Took a Hike. Found My Bliss.

When I was a kid, Dad would take us on hikes – or as I remember them – forced marches through the woods. He had an uncanny ability to lose the trail. I touched on the topic briefly in this post. We’d be dragged, if not kicking and screaming, then at least whining and bickering through bug-infested jungles. Needless to say, I was not a fan.

I’ve surprised myself by discovering a love for hiking in my later years. Nearly every trip Mr. Maid and I take involves an opportunity to get out there and haul my old bones up, over to, or around, whatever Mother Earth has to offer.

There are few places that give me a greater sense of peace and connection to nature than on a hiking trail. I have come to crave the fresh air, the physical challenge, and the surrounding flora and fauna. And nothing gives me more satisfaction than that feeling of finally reaching the summit.

Here are a few of my favorite moments…

Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii – Dragging my ass through a strenuous hike often has me feeling like Wonder Woman, so as you’ll see, I often have the urge to strike this pose. Cheesy smile and all!

South Kaibab Trail, South Rim, Grand Canyon, Arizona

North Kaibab Trail, North Rim, Grand Canyon, Arizona

Trail to Apakuni Falls, Glacier National Park, Montana

Avalanche Lake, Glacier National Park, Montana

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Sawtooth Mountains, Idaho

Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine – There’s that pose again! You can read about our misadventures on this hike here.

Dante’s View of Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park, California

Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California – my other ‘go-to’ pose – because hiking really does bring me closer to my bliss! Namaste, ya’ll!

Written for the WordPress’ Daily Post Photo Challenge: satisfaction

The Maid Goes to Maine: Part 9 – See Ya Later Seaside

Welcome to the ninth and final installment of the Maid Goes to Maine. If you’ve been keeping track, you are no doubt thinking “it’s about damn time!” Other obligations have forced me to draw out this saga way longer than I intended. We could have walked to Maine and back in the time it has taken me to tell you about it. Anyway, we are at last at the end of the journey.

Before leaving Bar Harbor, we took some time

The Maid Goes to Maine: Part 8 – The Battle of The Bubbles

Bubble Rock, Acadia National Park

You’d think that after 50-some years on this planet, I’d have learned to go with the flow. Sometimes a detour, a mistake, or a miscalculation can result in something much better than what was originally planned. The universe tried to teach me that lesson again during our vacation in Maine.

We had planned to do some hiking at Acadia National Park after enjoying the views from Cadillac Mountain, but had to cancel when a storm came through. So, the next day, Mr. Maid and I were going to devote most of our day to hiking a few of the trails in the park.

A few years ago we started buying “Best Easy Day Hikes” books from Falcon Guides for our destinations. We’re a bit more advanced than the term “Easy” would imply, but by no means are we experts. Our daily life and our local terrain don’t give us much opportunity to get in tip-top hiking shape. Day hikes of no more than five or ten miles at a time are sufficient for this pair of old geezers with our creaky knees and aching feet. The most strenuous hikes in the “Easy” guides are usually, to steal a line from Goldilocks, “just right.”

The Maid Goes to Maine: Part 7 – Lobsters, Cadillacs, and Walking on Water

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, Acadia National Park is located just outside Bar Harbor, Maine. This makes it very easy to spend a fun filled day doing something both in town and in the park.

When we decided to go to Maine, Mr. Maid half-jokingly said he wanted to go out on a lobster boat. While researching things to do on our vacation I came across the website for Lulu Lobster Boat. Mr. Maid may have been imagining exciting scenes from The Deadliest Catch or The Perfect Storm. What we got instead was a very enjoyable and educational trip and neither of us had to risk our lives.

See the boat tucked in under the walkway?

The Maid Goes to Maine: Part 5 – B&B Newbies

The Manor House Inn, Bar Harbor, Maine

I was going to start this post by apologizing for the delay since my last post, but I’m sure no one has even noticed. It’s not like I left you at a cliffhanger… Will the Maid make it to Bar Harbor? Will Mr. Maid singlehandedly deplete Maine’s lobster and IPA resources? If you have noticed the delay, I’m humbled… but honestly, you need to find a hobby.

Anyway, my saga left off just as we finished our trek up the coast of Maine and arrived in Bar Harbor. As I explained in Part 4, our trip occurred during the off-season, so there were some good prices on lodging. We ended up booking a suite at The Manor House Inn. The house was built in 1887

The Maid Goes to Maine – Part 4: Going Up (Coast) to Get Down (East)

Pemaquid Point Light House

Monday morning dawned bright and sunny as we said goodbye to Portland. Our visit was short, but we had a good sampling of what this nice little city had to offer. The next leg of our Maine journey would take us to Bar Harbor, where we would spend the majority of our week. This part of Maine is known as “Down East,” something that sounds a bit funny, as it is so much further north, or “up” from the rest of the country.  The 175 mile drive

The Maid Goes to Maine – Part 3: A Day in Portland

 

On Sunday we woke up to our first full day of vacation. Our plan was to get an early start and see some sights. After sampling some local beers the night before, I was ready for a big breakfast. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the words hungry and hungover both start with the first four letters.

I love using yelp.com to discover places that we might not normally find, especially in an unfamiliar city. We found two breakfast restaurants within walking distance with good reviews and set out to the one that was

The Maid Goes to Maine – Part 1: Airplanes and Eye Rolls

I don’t travel as much as I’d like to, and I definitely don’t travel enough to make this a travel blog. But I recently returned from a lovely vacation with Mr. Maid to the awe-inspiring Maine coast that I mentioned in my post Coastally Deprived. I’d love to tell you about it.

This is what happens when you leave your job. I have no coworkers to talk to about my trip, so I get to play show-and-tell with all of you kind people! So, I will spend the next few posts boring you recounting spine-tingling tales of our journey.

Before I get to the “good stuff” of our beautiful travel destination, I want to tell you about our adventures getting there. Most of our vacations are road trips, but since we only had a week, we decided to fly and rent a car.

We’d heard the recent horror stories about long TSA lines and missed flights. Mr. Maid and I both hate feeling rushed, so we left home

Coastally Deprived

I wrote this post a few weeks ago and I’m resubmitting it in response to the WordPress Daily Post prompt of “Water.”

Image from www.visitmaine.net

For yet another day (I’ve forgot how many so far) the temperature here in my part of the Midwest U.S. will be near 100 degrees. This is just one reason why I am so thrilled to be heading out on vacation in a few days. Mr. Maid and I are packing up to spend a week in Maine where the high temperatures promise to be in the low 70s. Sounds like absolute heaven!

Our plan isn’t complicated: explore the coast between Portland and Bar Harbor, Maine, hike in Acadia National Park, sample local beer and wine, and eat our weight in lobster.

As a lifelong resident of Illinois, it will be a particular treat to spend time by the ocean. The sea is so foreign to a landlubber like me. I am jealous of those who live near it and wonder if they take it for granted.

The bodies of water that I grew up with were limited to lakes and backyard pools.

The pools in our middle-class neighborhood were not snazzy “c-ment ponds” like on The Beverly Hillbillies, but the above