Camping with the Browns

The last day of school for the year was June 11th, and that was also the first day of three camping trips this summer to Pinegrove Campground and Cottages in Medway.  Kate, Wesley and I are going up twice, this weekend and Labor Day Weekend, and then our week with the big's in July.  

This weekend the Browns, Nikki, Justin, & Chloe joined us on your adventure.  We rented our normal cabin and they rented the big cabin.  The big cabin is very nice with a full kitchen, full shower, larger loft for sleeping.   However the fire pit are faces another campsite and you are essentially face to face with other people who are enjoying their fire.  The fire pit area of the cabin we rent continues to be far superior.

We worked half a day and then headed north, initially we weren't going to stop and get Chick-Fil-A, but we did, cause it's delicious.  We arrived at the campground about 10 minutes after the Browns.  I love the check in style, we roll up and the owners are standing outside, "Welcome back, keys on the table, we'll bill the card."  from the deposit.

We decided to get Pizza the first night, at River's Edge Motel and Pizza....well now called River's Edge Motel and Restaurant.  Since we had last been there the year before, many business expanded.  River's Edge, the Chinese restaurant, the ice cream place expanded, and Lennie's Superette built a large new location across the street and down the road  bit.  

Justin and I headed out to buy wood, bug spray, charcoal and pick up the pizza.  I had to explain to Justin how everything changed.  The pizza, of course, was outstanding!  We had a nice evening, went to the playground, threw rocks in the water, enjoyed the campfire.  Much needed relaxation.

Saturday Kate and I got up early to enjoy the morning fire, once the Browns surfaced she made us all big breakfast.  Once we got going we headed to the playground where the kids, and adults but mostly kids, enjoyed the apparatuses.  We decided to head down to the beach and ended up spending many hours down there.  At first I went and got the chair, and then Nikki & Justin went back to the campground and made sandwiches for lunch.  

The kids had a wonderful time at the beach, made some friends, and spent a lot of time in the water.  Wesley even got a leach on his foot, it was a small one and I took it right off.  It didn't phase him a bit he just headed back into the water.  

We left and went and got an ice cream at the shop and then headed back to the campground to clean up.  Wesley had sand everywhere!  Justin and I headed out to get more wood and to look at the knife shop.  We ended up at Lennie's and bought a bunch of small bags of the new Lay's chip flavors for a sampling party.  

Kate cooked up chicken and a grate cover we found for the firepit, it worked very well and the chicken was delicious!  We spent a lot of time down at the water skipping rocks and throwing rocks.  Wesley's favorite past time at the campground.

Justin also was giving Chloe a shoulder ride and Wesley and piggy back ride at the same time, I certainly wouldn't do that.  The kids had fun with morning glories and sparklers, and burned me several times with them.  

Wesley spent the night at the Brown's cabin, they had plenty of beds after all.

Sunday morning Kate made us all a big breakfast and then after we slowly tore down camp leaving right near the check out time.  We had a round of skipping rocks first, of course.

We were a bit nervous that we oversold how awesome the campground was and that it wouldn't live up to the hype, however the Browns loved it, and we'll be going back again.  

Next month we come back with the bigs for our week at the camper!

Until Next Time!

Moxie Falls

Monday July 5th was the best day of the long Holiday weekend.  We didn't have anything planned but we need to get out of the house.  Canaan needed new sneakers so we looked at what we could do near a New Balance outlet and decided on Moxie Falls.  The bigs haven't been since 2012, we went a few years ago, maybe five.  

We headed north and it was a nice drive all the way to the Forks.  The parking area was pretty empty when we got there.  After bug spraying up we hit the trail!

The weather was gorgeous!  It's a 3/4 of a mile hike in, and out of course, to the falls.  It's a well groomed trail that near the falls has wooden stairs and platforms leading down.  You can hike down to the bottom of the falls, but the hike up isn't worth it.  

There are areas along the top of the falls that you can walk down to.  Addison put her feet in the water and Canaan and I skipped some stones.  It was really nice.  On the walk out we passed a lot of people coming, and some really big groups too!  Back at the trail head the parking area was packed!

We headed down to Berry's General Store, the plan was to get some sandwiches and go to the rest area and eat them at the picnic tables and Canaan and I could cast a line in the Kennebec River just up from where it meets Dead River.  However, Berry's lunch counter was closed so instead we just grabbed some beverages.  They recommended Northern Outdoors for lunch.

Northern Outdoors is a hotel, cabins, brewery, restaurant, that also offers outing adventures like whitewater rafting.  We got seated outside under and umbrella, so we were in the shade at a nice table and as I said the weather was perfect.  After we ordered the kids and I played some games in the game room.  Pinball, air hockey, racing game, and crane games.  It was fun!  Both Addison and Wesley played pinball for the first time ever.  I honestly can't believe Addison had never played pinball before!

It was expensive, but the food was excellent!  We all really enjoyed out meals and left happy.  Canaan and I had a burger, I passed on the bun, Addison poutine, Wesley chicken tenders with french fries for $6 (that's how he ordered) and Kate a spinach and blueberry salad with grilled chicken.

On the way south we stopped at a 45th parallel marker that doesn't list it as one, it just says it's halfway between the North Pole and the Equator, which is the 45th parallel.  Kate and I like to check these out.  We've seen them in two countries even!

Next stop was at the Robbins Hill Scenic Overlook in Solon, it's pretty good.  What I really wanted was to take a picture of this sign about entering the Old Canada Road Scenic Byway, but there wasn't a safe place to pull over.

We got an ice cream at Gifford's in Skowhegan, and concluded the trip stopping at New Balance and picking up Canaan a pair of sneakers.  

It was a really fun day and it was nice to get out after a rainy Fourth of July weekend.

Until Next Time!

 

Cascade Stream Gorge Adventure

Kate and I bought hiking boots back in March, we spent a good penny on them to, and today was the perfect day to really test them out. Kate, Wesley, and I packed a nice picnic lunch and headed out towards Northern Franklin County.

Our first stop was an impromptu one Winterberry Farm in Belgrade.  Located on Route 27 it is an organic farm that has been in operation for 21 years.  We paid a nominal fee to tour the farm and Wesley loved it, his favorite part were the chickens and Eastern Mountain Quail.  They also had horses, sheep, and cows, in fact it was sheep shearing day.

Our next stop was at the Cascade Stream Gorge trail in the Rangeley area.  The short road to the trail head parking area is very steep, but Vanna made it up.  There was only two other vehicles there.  From what we read about the trail it was 1 mile loop, but we discovered that it is also part of the Fly Rod Crosby Trail and that it's marked, but not as clear as it could be.  It says the loop is a mile and once we got home and I looked at the trail map online I can see it, but out there we couldn't.

Our hike ended up being over two miles, we loved it and Wesley was a real trooper!  The trail varied from clear to rocky ledge, it was difficult at times but not dangerous at all.  It was really a lot of fun and one we will do again.

The gorge was beautiful with several waterfalls of varying sizes.  On the hike out we stopped and had a picnic lunch, the weather was gorgeous and there was nice breeze.  The bugs were not an issue at all which is another plus.

We headed out towards Rangeley and stopped at a scenic overlook we had never seen before.  The plan was to go to Quill Hill but it was not open for the season.  A road we took we had a sign that said "This Road Property of the US Navy", which we found odd.  Turns out it's the Navy's only cold weather Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) training school is located here in Maine, just outside Rangeley.

We went to the New Portland Wire bridge where Wesley got his feet, and more, wet in the Carrabassett River.  

We headed home finishing the day with a 220 mile drive.  Can't wait to continue going on these hiking adventures all summer.

Until Next Time!