Cape Cod, MA

It was with heavy heart and a cranky attitude that Al left Maine. The piles of freshly split firewood, old friends, the promise of snow and the upcoming deer hunting season were all calling to him. However, once on the road, he was all about Cape Cod!

The amazing Tulip has found her inner wheels and was quite content with the road rumbling beneath her and the world whizzing by her. It was a pleasant 300 miles!

The Cape Cod bike trail is as good as the brochures describe it. It is a paved boulevard with rolling hills, curves, cranberry bogs, rotaries, beaches, bridges and a rock hiking trail in Provincetown across Cape Cod Bay to a lighthouse.

We took our bikes on the ferry to Martha's Vineyard. The island is fairly large and not really quaint, but it has great biking trails along beaches and thru forests and towns. The small fishing harbors and the gingerbread houses are picturesque. Most all structures on the island, as well as Cape Cod, are sided with cedar shingles that age to a weathered gray.

Cape Cod was much fun, but we have overstayed our visit in New England; it is getting really COLD! It has been nice to be on the coast again. We need to plot a path south... and fairly quickly before it snows. The forecast is not good for the upcoming ten days. Our plan is to take a wide swing around NY City and then due south to Pensacola!

Bangor, ME

There is much to be said for traveling the country, the romance of the open road, meeting new friends and generally being footloose and fancy free. But, there is something soul satisfying about coming home...and not just for the lobster chowder!

Being in Maine has been a whirlwind of catching up with old friends, spending time with Josh, climbing 3/4 of a mountain, bearing witness to Adrienne's completion of the AT, watching the amazing "changing of the leaves", and feeling the comfort of familiar surroundings and good memories.

Funny how sometimes one is too busy to take advantage and enjoy what is in the backyard. We biked on the Carriage Roads in Acadia--something we never did when we lived here, and we snacked on popovers at the Jordan Pond House. Al was all too happy to deliver a food drop (including Whoopie Pies) for Adrienne in the North Maine Woods where he worked and hunted for many years.

Adrienne and Will summited Mt. Katahdin with their friends. And so ends Adrienne's incredible 2,055 mile AT journey. We are so proud of her and her accomplishment...and feel SOMEHOW this must be a result of exemplary parenting!! :) :) Al and I climbed the mountain as well...beyond treeline, over boulders, straight up boulders, until we reached the ladder rungs where the wind was blowing 90 knots and the trail "spoke" to me and said, "STOP." Although I assured him I could get myself down the mountain, Al did the noble thing and accompanied me... even though he really wanted to be at the top with Adrienne. I believe it is a new definition of true love. :)

Bangor, Maine is the legendary birthplace of Paul Bunyan and home of Stephen King (although rumor has it he spends his time in Florida now).

We've had the best time!! Leaving is bittersweet. That said, frost is on the pumpkin, and there are people to see, places to go and things to do--like biking on Cape Cod where it is a bit warmer!