Maine, Day Four

On Day Four, we spent the morning in Rockland, visiting the Farnsworth Museum, which houses a bunch of paintings and drawings by the Wyeth family (Andrew and NC), who spent their summers in Rockland. It was a lovely place.

We checked out of the Samoset and headed north some more, stopping first at the Marshall Point Lighthouse, which is also a museum. It was so lovely! It was featured in Forrest Gump and they had some cool stuff on display. On the way to Marshall Point, we drove through Thomaston, St. George, Tenants Harbor and Port Clyde. It was a moody, rainy day; just perfect for this type of sightseeing!

Pretty gatepost at Lands' End.

We had lunch at a local spot in Tenants Harbor, The Happy Clam, then ventured onward toward Bar Harbor.

We walked along the Shore Path, skipping rocks and admiring the vibrant mosses and seaweeds, not to mention the beautiful homes. Bar Harbor was very crowded, though you wouldn't know it from these pictures!

Chinese food for dinner and some ice cream in town and we hunkered down to watch the Olympics at our next resting spot, the Harborside Hotel.

Maine, Day Three

On day three, we headed a bit further up the coast to Camden, which is a beautiful old port city on Penobscot Bay. We had reserved a trip on a schooner called the Appledore. It was us and a bunch of old people, which meant that the young strapping Horn lads got to help with the riggings a bit. What a beautiful day for a boat ride!

The view of the port from the lawn outside the library.

We ate lunch on the dock after our time on the boat, then shopped a bit on the main street. From the port, we could see a mountaintop tower just above us, so we asked about it and headed up there to the  tower on Mount Battie. The view from the top was fantastic, and we were grateful we had driven and not attempted the hike.

We ended the day with some time back at the Samoset. The sunset was perfection.

Maine, Days One and Two

Oh my goodness, our time in Maine was so perfect! We left on a Sunday after Sacrament Meeting with the Parkers and headed north on I-95 until we hit Highway 1, which follows the coastline all the way up. The first town you come to, York, has an amazing lighthouse, the Nubble Light, at Cape Neddick, in Sohier Park. We had pretty much the ideal day for lighthouse viewing and stopped for a little lunch at Fox's Lobster House at the top of the hill. Then out onto the rocks we went!

Next up was a drive through of Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. What a beautiful town! This Wedding Cake House was in our guide book and pretty crazy. We were hoping someone will swoop in and do some repairs soon. It was looking a little weathered.

Our next stop was the Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, across from Fort Williams Park. The lighthouse was commissioned by George Washington in 1790. Super pretty and a nice place to walk along the cliffs and take in the sea air.

This is also where we discovered that people on Maine's rocky beaches like to build cairns. So we did, too!

We arrived at the Samoset Resort in Rockland in the late afternoon. I stayed there with my family back in the early 90s and have always wanted to go back. It has changed a bit (no bike rentals), but we still had a great time! We stayed there for three nights and explored the area a bit each day.

The first thing we did was to walk out from the resort grounds onto the breakwater, which is almost a mile long. There is an old lighthouse at the end, which made for a fun resting spot after the long walk over the granite blocks.

As we walked along the breakwater, we were watching this lobsterman checking his traps. He stopped and talked to us for a second, but we had a hard time understanding his thick accent! It was fun to see his process up close, though! Hard work!

Across the bay from the Samoset is the Owl's Head Lighthouse, which was one of my favorites. I'm a sucker for anything black and white! Owl's Head was such a pretty little tiny town. There are so many of those in Maine! Ah! South Thomaston was another favorite. 

The beach at Owl's Head State Park was so pretty, and completely empty, just like the town. It was full of cool rocks and had such a lovely view of western Penobscot Bay. Ah, take me back!

We had dinner that evening in Rockland, a town where our friend, Josh, grew up. Neal had his first whole lobster of the trip. So proud!

Low Key

When we haven't been in Utah or Nebraska this summer, we have been pretty much chilling at home. We've taken in a baseball game and reintroduced ourselves to our pool.

Nebraska 2016

A lot of our family members were unable to come to the ranch this year, so it was a pretty small group relative to other reunions. Neal, Charlotte and Georgia's families were there, along with Daddy and Gail. We spent some time doing the regular things: tubing in the river and taking rides on the Kubota at sunset; gazing at stars and lighting fireworks; roasting marshmallows and playing ping pong. It was lovely!

Daddy has been renovating an antique chuck wagon (that likely was taken on many cattle drives in the American West). He turned a large portion of it into this incredible bed and I couldn't believe how gorgeous it was!

Testing out the lighting for family pics.

The porch. Many silly things happen on this porch.

Also a great spot for a quiet read slash nap.

Heading down to the zip line.

Such a fun addition!

Wading/tubing in the North Loup River, which runs along the southern edge of the ranch.

The fishers caught some pretty huge fish in the ranch's ponds!

Daddy and Gail with the grandkids in attendance. L-R: Miles, Audrey, Oliver, Parker, Tucker, Johnny and Emmaline.

Can't wait until next year! The ranch is so relaxing and remote, a great place to recharge.