A whirwind vacation

For those curious of our safety following Tropical Storm Irene here in Western Mass, we are alright. In the Pioneer Valley, we only experienced gusty wind and sheets of rain all day long. We've got a flash flood warning for our county, but we're unscathed. Unfortunately, towns quite near us and which we frequently visit, such as Shelburne Falls and Brattleboro, VT, have been severely flooded. We hope everyone stays safe!

As promised is a photo blog of our week vacation to Camden, Maine.

We stayed in the Birchwood Motel, which was quite nice. All of our neighbors were elderly and one man even came up to us as we were packing because he had spoken to "all the other vacationers at the motel to get their story" and wanted to know ours. Adorable!

Doesn't that grey building between the red and yellow remind you of Sirius Black's home in Harry Potter? You know, where the homes stretch apart to reveal it?!

I ate lobster for dinner three nights in a row. The food at each different restaurant we tried was excellent, save for the Boyton McKay Food Co., which had the worst service I have ever experienced in a cafe, and The Brown Bag, which was equally unfortunate in its service... and falafel.

I also LOL'd at their misspelling of Pita, especially since it is above the correct version ...

As I just posted this photo, Sean goes, "Oooh, remember that meal!? It was great!" These last two photos come from the Old World Potato company where we had a fantastic lunch of tartines and soups.

The Waterfront offered a fantastic salmon burger (super big!) and the best clam chowder I've ever had aside from my step dad Todd's.

We hiked up Mount Battie which offered breathtaking views of the islands (Hi, Meggi!) and even as far as Acadia! Sean ate wild blueberries along the trail despite me asking him to please not eat anything wild (he has that tendency...) or remotely resembling a familiar fruit. He hasn't keeled over yet, days later, so I'm guessing they're fine to eat.

From atop the mountain we could spot Camden and the restaurants and shops we frequented. So pretty!

We climbed a castle, in different ways ...

The beach was nice and full of hungry seagulls and a duck (??) who quickly befriended my Sunchip-eating self.

We found a second, semi-secret beach and took a nap in the warm sun. I finished a book and started another. I also discovered a beautiful tree stump of drift wood that I so badly wanted to bring home, but it meant dragging it probably two miles down the beach to the car. So I settled for a stick, white shells, beach glass and rocks to bring home to Mum/use for a book end.

We treked out to Rockland where we meandered across a jetty one mile into the ocean to an old lighthouse. So neat! 

It was a lovely, much needed vacation and I certainly feel ready to tackle the newspapers again with a clear head and no frustrations. Funny what a good vacation can do to you!