Scenes Along the Way to Maine

A pretty little girl.

Looking at some of the original Erie Canal.

Original Walls of the Canal

Exploring a lock on the canal.

An interesting barn somewhere in New York; it has a garage door.

Summer Travel to Maine

As usual all good blog posts pop into my head and right out extremely quickly if I don't get them onto paper.  In this case, that's what happened so this post will be "Just the facts ma'am, just the facts." 

In the past 4 days we have traveled hundreds of miles, spent a small fortune on diesel gasoline,  gone through multiple states, cleaned out a grocery store, ate lunch in the car 3 days straight, walked along the Erie Canal, hiked in the Adirondacks, explored an abandoned garnet mine,    

crossed Lake Champlain on a ferry, nestled ourselves in a cabin (ok, a camp) in Maine, jumped in the lake a hundred times (only the boys have made it to that number), canoed, kayaked, visited an 1850 era church, hung out with our friends, and whined a little (mostly children), ached a little (mostly the newbie waterskiiers), and laughed so hard that now we look at each other and start giggling.  And lastly, but not the least of which, the bird whisperer, and if you know who the duck whisperer is, you're ahead of the game, this bird whisperer helps a frightened wren who is trying to get in our screened window tonight, seems she likes the light but the bird whisperer easily catches, holds, and calms her before she hurts herself and lets her go in safety.  Maine has that effect on you I guess with it's soothing temperatures (not hot Charleston), it's glistening lake, beautiful mountains, loons calling to you in the early evening or morning, and the breeze.  I admit, there are a few bugs, mostly mosquitoes which should qualify as the state bird even though they are insects, but nothing a can of spray can't hold at bay. 

 

As busy and GO GO GO as our life has been, it seems that relaxing a little has been good for all of us!

 

On the Road Again!

"On the road again, I just can't wait to get on the road again...."
Oh, if this were only true. I was weary after another trip to Charleston and Jeff proclaimed that the farm life and jet-setting don't quite go hand in hand. Besides a newborn baby and 6 other children, we were carrying 4 young ducklings as well. Since Katharine Ellis's birth, we have made, count them now, 5 Trips! Yes, 4 trips to Charleston in 11 weeks and one trip to Boone (our first trip when she was oh, just 2 weeks old). Only one was purely for fun even though they were all enjoyable; weddings; car buying; work; company retreats; 150th anniversary of the War (what you call it depends upon where you live; in Charleston it's "That most recent Unpleasantness") Then just when we thought life would settle down a little (I'd like a little bit of boring), Jeff came home with news he would be working in California and it would take several 9-10 day trips. Not relishing staying by myself for days on end, him returning for 3 or 4 days and leaving again I was very quiet during this conversation. However, my wonderful husband came up with a plan. Let's all temporarily move across the country for 7 weeks! Yikes. So, with just a little time to prepare (little is relative, really how much time would you want to prepare for this? Weeks, months, years?) we began the thought process which turned into several lists and started preparing mentally to get back in the car.....again. Instead of 3 hours to Charleston, it's a mere 36 hours to California. When can we go back to Charleston?