Deer Isle Vacation

Instead of hopping on a plane for our annual mid-August vacation, we opted to explore our own "back yard" and headed up the coast to Deer Isle. A decade ago I spent quite a bit of time on Deer Isle as a ceramics TA at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Both the school and the island are magical to me. Kevin has been there but it was a first for our boys and they both loved it. Truth be told, we could have been anywhere because what they loved most was the four of us just being together; it had been a long, busy summer for Kevin and the boys were thrilled to bask in his uninterrupted attention day after day.

"Get naked!", seemed to be Sam & Jack's rallying cry all summer long, so it was no surprise when the very first thing they did when we arrived at our rental house was to strip down and run free. Minutes after we arrived I snapped this photo of the boys and Daddy checking out the lay of the land.

Our romantic (and rather rustic) rental house.

Out our back door was this lovely expanse leading to a beautiful, quiet cove.

Said beautiful, quiet cove.

We brought our tandem and did a bit of riding with the boys. Ample snacks proved key to our success.

We went for some wonderful hikes through moss covered forests. Jack was an especially happy hiker and kept repeating, "Daddy, I hike every day!"

Barred Island Trail, as this one was called, led to a stunning spot where, at low tide, you can walk across to an island named...you guessed it...Barred Island.

Due to the shoe box sized shower at our rental house, the boys enjoyed bathing en plein air.

Just down the road from us was a place called Nervous Nellie's Jams and Jellies. Aside from selling delicious jams and jellies, it is also a fabulous, whimsical sculpture garden. We found it was a great place to drink coffee, eat scones and watch the boys explore.

We also took a day trip to Acadia National Park. Although not our smoothest day of vacation, (both boys were largely tired and grumpy), it was nice to remember what a stunning place Acadia is. It did feel a bit overrun with visitors, though, so we'll have to return when the boys are older and we can more easily disappear deep into the trails.

All in all, a wonderful vacation here in "Vacationland"...