Triumphant Return

Paul and I are back from our week in Maine. It was an awesome, relaxing time. We were at Cobb's Camps on Peirce Pond, which is about 40 minutes away from the nearest town, North New Portland. We went with my parents, brother, and grandparents.

If you drive much more northwise than Cobb's, you're basically in Canada. It's really beautiful up there, the nature is really pristine and untouched, so you get to see a lot of wild life. We didn't get to see any moose this year, sadly, but we did see a gigantic reticulated woodpecker!

Getting to Cobbs is kind of an adventure in itself. After driving through the various declining towns of central Maine, and other towns that are simply territories named with combinations of letters and numbers, you traverse dusty logging roads. These roads used to be unmarked, making finding Cobb's impossible for a novice, but they're really improved the sinage lately. We followed my dad, who kicked up an impossible cloud of dust behind him.


At times, we couldn't even see him in fromt of us at all, just a thick tornado thing. Then, he'd hit some low lying bridge or ditch, and we'd see his tail lights fly up wildly.


After the logging roads, you have to stop and talk to the gate keeper. This guy has a sweet deal. He lives in this cute little cabin in the woods, with a cute little garden and a "moose crossing" sign in the window. He monitors who comes in and out of Peirce Pond, checks fishing liscences, and calls Cobb's to let you know you're coming. He has an enviable life.


After that, you arrive at the shore and wait to get picked up by Fred, in the camp boat. Fred is a certified wilderness guide, and basically the man. He has lots of neat little anecdotes about nature. This year, he told me all about winter tick which is totally terrible and kills majestic mooses! I also learned that if you ice fish, the fish go blind in 30 seconds, being out in the freezing air. He's kind of a cult figure in my family, and we joke about him being able to make anything/everything out of wood



From there, you take a boat over to the main camp. It's a beautiful ride.

I'll be posting more about the trip more over the course of the week. We had a few noteworthy adventures!

Today though, we got back and started working on fixing up the house. Paul's family came over and helped clean up the yard, and rip out the dog and cigarette seaped carpets. It was a revelation tearing them up. The house instantly smelled 100x cleaner as soon as they were gone. Their removal also revealed major evidence of lax housekeeping, stains and tons of unbelievable dirt.

We're thinking of putting down laminate wood to replace it. Also, here's a shot of the "root beer" tinted study, painting in progress.