Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Camping

Cheap and easy aren't just college nicknames anymore. We ended up going to a family reunion in Northern Maine for the 4th and decided to extend the weekend a bit staying the cheapest place we could think of, a campsite. Since Baxter State Park was on our way home we headed there. What a great inexpensive vacation! Since we did car camping, we didn't have to pack in anything so we could throw anything we thought we might need in the car.

It also meant a few days without internet or cell phone reception. It's incredible how those conveniences suddenly seem like a sacrifice to be away from. As if it is some great challenge to not have this access, it was really a wonderful thing to be able to be present in the moment and connect with the surroundings. Being without the social network of a workplace it can seem especially hard to give up anything that seems like it would be losing more connection to people but to do it for a few days was great.


July 5th my new cheap things for the unemployed for the day... camping (which I've never done in Maine before or at all for at least ten years) which was a great, inexpensive way to vacation - which are current qualifiers for vacation.


And I saw my first moose. He was just hanging out in a pond,munching on pond things...


July 6th...hiking. We hiked the Northern End of the Appalachian Trail, up to Baxter Peak on Katahdin. Hiking is great, connecting with nature, getting exercise, gaining some perspective and clarity...



There were no tent sites available our second night so we spent the night in a lean-to, which was a first. It was a great way to stay - not having to try to fold the tent back up into it's little bag removed some stress. And had there been a rain storm this would have been more effective in keeping us dry than our tent.

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