Pawtuckaway - Father's Day 2019

Last weekend we joined 6 other families for our annual neighborhood Father's Day Weekend camping trip at Pawtuckaway State Park.

One can reserve spaces there 11 months in advance. We want the sweet spots on Neal's Cove that have swimmable waterfront plus the fun boulders off shore. So I coordinate all the neighbors to make reservations on the first available day. This year we had the entire core of Neal's Cove.

Friday night was a bit windy but pleasant. Saturday was perfect. The forecast was for rain over night Saturday and most of the day Sunday, so a couple of families departed after dinner on Saturday. It turned out to be a bit of a false alarm. It only rained a tiny bit during the night, and then was dry until 10:45 in the morning. Enough time for a relaxing breakfast and fire and packing while dry.

I made a pledge to myself to swim three times Saturday, with one of them at night. I succeeded. The lake felt chilly at first but one got used to it quickly and then it was really nice.

Carol worked all day Thursday and part of Friday before the trip to precook a ton of fantastic food. We had the best camping meals ever. Thanks, Carol!

It was a fantastic Father's Day.

It's already on my calendar to sync everyone in a few weeks on July 20 to make reservations for next year.

Acadia National Park 2018

Wow, I've gotten really bad at this blog thing. I haven't posted since June, and that was a post about Mexico that was four months late!

C'est la vie.

Our neighbors Molly and Brendon go camping at Acadia National Park every Labor Day. We used to avoid traveling on holiday weekends because the Boston exodus and re-entry traffic are legendary. But last year they made it sound so attractive that we gave it a try, and loved it. We signed up again this year.

At almost the last minute, Audrey asked if her best friend Mia could join us for the trip. Carol and I thought about it for about five minutes and said, "Sure!" Mia is like our third daughter; she spends a lot of weekends at our house. I asked her during the trip whether she is a guest or a member of the family. She and everyone else agreed: the latter. She's always a pleasure to have with us, and Audrey enjoyed having a friend along.

We decided to borrow a tent and drive the new hybrid minivan this year, figuring it would be more comfortable than Ruby for the 5-hour drive - especially if it was hot. It would also allow us to drive seven people around while there without converting Ruby from apartment to vehicle every day. We all enjoyed sleeping in a tent for a change, but I think we all like the van better. For one thing, it's better at blocking out the sounds of other campers so we sleep better and later in the van.

Visiting Acadia is a wonderful mix. The National Park takes up maybe 1/3 of Mount Desert Island and the rest is quaint seaside towns including the most famous, Bar Harbor. So one can hike and bike and explore the park but still easily go into town for ice cream or meals out.

Our favorite discovery this year is the Rexall drug store with soda fountain! We had seen the store before but didn't know it had the counter. They found all the old accoutrements like the tall glass straw dispenser, and they make soft drinks like a real soda fountain by mixing syrup with carbonated water. Even Coca-cola. They have a classic lunch counter menu featuring grilled cheese, egg salad, ham salad, BLT, etc. Delicious. And cheap! Unfortunately also closed on Sundays.

The third family in our group was Kerry and Sean, who are quite the camping foodies. Kerry made a huge, gorgeous paella the first night and made fancy food on a campfire for pretty much every meal. It was fun to watch.

We all did a few hikes. Charlotte hiked to Great Head with everyone else (and Kerry and Sean's dog Barley) while Carol and Audrey and Mia and I hiked The Beehive - a short, steep hike featuring iron rungs and ladders to climb the cliffs and ledges. Slightly scary and very fun. The next day Carol and I and all the kids (including our neighbor Anna) hiked up Cadillac Mountain to the highest point on the island.

On the way home we got to participate in the legendary traffic, taking 70 minutes to travel maybe 14 miles from Maine, through New Hampshire and into Massachusetts. But the new minivan has adaptive cruise control that works all the way to a complete stop. I didn't have to touch the gas or brakes that entire time, except to tap the gas to say "move" only after coming to a complete stop. It makes bumper to bumper traffic much more tolerable.

Oh, and the weather was ideal. Lows in the high 50s at night and highs near 70 during the day, with no rain.

I suspect we'll do it again next year!

Mexico 2018

Man, I'm really slacking on this blog thing.

Waaaay back in February we had a fantastic trip to Mexico. My parents reached their 60th wedding anniversary in December and we have all been planning for years to gather in Mexico to celebrate. The core of the trip was a week in Puerto Vallarta.

Since all flights to Puerto Vallarta from Boston go through Mexico City, we decided to go a few days early and check out the capitol. We found a great AirBnb that was near both the historic center and the Paseo de la Reforma that is sort of the modern city center.

The highlight for all of us was the street food. I had read quite a bit about it before the trip, and it made my mouth water. We brought antibiotics in case we had any intestinal issues, but my research said that the food in Mexico is much safer than it used to be 20 years ago. Most experienced travelers said "just eat everything". We did, for the most part. We enjoyed quesadillas, many kinds of tacos, corn on the cob (elote), tamales and pastries.

From our apartment window the first morning we watched a man pull up in a pickup truck and set up a kitchen on his tailgate with burners to cook. A steady stream of customers came to buy breakfast. We tried to guess what he was making. Eventually I had to go investigate, and I returned with chilaquiles (crushed tortilla chips, hot green chile sauce, shredded chicken, sour cream and cheese) and rice atole (hot milk with rice, sugar and cinnamon). Man, those were both delicious. I returned every day.

In three days in Mexico City we only ate one meal in a restaurant, and that was our least favorite meal. The street food was easy, fun and delicious.

Oh, I forgot. When we first arrived and ventured out to the grocery store a couple blocks away, we got quesadillas at a stand right outside the grocery store. They handed them to us on thin plastic plates and we walked away toward our apartment. A guy from the stand came running after us to retrieve his plates, which we had inadvertently tried to steal. Silly gringos.

I especially enjoyed taking the subway around the city (although the girls weren't so thrilled with it).

The tourist highlights were a double decker bus tour of the historic district, and our visit to the Frida Kahlo Museum in Casa Azul. Her and Diego Garcia's house and studio have been preserved as it was when they lived in it and it was enchanting and romantic. We wanted to live there. There was also a cool exhibit of her back braces and clothing that were discovered in a hidden area of the house many years after her death.

On the fourth day we took a short flight to Puerto Vallarta.

My parents rented the fantastic Casa Carole, a 5 bedroom villa that clings to a cliff just south of town in Puerta Vallarta. The villa was luxurious and spectacular. We spent many hours lounging by the pool overlooking the ocean trying to spot whales (we spotted many). We enjoyed our family meals prepared by Maria and our margaritas prepared by Pepe. We swam at the beach and walked along the beach into town, past dozens of other cool villas.

We made two day trips to Mismaloya Beach about 30 minutes south by bus. The movie "Night of the Iguana" was filmed there and apparently it was that movie, and the scandal of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton's affair during the filming, that turned Puerto Vallarta into a resort destination. Now Mismaloya is a casual, low key, beautiful little beach town. We sat all day in beach chairs at a little cafe enjoying drinks and food in between jet-skiing, snorkeling and relaxing.

We also had a few very lovely family dinners in town at beachfront seafood restaurants (Daquiri Dick's and Blue Shrimp). My sister Tricia and I ate as many shrimp as we could.

The girls also experienced their first massage at a spa recommended by a childhood neighbor of mine who goes to PV twice a year. They decided massages are alright.

Eventually, our week in paradise came to an end. On Saturday Carol, the girls and I flew back to Mexico City for one more afternoon and evening before flying back to Boston Sunday morning. We stayed at an airport hotel, but went on a subway excursion to the Basilica of Guadalupe in the north part of Mexico City. Behind the fascinating modern basilica is a lovely park with another chapel on top of a hill with a view of the city. It was a nice little bonus experience in the city.

It was really a fantastic trip that we all enjoyed very much. I can't wait to go back!

New Hampshire Foliage

My family has lost interest in hiking, but I've really missed it so I decided to start going on my own. Today was the first time. It is near peak foliage color in the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the weather forecast turned decent at the last minute. I hiked the 4.5 mile Welch and Dickey Loop trail.

Much of the hike itself is in evergreen forest. But about 3/4 of the way around the loop, when one gets a view of the cirque formed by Mounts Welch and Dickey, there is an absolutely spectacular deciduous forest. I sat and admired it for a long time.

Rhodie wasn't so interested in the view, but she loved the exercise.

More to come, including probably some winter hiking.

Acadia National Park

We rarely travel on three-day weekends because holiday weekend traffic on the roads in and out of Boston is legendary. But back in the spring our neighbors Brendan and Molly told us that every Labor Day they go up to Acadia National Park in Maine. We made campground reservations together, and I planned to take Thursday and Friday off to beat at least one of the traffic jams.

We haven't visited Acadia in the eight years we've lived here because the drive is long. Google Maps says 4.5 hours, but for us that means at least 6 because 1) Ruby isn't very fast and 2) we like to stop, and we sometimes take scenic routes. But with the extra days off work it was worth the drive.

We stayed at the Blackwoods Campground, which is part of the park. It was very nice. We expected it to be packed for the holiday weekend, but I don't think we ever saw it more than 2/3 full. And, strangely, many people came for one night on Thursday, Friday and Saturday so our campground neighbors kept changing.

Acadia is an unusual national park in that it was formed from land donations and acquisitions. So it's more surrounded by "civilization" than other parks. The beautiful town of Bar Harbor is only a 20 minute drive from the campground and we ended up going into town every day, I think.

One of the major land donors was John D. Rockefeller Jr. He dreamed of making the entire Mount Desert Island car free. Toward the end, he funded and supervised construction of 50 miles of gravel carriage roads in the park, including a bunch of beautiful granite bridges. We brought four bikes with us and enjoyed a very pretty ride on Friday.

On Saturday Charlotte and I and our neighbors hiked up Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the island and in the park. The hike gains 1500' over 3.5 miles, so it's very gradual. It's a gorgeous view most of the way. Charlotte did very well. Audrey and Carol were having a mother-daughter day and met us at the top.

Sunday morning we went on a boat cruise called "Diver Ed's Dive-In Theater". Diver Ed is a manic guy who has been a commercial diver forever. They have a high tech camera rig and a hydrophone-based audio system. We motored out into Bar Harbor and next to one of the Porcupine Islands that are part of the national park and anchored in about 60' of water. Diver Ed suited up and had the kids on the boat push him in. Then he gave us a high definition video tour of the bottom with narration over the hydrophone system, with his wife as the straight man on the boat. They were hilarious. He showed us sea stars, anemones, crabs, fish and tons of lobsters - and his favorite: sea cucumbers.

He collected a lot of animals in a bag and eventually brought them back to the surface. Then he had all the kids come up to the front area and showed them the animals up close and let them handle them. When that was over they released all the animals back into the sea.

It was quite entertaining. Diver Ed is quite the character. In the off season, he dives for scallops during their season from December to April. The water gets down to 26 degrees! He also doesn't like to use a dive light because it blinds him to everything that isn't directly in its beam. So he dives in almost darkness. His wife said he regularly gets harassed by fairly large animals and has to guess what they were because he can't really see. One time, what he assumes was a seal dragged him down an embankment. Anyway, that cruise was well worth the price of admission.

On Sunday the remnants of Hurricane Harvey passed through. The original forecast was for it to rain all day, but that kept improving and the rain didn't actually arrive until 4:15pm. We got in a hike from Sand Beach around Great Head. The rocks were very cool and the views very pretty. When the rain did arrive we headed into town and found a lovely seafood restaurant for dinner with Brendan and Molly and Anna.

We did pretty well on traffic on the way home. We left Acadia around 11. We didn't really hit traffic until 7 miles from the I-95 bridge over the Piscataqua River, which forms the border between Maine and New Hampshire. Our GPS took us on a circuitous alternate route through countryside. It was probably a draw in terms of time, but at least we were moving and in shade a lot of the time instead of sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic in the hot sun on the freeway. We stopped in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for a late lunch before the last hour to home.

T'was a very lovely weekend.