Back from Maine

On Sunday, we returned home from a 10-day vacation in New England. We spent a day on each end in Boston, but the majority of the time in Maine. We stayed in a cabin in the middle of lakes, mountains, and a river, where the humidity was low, and the air smelled of pine.

We stayed with Josh and Lisa in a cabin that they own, along with Crystal, Brent, and their three kids. The kids ran roughshod all over the place, and I would advise any of you to consider what four active children will do to a place before you invite this crew to your home.

	Our group, inexplicably excluding the womenfolk.

Every day, we played with the kids on some body of water, then went back and fixed a great meal. After the kids went to bed, we stayed outside in the cool air drinking and laughing at all of the stories that we've already heard a million times. We were rarely to bed before 2:00.

It was a great trip.

The nearest town was one we came to know as Redbud, as it was reminiscent of the town by that name in the move Funny Farm. To be fair, it was more like Redbud when all of the citizens were putting on their phony "nice" acts than when the citizens were acting like themselves. The only rude one I can remember was a teenage girl whose accent I could barely decipher, and who could not hide her disdain by the fat middle-aged tourists with the gall to come into her shop and ask about renting a boat for the day.

	Paddling the Saco.

The police blotter in the local paper gave tell to the fact that Redbud is free of serious crime. One report was of a missing deck chair that was later found in an outhouse. In another report, two girls were reported missing from a local school, and were found 11 minutes later at a playground in the back of the building. I like not only that this would be reported and written up by the local 5-0, but that the report would be given to the newspaper, and that the paper would similarly report it to all of the curious Redbud citizens.

It's tempting in the summertime to think that we should relocate to Maine. I certainly wouldn't miss our humidity, crime, or Interstate highway traffic. On the other hand, I don't have and don't want to have a snow shovel in my list of possessions. On the other hand, I would also miss having the data speed provided by our 3G cell phone network, and I would miss seeing black people, Hispanics, or Asians during the course of a normal day.

Stay tuned for more pictures and videos to be uploaded during the upcoming days and weeks.