Maine

I am not a nature person. Nope. Not at all. I didn't grow up hiking or camping and don't have much experience with "outdoor activities." But when Laurissa asked if I wanted to go hiking in Maine for the long weekend, I said yes.

So Saturday morning we packed up the car and headed out for a weekend of adventures in Maine. Our first stop was Portland - a cute New England town right on the water. We spent the afternoon walking around the town and popping into all of the cute shops - including a cheese store with some of the most amazing samples I've ever had, a popcorn store, and rock salts store. By far the best place we visited though was The Holy Donut. The donuts were made out of potato instead of flour so they were a little bit denser than your typical donut. They also had really unique flavors. We shared 3 - salted dark chocolate, sweet potato ginger, and mojito (pictured below).

After a little more time tromping around Portland, we hopped back in the car and started driving north. The outdoorsy part of the trip was beginning. We were headed to La Verna Preserve, part of the Pemaquid Watershed. We were totally leaving civilization behind - just trees and totally open road for miles. 

This trail was not very long or challenging. More of a casual walk through the woods than a real "hike." It was still gorgeous and very peaceful. What was truly amazing was the view at the end of the trail - a completely uninhibited view of the Atlantic. I am a sucker for anything to do with the ocean and this view was no exception. I was in absolute awe of how simultaneously peaceful and powerful this view was.

It started to rain a bit on our walk back and we decided it was probably time to call it a day and find some dinner. Seafood was obviously everyone's choice. Laurissa's sixth sense of restaurant locating took us to this small place right by the water called Sea Gull Shop. The food was amazing. but our view overlooking the ocean I think was even better. This seemed like the right time for me to order a lobster. I've never had a whole lobster before, and being in Maine I was tempted to try it. It was delicious. However, ripping apart the lobster was a bit much for me. I don't even like eating chicken off the bone because it's too much like a real animal, so staring into the lobster's eyes really was out of my comfort zone.

(My new friend and I)

After dinner, we headed to Mountain View Campground where we would be spending the night. I was assured before heading out on the trip that we would not be camping. Instead, we were what I called "cabin-ing." Which, I will admit, really was not bad. The three of us shared a very nice one room cabin with three beds.

Sunday was the real day of hiking. We woke up fairly early and got ready for the big day. I'll admit, I was a little nervous about the whole thing. I am no where near as physically fit as Karl or Laurissa, nor am I anywhere near as well-versed in hiking. We drove about 45 minutes to Grafton Notch State Park. We would be hiking Baldplate Mountain, part of the Appalachian Trail.

After only about 15 minutes the trail had already become fairly steep and I was soon out breath. The trail leveled out for a while and we were able to enjoy some of the views it had to offer. About two hours into our hike we came to a little lean-to that was built along the trail. It was fairly large structure with some wooden benches and a nice size fire pit. It also had a log book so visitors could mark that they were there. We read an entry from a group that had come in January! I couldn't believe anyone would first of all want to hike a mountain in the middle of Maine in the dead of winter and second that it was even possible to hike the trail in the dead of winter!

(Fire pit at the lean-to)

We started back up on our journey up the mountain. I had thought the hike was hard before, little did I know that was the easy part. We were soon going up very steep inclines, whilst trudging through parts of the stream, climbing on rocks, and over giant tree roots. I was out of breath within minutes and needed to stop frequently. It was interesting to feel the temperature quickly drop the higher we got on the mountain. There were several spots on the mountain where large chunks of ice were still visible and much of running water we had encountered on our way up was the result of still melting snow.

(Ice!)

After about another hour of hiking we finally made it to the top, and that view made it so worth it. We could see for miles and miles from 3,500 feet up. Looking out onto other mountains, lakes, and windmills - it was incredibly peaceful.

We had some lunch on top of the mountain and then started to make our way back down. You would think going down would be easier, it wasn't. While it was less physically challenging, it was more more mentally challenging because it was so much easier to misstep or slip on all of the wet and uneven rocks - which I did crossing a stream, landing with my left leg in the stream. Finally, two hours later, we were back on level ground. I have never been so happy to sit down. 

Before heading back, we stopped to checkout two waterfalls we had seen on our way in: Mother Walker Falls and Screw Auger Falls. The waterfalls were really less of waterfalls and more just glorified rapids, but the views were stunning none the less. Screw Auger (picture below) was my favorite of the two because there was an area where you could walk out and stand in the shallow flowing water, plus you could actually climb on the rocks that made up the falls.

(Hi Babcia!)

As we made our way back we came across a pie stand. Yup, a pie stand. Right along the side of the road. Of course we had to stop. Laurissa would not be Laurissa if we didn't stop. And of course we bought a strawberry rhubarb pie. And maple cream cookies. Both of which were amazing.

None of us realized how much of a challenge dinner was going to be. It turns out, that in the middle-of-nowhere-Maine, on a Sunday afternoon, almost every single restaurant is closed. Eventually we found Calzolaio Past Co. which was delicious - although, I think anything would have been delicious after five plus hours of hiking and tromping through the woods.

In true outdoorsy fashion, we built a fire before calling it a night (by we, I mean Karl and Laurissa and I just sort of poked at it with a stick).

Monday morning I was exhausted. My legs hurt. And I was ready to go home. We headed out early and made one pit stop in Portland for ice cream and so Karl and Laurissa could buy live lobsters to take home (yes, I was very uncomfortable with the live lobsters being in the car with us).