Week in Maine

We returned safely from our east coast trip on July 2. Here's a recap of our final week of that trip, which we spent visiting with my cousin at her husband's family retreat on the coast of Maine. I was so happy to finally make it to Birch Point for this vacation! Kristan and I had tried to participate in a family vacation here 19 years ago in 2003, which would have been a bigger event with the ten of us relatives, but we were waylaid in Glens Falls, New York, by a medical emergency for three weeks. This time, it was to be just a much quieter visit, with just the four of us.

Saturday 6/25 - Because of our circuitous travel route, we ended up on Delta airlines for the hop from West Palm Beach airport to Boston Logan airport. I hadn't flown on Delta since I traveled from San Diego 30 years ago, but they knew my SkyMiles number, and there were only a few minor hiccups to reset my extremely old password, and update my address and phone number, before I had been able to book this connecting trip. I had a little trepidation, using a different airline than my favorite, but the logistics all seemed to work out. I guess the east coast thunderstorms delayed our inbound aircraft, which got us off the ground hours later than scheduled. Our pilot mentioned that he would be dodging a few thunderstorms on our way out, but the rest of our flight should be clear.

We arrived at Boston Logan airport to a beautiful sunset, after a pretty approach over the water. The Delta app was great about telling me our expected arrival time, what gate we were arriving at, and which baggage claim to find our bags.

Our bags took seemingly forever to arrive, but we finally had everything in hand, and found our way to the Blue Line shuttle articulated bus, that took us to the off-airport rental car facility. I was concerned about the long drive up to Maine from there, and that we would arrive near midnight, but my cousin insisted that we stop at her house in Portsmouth for the night, and then we could caravan up the rest of the way, in the morning. Excellent idea. 

My cousin has a great interest in family ancestry, and she was quick to remind me that the bunk bed in the room next to us in her basement, was the same bed that our fathers slept in, when they were boys.

Sunday 6/26 - We slept in, which was a great treat after our travel day, and woke up to a beautiful morning. Here's the front of my cousin's home. They have a delightfully peaceful location, not far from downtown Portsmouth, but you wouldn't know it, until you walk a few blocks.

This is my cousin and her husband, and the view of their neighborhood, looking down the driveway. 

We enjoyed a delicious outdoor breakfast at Cafe Espresso near their house, and then we were off toward our Maine vacation. We had a relatively short 90-minute drive to Bath, a stop to pick up groceries (she said, "assume there is NOTHING at the house!"), and a 15-minute drive out to the Birch Point house.

This lovely view greeted us, as I was parking the car next to the Birch Point house. I was immediately reminded of how much I love being near the water, and reflexively took a few deep breaths. This is the view straight south, over the New Meadows River toward the Atlantic Ocean, which is way out between those two points of land in the distance. 

Here's a nautical chart on the wall at the house. Just to be clear, I love maps, especially nautical charts. The house where we were staying at Birch Point, is 5 miles south of Bath, maybe a little southwest, about halfway to Cape Small, and just across (east) from the skinny Long Island, next to where the map says "New Meadows R." 

The blue dot is the exact location provided by my phone's mapping app, using the satellite view. Note that Brunswick airport is just a little northwest of Birch Point. I was flying a little Pitts Special biplane (in flight simulator) up the coast of Maine earlier this year (in the winter), on my way from Portsmouth Pease airport to Bangor, when I realized my windshield (and presumably the rest of the plane as well) was accumulating heavy ice, so I made a precautionary landing at Brunswick, until the icing conditions abated, before I continued that flight. So, the Brunswick airport felt like a somewhat familiar landmark to me.

We loved the gorgeous sunset view from the living room toward Winnegance Bay, made even better when that Blue Heron took off and flew across my picture. What a gorgeous place! I was very pleased to be sharing this fun part of the trip with Jennefer, especially after her being such a good sport during the earlier, less fun part of our trip. We were also glad to be settled down here, and not traveling for another week… 

 

 

Monday 6/27 - We started our day with an outdoor breakfast of blueberry pancakes on the deck at Mae's Cafe in Bath. They served me with my own little bottle of real maple syrup from Maine! We couldn't leave, without grabbing some delicious-looking items for later, from their bakery display case inside. Instantly my favorite restaurant in Maine.

It started raining right after breakfast, and continued for quite awhile, but we were happy spending a lovely day, touring my cousin's childhood city by car. I realize I had focused on the raindrops in this photo, but in the blurry background, you can see the Kennebec River that runs past Bath.

My Uncle had spent a considerable amount of his time consulting at Down East Engineering, after he retired from the Navy. I remember having this place in my address book for his work address, for quite a few years. It was nice to finally put a "face" to the name.

After driving around in the rain for awhile, with my cousin giving us a running commentary about the many local points of interest, we stopped at the Maine Maritime Museum, at the site of the old Percy & Small Shipyard. We looked around inside the museum, and verified our booking for the short "shipyard and lighthouses" cruise, that would take us out for a view of some local lighthouses, and the Bath Iron Works, where they continue to build Navy ships today. I was excited that we would be getting out on the water for this vacation! I always find it fun, to see an area from the water. This is a model of the Wyoming, a six-masted schooner, which they say was the largest wooden sailing ship ever built, right here at the Percy & Small Shipyard in Bath, Maine. 

This information sheet summarizes some of the major features of the Bath Iron Works, known locally as BIW, and now a General Dynamics facility, which I think I remember being told, is one of the biggest employers for this area. It certainly drives the traffic patterns, at the beginning and end of their work shift. I worked for General Dynamics in San Diego for 17 years, so seeing their name does give me a little sense of belonging.

This is a a full-scale replication of the Cape Elizabeth Two Lights lighthouse tower lantern room, with my cousin in the background, taking our picture. 

These flagpoles mark the construction site of the Wyoming. Each flagpole represents the location and approximate height of each of the huge wooden schooner's six masts. 

This friendly museum employee was demonstrating how a freshly-constructed large ship was launched for the first time, by greasing the skids known as "the ways", and knocking out the wooden brakes out from under it, until it slid down the ways into the Kennebec River. The kids loved this demonstration, but hated that he wouldn't let them play with the boat, after he'd slid it down into the pool. 

The museum built a kids play area in the shape of a ship's hull. Cute. It was cool and drizzly out, so we didn't see a lot of kids playing in the sand. 

We stopped in Bath for lunch at Cafe Creme, on our way back to Birch Point. This mix of bright colorful flowers drew my attention. 

Our view from the living room window at Birch Point was somewhat limited, on this drizzly foggy day...

...and even more limited, a short time later... this was the worst visibility we experienced for our entire stay here. I kind of enjoyed it, since it was so short-lived. 

Tuesday 6/28 - We awoke to a beautiful blue-sky morning at Birch Point. Here, I'm looking back up at the house from their boat dock. 

I really wanted to get out on the water in a small sailboat, kayak, or even a rowboat, but that wasn't in the cards for this trip. We saw that the neighbors appeared to have some small watercraft, but who has the internal fortitude to go ask a complete stranger if you can borrow their boat for a little while? And what reasonably cautious person would honor such a request?

Today was our "shipyard and lighthouse" boat cruise, oh boy! My cousin took this picture of us with her husband, as we're heading out on the MerryMeeting. 

A Navy ship under construction, at Bath Iron Works (BIW). The shipyard has several stations where ships are under construction. Then when a ship is ready to be launched, it is moved into the dry dock, which submerges until the ship can be easily floated out.

Looking inside the (currently empty) dry dock at the Bath Iron Works shipyard. This is a view from an angle you don't get from the shore.

The Doubling Point lighthouse on Arrowsic Island is located on the lower Kennebec River, at a point where the normally south-flowing river makes a sharp turn to the east, followed by a turn back to the south. The light is set at the inside corner of the first of these turns, on the west side of Arrowsic Island, roughly opposite the mouth of Winnegance Creek. The light station includes a tower, keeper's house, shed, and oil house. The tower is an octagonal wood-frame structure, finished in wooden shingles, with an iron walkway around the lantern chamber. It is accessed via a three-span footbridge.

The Fiddler's Reach Fog Signal was rung to assist ships navigating the treacherous S-bend section of the river known as Fiddler Reach. It was a bell from 1914 until the late sixties and then a horn until it was discontinued in 1982.

The Doubling Point Range Lights are located on the lower Kennebec River, at a point where the normally south-flowing river makes a sharp turn to the east, followed by a turn back to the south. The range lights are set on the north side of the second turn; the first is marked by the Doubling Point Light. The range lights are oriented so that they are in alignment when seen from the main channel to the south. The light station consists of two octagonal wood frame towers, a keeper's house, and an oil house. The towers are joined to the keeper's house by wooden walkways with railings. The southern tower is 17 feet (5.2 m) in height, while the northern one is 13 feet (4.0 m) tall. When a ship is properly in the main channel, only the southern light will be visible.

 

From a different angle, you can see the Doubling Point Range Lights are almost lined up, to indicate our ship is near the center of the channel. 

 

Our guide pointed out several Eagles soaring over the trees.

Navy (picket?) ship moored at the Iron Works dock.  

Another Navy (picket?) ship moored at the Iron Works dock.  

Bath Iron Works shipyard security were waiting alertly, in case we needed to be warned to stay out of their protected area in Bath Harbour. 

The Sagadahoc drawbridge crosses the Kennebec River to bring traffic on highway 1 into Bath. We saw an Osprey nest on top of this bridge today, just to the right of the movable drawbridge span, but you can't see it in this photo.

The historic sailing sloop Pinnace Virginia or Virginia of Sagadahoc was a pinnace built in 1607–08 by colonists at the Popham Colony. The ship was a project of the Plymouth Company, branch of the proprietary Virginia Company, on land England claimed as belonging to the Virginia Colony. She was the first English ocean-going vessel built in the New World, and a demonstration of the new colony's ability to build ships.

We survived our boat cruise! There was never any doubt, of course. The storm clouds brewing in the background didn't stop us from continuing our day, by walking around the grounds of the Maine Maritime Museum. 

While it was raining, we toured the Donnell house, where the shipyard owner's family lived, then we walked around to the Mill and Joinery shop, the Paint and Treenail shop, the Blacksmith shop, the Mould Loft, the Caulker's Shed, and even stopped by to look at the Pitch Oven.

We were ready for our very late lunch at the Montsweag Restaurant, on our way back to Birch Point from Bath.

We detoured by way of Wiscasset, and found ourselves following the progress of a lobster boat crew, as they returned to the dock, and loaded up their boat with lobster pots for the next morning. 

Sunset at Birch Point, and another fun photo with a Great Blue Heron flying past. 

Just before going to bed, I was peering out the living room windows at the pitch black view of the water beyond, and as my eyes adjusted, I realized that I could see quite a lot - so many stars in the sky, and lights on the water and ground, off in the distance. I gave my iPhone 12 camera a try with the dark scene, and I was amazed that it did a decent job of capturing what I was seeing. This view is looking out over the New Meadows River toward Bear Island to the south. I think the ground glow is from Cundy’s Harbor. It even caught the green flashing light on one of the channel marker buoys out in the river. 

Here's a "nautical" map from the Argo boating app on my iPhone, that shows me (white circle with blue arrow inside at the top) looking south in the same direction I took the above photo. 

Wednesday 6/29 - Mostly calm water on the river this morning.

While we were having breakfast at the house, we enjoyed watching this lobster boat arrive to tend their pots.

Then it was off to Bowdoin College, to see a musical for which my cousin had booked seats. We arrived early enough to walk around the college before the show. 

Thursday 6/30 - Puffin Cruise day! My sister loves Puffins - she is the one that told me about these water birds that "fly underwater," and then we saw them at Sea World in San Diego many years ago. This was a chance for the four of us to see them in the wild. My cousin had booked us on a cruise on Cap'n Fish's Cruises from Boothbay Harbor, to hopefully see some Puffins at Eastern Egg Rock, a tiny island off the coast of Maine. 

We saw many varying kinds of moored boats, on our way out of Boothbay Harbor, and many of them had people on board, presumably just enjoying their morning, although some looked well enough equipped, that they could have been living aboard. 

This cute little pair of "RS Feva" mini-sailboats got me thinking again, about how difficult it might be, to rent a little sailboat, and go exploring around some of the many bodies of water in this area. One of these days!

We saw a few Windjammer-style schooners out and about. This red-sailed one was really gorgeous, as she cruised along under full sails. 

 

 

 

I captured this screenshot from my Argus boating app, while we were en route to Eastern Egg Rock. It shows we were approaching Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, traveling at 14.9 knots, and the water under us was 177 feet deep right there. I was glad that the swells were light, and my equilibrium was doing well under those conditions. 

This gaff-rigged Windjammer-style schooner (maybe the Mistress?) looked really classic. They were moving along really well, apparently under sail power alone. 

This, they told us, is what we would be looking for! Puffins! The crew were all really nice and informative. It was a pleasure riding with them. They even made a great effort to imitate the sound of a Puffin for us. They also showed us pictures of several other sea animals we might encounter.

 

We arrived at Eastern Egg Rock, and... Puffins! We were excited. All the little white specs are Puffins. This still photo doesn't do the experience any justice at all. I also took a bunch of videos, which I have yet to figure out how to upload here. Then I offered my viewing seat to my cousin, who also wanted to take some pictures.

 

 

OK, I think I've managed to upload a video here, of a few Puffins just riding the swells:

Seems like I succeeded in uploading another video here - of a Puffin flying!

We passed this pretty round building on a very small island, as we were approaching the dock back at Boothbay harbor. I think it's called the McFarland Island Lighthouse. 

 

 

 

After successfully completing our Puffin viewing cruise, we headed across the peninsula, for an afternoon walk around the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. 

So many beautiful plants at the gardens. They even had a pretty little "Monet" pond full of lilly pads. 

Fun and shady cool little privacy cave made of stacked up boulders.

We had a great time tracking down all the Trolls scattered around the gardens, from end to end. There was a brochure that described each of the trolls. The first troll we encountered was Roskva! "Stands for the trunks." Roskva is the heaviest, hardest, and strongest of the trolls. Every day, Roskva climbs towards the sky, and every year she grows taller and wider. If a troll forgets something, they can always ask Roskva—she counts the seasons and remembers everything that happens around her.

This was Lilja! "Holds the scent of the flowers." Just last summer, Lilja came out from her hiding place. The youngest of the trolls, she’s still just a child. She loves the colors and the scents of the flowers and when bees and butterflies fly among branches.

This was Soren! "Sticks up for the branches." Søren is a very curious troll; his head is always turning and twisting, searching for places ever higher. He dreams about drifting around on a cloud in the sky, and when the wind is blowing, he loves to celebrate with a dance.

This was Gro! "Smiles with the leaves." Gro is the wanderer. Every fall she disappears, but the trolls are not worried because every spring she returns to the forest. On her return, Gro walks around to make sure every friend of hers is fed. After hurrying to catch a few sunbeams and a handful of raindrops, she creates a feast for the forest.

And this was Birk! "Holds the roots." Birk is the wisest and most mysterious of the trolls. He hides in the shadows and listens to the whispers of the soil. He knows everything that happens in the wild, and every day he tells tales to all the other creatures of the forest. 

There were several beautiful bridges around the park.  

I really enjoyed the little "fairy village" that we ran across, just before we got to the last troll. There were many different variations of this little "fairy house" in a small area.

Lots of beautiful water features throughout the gardens. 

We headed back to Birch Point and found... kayakers in the water nearby. How nice to see them! 

Friday 7/1 - The day before we fly home. The Blue Herons were strutting around on the little island just offshore from the house. We all decided to drive down to my cousin's house a day early, so we could spend the night there, then stop on the way to the airport, to visit with her daughter and her 2 year old son that we haven't yet met. 

One last look at the marvelous view from the Birch Point house.  

Saying goodbye to this lovely location for awhile. 

We stopped at the Garmin facility in Portland on the drive back, and checked out the "Big Eartha" display that was installed by the DeLorme mapping company, before Garmin bought them. This 42 foot scale model of Earth is rotated by a motor in the base, so bystanders can see it from all angles.

We got to meet my first cousin, twice removed! And we met the bump who will soon be my second first cousin, twice removed!

We had the most delicious cheese frittata and latte at Caffe Nero in downtown Melrose, and got a big grin for our effort.

Travel days tend to be a blur, so it's no surprise that before we knew it, we'd driven to the car rental facility and turned in our car, caught the blue line shuttle bus to the correct airport terminal building, checked our bags, found our way through the TSA line and to our gate, and were waiting for our flight. 

Always a relief, to be back in the air, and on our way home. Looks like Deer Island, out across Boston Harbor.

I really enjoy following the progress of my airline flight, using the Foreflight app on my phone, which is telling me that we're 652 nautical miles from Denver. 

Landing at Denver airport, through some rain clouds, with another flight landing on a parallel runway, and the Westin airport hotel between us. I caught this fun photo during our approach and landing. Only a couple of minor hiccups so far… we had to wait awhile, for a gate to free up… and I got a text after landing, that my bag (with my Entenmann’s crumb cake!) was on a plane heading to San Francisco and then Portland. So... I had my fingers crossed, that they would eventually get it back to Denver, and deliver it to the house… and that was a good job by the airline, managing my expectations… by the time I got to the front of the line at the baggage claim customer service area, I had already completed the online form, to have my bag delivered at the house, so I didn't need to talk to them. Cool beans. Then, we just had to find a ride home... easily solved with a ride-share app, and 45 minutes later, we were home.

Jennefer's kitty Cleo was very happy to see her. 

I think Mandy was happy to see us too.

 

And... 24 hours later: Woo hoo! My bag returned from San Francisco! I followed the bag delivery person all around Colorado, as they must've had a lot of bags to deliver, even going south beyond Colorado Springs. In the early evening, the doorbell rang, and the drop-off guy was already gone, by the time I got to the door. I was glad I got there quickly, as it had just started raining.

Finally! The end of our big summer trip story. Of course, too many "finally home" events have unexpected discoveries - this time, we had something beeping in the basement all evening after we got home. I finally investigated, and found the battery backup for my Internet modem had gotten to end of life, and wasn't holding a charge any more. Back to everyday life!

Ten days in Florida

Saturday 6/25 was the end of the North Palm Beach part of our big summer trip. My sister Mikele had asked us to accompany her to Florida, for emotional and physical support, as she took over the responsibility to disposition our Dad's estate. This mostly involved dealing with his condo and its remaining contents, and had taken over two years so far, with no status or resolution in sight. We spent the majority of the time helping Mikele with those tasks, and I won't bore you with my dozens of pictures of the condo before and after our efforts, but here's the last one I took, of his now cleared-out living room. We did carve out some time to do a few fun things, including dining out at several of the restaurants where we had taken Dad and Adele over the years. Here's a recap of the more fun parts of our southeast Florida adventure.

Wednesday 6/15 was our travel day to Florida, after making arrangements for our pets to be cared for. Mikele and Bob met us at Denver airport, after catching an earlier flight from California. They had a few trials and tribulations with checked baggage and their flight being late, but it all worked out in the end. We flew to Ft Lauderdale and rented a car for the drive up to our hotel in North Palm Beach, within walking distance of Dad's condo.

 

Our first task was finding dinner. No problem! Greetings from the Waterway Café, on the bank of the intracoastal waterway, near North Palm Beach Florida!

The Waterway Cafe has a wonderful view of the intracoastal waterway, and a delightful nautical and tropical ambience, with all their palm trees, and the various boat traffic passing by, and waiting for the drawbridge to go up every half hour. Dad and Adele had taken me here years ago, when I flew out to do some work at Cape Canaveral, and I found I loved their Key Lime pie!  

We stopped at the Publix grocery store for supplies, and I was so excited to find my favorite Entenmann's Crumb Coffee Cake!

6/18 Jennefer and I shared a delicious macadamia crusted yellow tail snapper dinner at Café Chardonnay in Palm Beach Gardens. They easily matched the high standard they had set for themselves, when I brought Adele and Dad here in 2017 and 2018. Jennefer isn’t big on sweets, but she was willing to help me with this delicious crème brûlée, after we finished off our main course.

 

6/19 Happy Father’s Day to all our friends out there who are dads! I posted on Facebook that I was missing my Dad today, and reminded them that we were looking forward to seeing any of his friends that wanted to join Mikele and me and our partners, for our casual get-together at his regular lunch place, Duffy’s Sports Grill in North Palm Beach on Friday 6/24 between 2 and 5 PM. I told them that they could find the event specifics, and RSVP, on Facebook at this address. I'll leave that Event page up for awhile.

We enjoyed a fun Sunday morning Father’s Day outing to MacArthur Park, just down the road from Dad‘s condo in North Palm Beach. Such a delightful place! We really enjoyed the Nature Center and their short but informative movies about the park and the turtle nesting areas, the aquariums and other displays, the local mangrove swamp, walking the pedestrian bridge over the estuary, and our moderately long walk up and down the beach in the waves.

After our MacArthur Beach adventure, we had a late lunch at one of Dad's favorite restaurants on Father’s Day. It's called Guanabanas, but he used to refer to it as Tahiti, where he lived for a few years, so my sister and I are strongly reminded of the time we spent together in the south pacific back then.

6/20 Our pleasant "Sunset Cruise" from West Palm Beach around Lake Worth, almost turned into a battle for our lives against the weather… with a line of rapidly building thunderstorms heading our way from over the Atlantic, our skipper turned back way before planned. 

She beat the storm back to our launching point, then waited a while at the dock after returning, hoping the storm would blow over, but it seemed to camp out on us, so they kicked us off after a while. Here we are, all scrunched together, trying to minimize the amount of the downpour that was soaking our clothes. I was glad to be wearing lightweight clothes that would dry out quickly, even though they weren't keeping me warm at all, at the moment.

Already drenched, we took refuge from the rain and lightning at ER Bradley’s, and shared some warm drinks and a delicious key lime pie for dessert. They had a delightful atmosphere there, which we did enjoy, even through our shivering, but I'll bet we would have had a much better time on a slightly drier evening.

6/23 We enjoyed our second to last dinner here in Palm Beach Gardens, at Seasons 52, another place we took Dad and Adele when visiting over the years. Lovely food, view, servers. We especially liked their elegant little dessert display, kind of like a totem pole, with small dessert servings mounted in a spiral climbing up it.

6/24 We held a small "celebration of life" for my Dad, at his favorite lunch place, Duffy's Sports Grill in North Palm Beach, just across the street from his condo. I was glad to spend some time with our family friend Anita and some of her family, and to see a few of his friends who took the time to attend. We finally got to meet Dad's friend Etonella, who provided this picture, and told us that Dad was proud of us, for having such a nice celebration of his life party. I'm sorry to say, I was so anxious about coordinating everything and trying to make sure I visited with everyone, that I forgot to take any pictures.

6/25 We enjoyed our last morning meal in Florida at Sara's Kitchen, before the next part of our east coast trip. We had breakfast every day of our visit at Sara's, my favorite breakfast place in North Palm Beach, just a few steps across the street from our hotel, which was close to Dad's condo. I'll always think of how I discovered Sara's, when I was arranging to meet Dad for an early breakfast, after I realized I had inadvertently booked a midnight flight, instead of a midday flight, to go visit him in 2017. I found them on the Yelp app, when he and I were chatting on the phone about how we were going to get together the morning after my flight arrived in Ft Lauderdale at 5am. He was surprised to learn that this wonderful breakfast place was so close to his condo, after having lived there for over 30 years, and never knowing about it. After that, I dragged him and Adele to breakfast there quite a few times, every time I came to visit. 

After the required checkout time at our hotel, we spent a couple of hours wandering The Palm Beach Gardens Mall, and catching Deinos during the Pokemon GO June Community Day event, before heading to the airport. We were sad to remember that Adele was still recovering at her rehab facility Los Posada not far away, the last time we visited. And we grinned ruefully, when we remembered the story about taking Dad and Adele to Brio Italian Grill here, and him insisting on asking for chopped salad with honey mustard dressing, which is what he always ordered when visiting Adele at La Posada for Dinner.

Finally on our way North, to spend a week with my cousin in Maine for a real vacation. We're glad to be in our seats, even if the flight is delayed for weather. It was a little weird, to be on a different airline, leaving from a different airport than where we arrived, to accomplish this second leg of our trip. This is the first time I can remember, that I had to book three separate flights, instead of a single round-trip booking, in order to be able to spend time in two different destinations along the way. I guess it made sense, but I've gone on so many there-and-back trips in the past 30 years, it just felt strange. It all worked out just fine, though.

Broken spring

My car has been held hostage by my garage door for a few days… a broken counterbalance spring makes it tough to get it open… heavy! This time around, I called someone to replace it… and I’m glad to finally have it working!

Hot ride

I foolishly left for a bike ride at noon on this hot day, and found myself stopping at a lot of shady spots, to get some energy back, and to let my heart rate get back under 120. Thanks to my Garmin watch, for keeping track of that for me. It turns out that 98° is too darn hot for me to be climbing hills on my bike. I was glad for the short reprieve, on the cooler and breezy level path, on top of the Chatfield dam. Also happy about the three tall 16 oz glasses of iced Gatorade, juice, and water that I slurped down after I got home.

I Voted

I dropped off my ballot on Wednesday, and was already notified today that it’s been counted. Cool beans.

Tuesday ride

Nice afternoon for a bike ride. Surrounded by rapidly building cumulonimbus, but thankfully nothing over my route.

Thursday ride

My Thursday ride took me the farthest I’ve been, on the Highline Canal Trail - nothing impressive, just a new minor personal achievement… 

I could ride a long way on the Highline Canal Trail, and not actually get very far from home, with all the wiggles in that trail...

Tropical Storm

I would've started watching the NOAA Hurricane Center for Dad and Adele about now, and was breathing a sigh of relief, to not have to worry about bad weather for them any more. Then I realized, that not only are their friends still there, but in fact my sister and I will be there in a few weeks, so we need to be careful too. We're heading out there, to support my sister in taking over the responsibility for closing out Dad's estate in a more timely fashion. It looks like this particular storm, which has Palm Beach directly in its cross-hairs, will be long gone by then, according to the NOAA Hurricane Center, but this is a little wake-up call for me...