Maine Trip: Day 5

We made a very soggy trip to Camden, ME in hopes of taking a trip on a lobster boat. But, the weather was so horrible that the Lobster tours were cancelled. We did do a little shopping, and headed back to the lake house.

On the way back we stopped at a little seafood shack and bought some live lobsters to boil for dinner. This was Brady's favorite part of the trip!

The lady picking out our lobsters.

Thank you Molly's Seafood!

When we got back to the lake house, the clouds had broken up a little bit, so we were able to spend some time out by the lake.

We decided to build a little fire out by the dock. Dustin, choppin' some wood!

Duster and Loie gettin' the fire started.

Brady and I took the kayak out on the lake for a little spin. It was fun, besides the fact that a HUGE spider started crawling on my face. It had been hiding in the belly of the kayak. Eww I just got the chills thinking about it.

Dustin and Rachel tried to go out on the kayak too, but there was a mishap during the launch, which resulted in a soggy and cold couple. Poor guys! At least Loie's got someone in her "Fall out of a kayak in Maine" club now.

Brady tried some fishing out on the dock a little more.

Then it was time to cook the LOBSTAH!!!

Into the pot she goes!

And a few minutes later she comes out nice and red and delicious!

We both enjoyed a whole lobster dinner our last night in Maine. DELICIOSO!!!

Maine Trip: Day 4

On our 4th day we made the trip over to Mt. Desert Island.


Our first stop was Somesville, where some of our friends live. There is a cute little bridge over a creek. We've seen this on calendars and stuff. And it's right across the street from our friend's house.


Here are some mums... oh yeah, and we are on the bridge in the background.


We stopped by our friend, Wendall's house. He's such a great guy!


His house is right on the water, on Somes sound. This is the view from his dock. The tide was out, but still gorgeous!

Our next stop was Bar Harbor. Great shopping, great food! And of course, LOBSTER!!!

We ate at this fun little diner. Not really what I had in mind for good seafood, but it was pretty good. And their blueberry pie was to die for!

Next we made our way to Acadia National Park. This is the only sand beach for hundreds of miles. See that big wave? Yeah, it got Brady. This was about 4.5 seconds before he got wet from the knees down and .... dropped his new camera... in the Atlantic Ocean. Nice one Brady. Luckily the memory card survived. The camera on the other hand has now become Stockton's camera!

I'm trying really hard to smile in this pic. In reality I was pretty upset about the whole camera thing. But, it's not the only camera fatality our family has had in Maine. My mom and her camera tipped over a kayak and fell in a lake when I was in high school.

Next stop: Thunder Hole. It's kinda like a cave that has been carved out of the rock by the waves. When the waves hit just right it makes a big boom and splashes really high. We came at the perfect time. Notice the idiots on the rocks above. See how the rocks are wet? I wonder how they got wet? Probably because their are man-eating sized waves, you ding dongs!

This is the trail head of the Precipes Trail. My dad and I hiked this when I was 13. What were we thinking? The top of the mountain is in the clouds in this picture and it's basically a trail that climbs shear cliff faces. At some spots, we had to inch our way across ledges or hold on to rod iron rails to climb the shear rock faces. So spooky!

Next we visited Astacou Gardens. They are some gorgeous Japanese gardens that were breathtaking.

Dustin and Brady posing nicely by the little Japanese ornamental garden thingy.

Here's some sample pics of the gorgeous plants.

On the way home we passed through a town called "Stockton Springs." Of course we had to stop and get that photo.

Maine Trip: Day 3

Day 3 of our Maine trip fell on Conference sunday. We decided to take a scenic drive to Moosehead Lake and listen to General Conference on the way.

The colors were so beautiful! It was probably the most beautiful and relaxing session of conference I've ever had.

We took a break to stretch our legs and we stopped at the trailhead of one of the country's longest trails. The Appalachian Trail goes all the way to Georgia.

Brady hiked down a little bit and the trees opened up to this beautiful lake.

Once we got to Moosehead Lake we went to a little place that my parents found on one of their many trips to Maine. It's a little cabin resort on the lake called "The Birches." The lodge was a rustic old cabin built a long time ago. It was so quaint with the big cozy fire place.

Brady and my dad ordered whole lobsters.

Of course my dad was stoked.

This was Brady's very first whole lobster and he was pretty excited about it. This is the before shot.

After shot. See the contentment on his face and the butter dripping down his chin!? YUM!

Maine Trip: Day 2

Our first stop was Portland Headlight. It's one of the most recognizable lighthouses you'll ever see. This is because it's the oldest functioning lighthouse in the US. It was commissioned to be built by George Washington in the 1700's.

Brady loved the rocky coast. He said that's what he imagined Maine to look like.

He liked this ship wreck site.

Our next stop was Freeport, ME. It's the outlet store capital of the world! They had tons of outlets, including L.L. Bean, which took up like 6 different buildings! We ate lunch in a little hole in the wall and had a delicious lobster roll and cup of clam chowder. HEAVENLY!!!

We then drove a couple of hours to Rome, ME. Where we rented this beautiful lake house, called "Somerset". It's on Long Pond, which is part of the Belgrade Lakes. It was GORGEOUS!

Brady fished off the dock for a little while before it got too dark.

Then it was off to dinner at a little local joint. Brady got the fried seafood platter! Holy Moly, it was huge! I got a haddock sandwich. Haddock is a delicate white fish from the east coast. It tastes just like halibut to me! YUM!

Maine Trip: Day 1

Well, technically the first day we just travelled all day. The second our plane touched down in Portland, it started to rain. And the clouds didn't break much until we took off. That night we ate dinner with my mission friend (see below). Then I hit the hay early, while Brady stayed up and watched the BYU vs. USU football game on cable.