the others headed over to see what was going on. We weren’t really sure how this was going to go down (none of us knew if ducks were territorial or not) so we waited to see if the new guy would be accepted into the pond gang…

Our selected release spot

Luckily he was! It was almost like they all already knew each other (which I guess is possible. He was found near there…) There was a bit of quacking conversation between the three and then they were off. Paddling across the water to find a good place to feed. I have to say it was really, really nice to watch. I had grown quite attached to the duck while he was at the center (even though we aren’t allowed to talk to or handle the animals unnecessarily) and it was wonderful to see him back in the wild and with friends! I know this is all very soppy but its my blog so deal with it! :)

The three buddies heading off into the pond

Anyway, it was a  thoroughly successful release trip and I look forward to being able to do it again. In the meantime we have 2 baby ducklings to look after which are so, so, so cute and a couple of baby squirrels - yay!

We have some fun weekends coming up, so I should be back to my usual blogging self soon.

xxxxx

Last weekend, after months of begging Kev got his wish and we headed into the Maine woods for a weekend at a cabin. The cabin was situated just outside Andover, which is 2 hours north-west of Portland and nestled among the Maine White Mountains (I think), and it really was rustic! No electricity, no running water, outdoor outhouse and a quarter mile walk just to get to it! And I loved every minute of it!

Our cabin.

We arrived Friday evening, it was sunny and warm and hinted at a weekend of lovely weather which boded well for us. After meeting Brenda and Lance, the owners of the cabin, we loaded up their ATV with our gear and headed into the woods. It only took about 10 minutes of off roading from where we left the car, but it felt like a million miles away when we got there. The cabin is TOTALLY secluded! Surrounded by woods with a view that goes on for miles and no cars or people to be seen! Bliss! We were given a quick tour of the facilities and then it was just us and nature. We still had a bit of daylight left so we unpacked and got settled in, then Kev got into Mountain Man mode and built us a fire by which to sit and contemplate life with a beer in hand. As the sun set over the mountains we roused ourselves and made dinner on the BBQ. After a delicious meal of steak, spuds and beans, we supped on tea accompanied by Jammie Dodgers by the light of oil lamps and played a couple of rounds of Boggle (all of which I lost badly!). It actually turned quite cold once the sun went down, so after a quick clean up we gratefully crawled into bed and slept soundly breathing the crisp, clean mountain air.

The view from the cabin

The next day we rose to the sounds of birds and frogs (that actually sounded like birds) and quickly got the kettle on. The sun was shining, so we took our European style breakfast foods outside and ate in the sun. Saturday had been penciled in as a day of hiking, so after breakfast we pulled out the maps in the cabin to try and decide where to go. They weren’t the greatest of maps, but we eventually settled on a trail we could walk to from the cabin and met up with the Appalachian Trail a couple of miles in. Kev has been dreaming of doing the Appalachian Trail for years (for anyone who doesn’t know, it is a 2,184 mile (3,515km) hike that starts in Georgia and ends in Maine and takes between 4 and 6 months to complete). Needless to say, we were only going to tackle a little bit of it, but it was still a rather exciting opportunity for Kev.

A pretty river along the trail

And another one!

Trail flowers

Our trail plotted, lunch and thermos of tea packed and our hiking boots laced, we headed into the wilderness in search of adventure. The first part of the trail was actually a dirt road followed by an ATV track so it was fairly easy walking, but the sun was shining, the birds was singing and we were out and about in nature, so it was a lovely walk! After about 2 hours however we started to doubt our map reading abilities. According to the map we had (which admittedly wasn’t great, had no scale markers on it and even if it did it would have been in miles which I haven’t quite mastered yet!) we should have hit the AT by now, but it was nowhere to be seen, and we couldn’t actually work out where we were, if we had gone too far or not far enough. After a bit of faffing around and backwards-and-forwarding we decided that we must have gone to far so we turned back. Keeping our eyes peeled for the famous white blazes we eventually found the junction of the two trails which was a lot less imposing than we had expected.

It was marked by two cairns which was had actually commented on on the way past the first time without realising what they were there for! Annoying! But, we found it and with a certain amount of ceremony Kev took his very first step on the AT. While I don’t hold the AT in such high reverence, I have to say it was a little bit exciting being with Kev at this moment. It was obviously a big deal for him and I was really glad to be there. 

Kev with his first AT blaze (the white mark on the tree that marks the trail)

Hiking the AT!

And so we hiked the AT. The Maine section of the trail is known for being particularly hilly and as we were starting the trail from a valley between two mountains we knew it would be a steep climb. And boy those contour lines did not lie! It was brutal! Pretty much straight up for an hour! Strangely, after close to 3 hours of walking on flat trails, I actually quite enjoyed the climb (once my lungs had recovered!!). It felt like real hiking and I think I would have been a bit disappointed if we hadn’t done it.

A waterfall on the way up the mountain (any excuse to stop and rest :) )

Once at the top we stopped at the Hall Mountain Lean-to, which is a little hut type structure where AT through-hikers stop to sleep after a long day of hiking. We had some much deserved lunch and a rest and look around. The lean-to had a register book where which hikers can write in to say they were there and leave whatever sort of a message they feel like. From the register it looked like we were the first people to visit the lean-to since November 2011. This wasn’t surprising as most through-hikers start the AT trip in Georgia in the Spring (around April) and hike south-north, so they wouldn’t be hitting Maine until July or August. There was also still quite a lot of snow on the ground and I guess it was still a bit early in the year for day hikers too.

Kev in the Hall Mountain Lean-to

Checking the lean-to register

Anyway, once we had recovered from our up-hill mission we set about finding a way down. The map showed another trail that headed down from the lean-to, making a loop back to the road near the cabin. We had planned to take this trail back, but after a good 45 minutes of traipsing back and forth on the top of the mountain we couldn’t find the trail head! Annoying! As it was now 2.30 in the afternoon and we had at least a 2 hour hike out of the woods we decided the safest option was to head back the way we came. Not ideal, but we knew it would get us home. So off we went. I have to say, the downhill was way worst than the uphill. Going up uses your lungs and makes you puff but going down kills your legs and your knees!! And contrary to the belief, doesn’t really go much faster than the up-hill. Finally at the bottom and glad to be back on level ground we began the walk out.

As much as flat trails are easy to walk on, they can be a bit of a boring slog, especially when you have been hiking for 5 hours, already walked that part of the trail once and really just wanted to be home now! But we survived, and 7 hours after we left, we stumbled back to our little cabin tired but happy. My feet hurt, my knees hurt and I could feel the muscles in my legs already starting to complain - I worked out that we had hiked about 12 miles. Tomorrow was going to hurt! After peeling off our shoes and socks and gulping down a couple of litres of water, we sat on the porch and cracked open a beer - Bud Light has never tasted so good! It wasn’t long before the cheese and crackers were fetched from inside the cabin along with a board game or two and we sat and drank and enjoyed the evening sun and not moving. 

Unfortunately when you go from moving lots to not moving at all, your body doesn’t really like it when you try to start moving again! With much moaning and groaning, we raised ourselves from the porch seats and set about making dinner before the sun had completely set. Kev was expanding his Bannock baking skills as the base of our meal so a fire had to be built and coals cultivated to produce the heat required to make the campfire bread. It wasn’t as successful as the New Hampshire batch, but the olive and sun-dried tomato version, filled with campfire bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo was delicious! We ate by the fire, under the stars - it was awesome. Dinner was followed by treacle pudding and another board game before exhaustion got the better of us and we hit the hay for a well deserved sleep!

Initially we had planned to do another short hike on Sunday morning before heading home, but we both woke up VERY sore and made an executive decision to pass on the hike and just hang out at the cabin. So breakfast was long and relaxing and we took our time packing up the cabin and making sure we left it in a respectable state. Finally at about 11.30 we had drunk all the tea we had brought with us, so we decided it was time to go. We headed back to Portland a slightly different way than the route we took to get there, which took us past Sunday River ( a ski mountain) and the infamous BBQ trailer. Fortunately it was about lunch time when we passed it, so we pulled in for some pulled pork. YUM! That is all I can say. It was delicious! If you are ever up that way I highly recommend it. Good honest to goodness BBQ pulled pork with BBQ sauce on a bun. No messing around, no posh toppings, just meat, sauce and bread. Why mess with perfection!

Real Pit BBQ Trailer - Route 26, near Bethel

Unadulterated porky goodness

The Pulled Pork Sundae - a house specialty

Anyway, after lunch we surrendered ourselves to the GPS and turned the car in the direction of Portland. It was a glorious, warm day, however the A/C in the car didn’t want to play, so by the time we got home we were over-heated and tired. And still sore. After a shower (the first since Friday - it was wonderful) and a stint on the couch we were recovered enough to head to Ruskies (our local dive bar) for dinner and bluegrass, and then it was home and bed.

All in all it was a great weekend. We had no phones or Internet for the weekend and there is a secret kind of enjoyment in going back to the basics for a couple of days. We both had a brilliant time and are already looking at the calendar for a weekend in summer when we can go back. If anyone is interested in a weekend in the woods, I would totally recommend this cabin, it is rustic, but has everything you need!

xxxxx

So I have been a bit slack with this post after putting up the photos last week, but such is life!

The weekend before last I went to Atlanta. Originally I was going to go down to Gainesville in Florida to visit Shilo at college, but it is quite a small town and Atlanta was a nice in between place for us both to get to so we decided to check out Georgia instead.

I mid Friday morning after taking an early flight out of Portland (so glad I paid the bit extra for the direct flight) and it was a glorious 26 degrees when I walked out of the airport! Once I found the hotel and Shilo we checked in and headed Downtown. After a slight miscalculation with directions we made it to the World of Coca Cola. It was pretty cool. There was a 4-D film that taught everyone about how to live a healthy life (whilst enjoying an ice cold Coke of course) and saw the vault where they supposedly keep the formula for Coke (not entirely sure if I believe it was there but it was a pretty impressive looking vault). The tour finished off with a tasting room that let you sample all the different soda’s that the Coke company makes - there was a surprising amount of different types of drinks, all of which were super, super sweet. We were both of a bit of a sugar high by the end of the tour!

The World of Coca-Cola

Pretty coke bottles inside the visitors centre

Me and the Coca-Cola bear - he had slightly creepy eyes…

The Coke Vault

We had been planning to hit the Georgia Aquarium next, but by the time we finished at Coke it was late afternoon and we didn’t want to rush through the fish so we headed back to the hotel for a nap before heading out to brewery tour. And what a tour it was! We arrived at the Red Brick Brewery just before 7 after an interesting bus trip and a walk through the random industrial where the brewery is situated.

Anyway, the brewery was packed! We wormed our way into the building with our tour vouchers only to find out that each voucher was good for 2 people instead of 1 and we had 2. But instead of just saying ‘too bad’ the dudes at the brewery just gave us double of everything. 2 koozies (stubby holders) each, two pint glasses each and double the beer vouchers for the bar. Love southern hospitality! Not that the number of vouchers made any difference, the people at the bar really weren’t paying any attention to whether or not you dropped of a little red ticket as they filled, yes FILLED, our pint glasses with the beer of our choice. The tour eventually started and we were very casually shown around the back of the brewery and encouraged to leave the tour whenever our glasses were empty to get a refill. The tour was good, and once it was over it was back to the bar for a couple more before attempting to get a cab back into town, which was a whole nother mission. The cab company didn’t know where the brewery was, and then they didn’t understand my accent but eventually a cab showed up whisked us away to some much needed dinner.

Varsity Burger

We hit up The Varsity for dinner which is an old school burger joint that is quite well known and pretty cool. It is all metal tables and linoleum floors and the waitresses all say ‘whatta y’all have?’. Either way the burger and fries that I had were delicious and Shilo’s onion rings we to die for! We had both had very early mornings so it turned out to be an early night for us both, ready for a big day on the morrow.

It turned out we were both tireder than we realised and it was a late start to Saturday. After a quick meal at Chick-Fil-A we headed back to the Aquarium. It was brilliant! Loads of fish, a great dolphin show and there was a wicked crawl tunnel underneath the penguin enclosure that let you get right up close to the penguins. One of them decided that my zebra print scarf  looked like a fish and kept trying to attack it through the glass - very cute! Anyway, the photos I posted tell the story better than I can, but it was brill. We spent about 5 hours there and I loved every minute! 

Me in the penguin tunnel

After a quick stop back at the hotel to freshen up we headed out for dinner. Shilo had a craving for Korean food and we managed to find a Korean Taco joint within walking distance so that was our destination. I have never had Korean tacos before, but I have to admit they were a revelation! A mix of two of my favourite type of foods - Asian meets Mexican, and it totally worked! After dinner we hit up a local bar that we had seen on the way out. It was packed full and the atmosphere was excellent. After a couple of beers it as home time again - looking at fish and walking around in glorious sunshine can be very tiring!

Turtles on a log in the park

The Atlanta Skyline

Sunday we managed to pull ourselves out of bed at a decent time and headed to the Flying Biscuit Cafe for breakfast. It is a chain restaurant but the line-up out the front was a very promising sight that proved to be right on the money. The food was great! I had booked us in for a proper Southern lunch so we didn’t want anything too big, but I still managed to sample their delicious pancakes and a proper biscuit. With bellies full of food we headed to the park and wandered around in the sunshine, watching people walk their dogs on a Sunday morning. Before we knew it a couple of hours had passed and it was time for lunch! Lunch was also delicious - fried chicken, buttermilk mashed potato, crab cake hash and fried green tomatoes, all washed down with iced tea. YUM!!!

So with more full tummies we hit the road again for another long walk to aid digestion. We wandered east to an area that has recently been turned into a cool shopping area. Unfortunately most things were closed on Sundays but we did stumble on a very good antiques market and some cool boutiques before headed back to the train for our afternoon adventure. We had booked in for a by-plane scenic flight over the city. It started a little bit out of town so we had a bit of a ride to get there, but managed ok. The flight started from the 57th Squadron restaurant that was situated on a small airport and although it looked a bit random from the outside it turned out to be quite nice inside. The by-plane ride was great! I have never been in an open cockpit plane before, but once I got used to the bumpy-ness of it all I actually really enjoyed it. We flew quite low and had a great view of downtown Atlanta and when we were done we settled into a table in the restaurants beer gardens and enjoyed a couple of cold ones in sun. 

Me and Shilo with our plane

Atlanta from above

Coming in to land

In the cockpit!

As the sun went down we were amazingly starting to get hungry again! And so we pilled back into a cab and headed to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack - literally a shack on the side of the road that served the most amazing ribs I have EVER eaten - seriously! Amazballs! Anyways, bellies full once again we headed home, very, very full!

Fat Matt’s Rib Shack

Monday dawned warm and sunny again, but as we only had half a day we stayed local. A yummy breakfast at a local bakery was had and then we decided to visit the Margaret Mitchell house. Margaret Mitchell was the author of Gone With the Wind and wrote much of the book in an apartment on Peachtree Street. The tour guide was excellent and pretty funny, turns out Miss Mitchell was quite the interesting lady - it has actually inspired me to read Gone With the Wind (I have only ever watched the film and that was ages ago!). Anyway, with the tour over it was time to jump back on the train and head for the airport.

Margaret Mitchell House

Costume sketches from Gone with the Wind

Home by 5 and in bed by 9 - it was a fun and yet exhausting weekend but I thoroughly enjoyed the South! If you ever get the chance to go I would recommend it.

xxxxx