camp is on the eastern tip of washington county, maine which is sometimes called the sunrise county because it claims the west quoddy head, which is the easternmost point in the continental u.s.. so, theoretically the sunrise first hits the shores of the u.s. not far from camp.
and why am i up at sunrise? because we’re starting the 1,600 mile drive back to wisconsin! hope to make at least 1,100 miles today.
hayley is caught by surprise when webster unexpectedly bails out of the paddle boat.
in wisconsin gas stations you’ll find cheese curds. In downeast maine if you’re lucky you’ll find dried fish. a.k.a. strip fish or salt fish. I so very much love it and it’s getting harder and harder to find. It’s sort of like a very salty fish jerky. Many thanks to my sister who cleaned out a gas station in jonesport so I could take a bunch home.
i don’t know much about the borzoi breed but if lexi is any indication they are sweet and smart.
being so close to the chilly, chilly ocean ( even in summer on this part of the coast the ocean only warms up to 50°F ), the lake regularly gets socked in fog in the early evening due to a land-sea temperature gradient cycle similar to what you sea in san francisco. it’s not unusual for it to roll in very quickly and it really it adds a magicalness to evenings and early mornings before the sun burns it back to the sea.
i guess that it’s a sign of the modern times given the popularity of san francisco’s karl the fog that it’s hard to not anthropomorphize the phenomenon. frida and i spent some time on our morning walk trying to come up with names for the fog while wondering if there was a bear lingering in the mist.
yesterday i spotted suspect black bear poop on a run, not far from camp. i wasn’t too surprised to find evidence of black bear nearby and decided it probably wasn’t a threat since it wasn’t hungry as there are plenty of blueberries to be eaten in the area. so kris and decided to pitch a tent near camp and sleep outside.
we woke up to find there was a bear milling about and pooping 50 feet from our tent while we were sleeping. i was a little surprised ( but thankful ) that frida didn’t make a big commotion and draw the bear’s attention!
also thankful i didn’t take any snacks in the tent 🙂
it all happened very fast. odin was jumping feet first off the dock with his cousins and landed hard on his feet in water that was shallower than he anticipated and his momentum carried him forward and he came down hard on his knees. i’m guessing he landed on a mussel shell that sliced such a deep gash.
so we went on an a trip to the local medical clinic and the doc ( small world – she graduated from UW madison and grew up in oregon, wisconsin! ) confirmed that he needed a few stitches ( side note, both of us were surprised at how painful the anesthetic shots were – ooouuuuccchhhh! ). it only very slowly dawned on us that this meant odin wouldn’t be able to get in the water for the rest of vacation 🙁
all things considered, it ended up being a minor injury but a good reminder to have a healthy respect around the lake. i’m glad he didn’t jump in head first.