We drove all the way to Southwest Harbor on Friday night, after the regular delivery day in the city. By the time we got to Betsey’s house it was dark. Betsey and Abe were waiting there for us in the shadows. The night was clear and beautiful, but I didn’t know how beautiful everything was until the next morning when I crawled out of our tent to see this view….
We had a relaxing morning with coffee, hot chocolate and pancakes made over my little camp stove. The boys checked out the tide pools and made various mounds of treasures: rocks all the same color, tiny bits of sea glass, piles of choke cherries, crab body parts, and bits of things that got washed up on the beach from wherever.
We went on a hike up a tiny mountain. It was a quick scramble up to this beautiful view.
The woods were very magical, with moss covering everything between the trees and roots crisscrossing over the ground. The wood path spilled out into this crazy-beautiful secret bay. There was crystal clear water and high rocky cliffs surrounding it. It was pretty special to say the least.
Later in the afternoon, Abe took us out into the harbor to check on his lobster traps.
The following day, Betsey and Abe took us out in their lovely sailboat. Hugo seemed very natural moving around a boat. Here he is moving around and under the sails. His footing has always been really sure. Peaches was also as cool as a cucumber and looked as if she had been raised on a sailboat. We ate cherries and sungold tomatoes and enjoyed an afternoon of extreme leisure. It was Maine living at its finest.
The rowboat came in at an old shipbuilding site where Papa used to work about 15 years ago. Here it is below.
There were these sand dollars at the sandy bottom off the dock by our campsite. The water was so cold that Papa thought he might not make it – death by struggling for a sand dollar. Here’s a little movie of an alive sand dollar.
We were back home by Sunday night, but Hugo and Paxy took a couple of days to recover from so much adventure. Monday afternoon they both fell asleep by 3:30 and were only up for a couple of hours at night to eat before sleeping until the next morning. Thank you Betsey and Abe for a great time away!
Our Family in Maine 