Cherishing Those Slow Weekends

This blog has been floating in the back of my mind, almost haunting me, for quite some time.  Life has been a bit of a whirlwind for the past few weeks and it seems like forever since I've had my butt planted in my apartment on a Saturday morning slowly taking in hot tea, fresh steel cut oats and natural sunlight through my windows.  I used to fret over the times like this, frantically coming up with plans to fill the hours of the weekend.  I've learned to slow down a bit, and appreciate my personal time..although I can't say I'm any better at planning it all out.
The past few weeks I've probably only been alone in my apartment for about 3-4 days.  People who know me know that I am not one to keep my feet planted for long.  I have a constant desire to go somewhere, see and do things.  Either it's a result of my day job (sitting) or just an inner hyper activeness that, while it exhausts me at times, I hope I never lose it.  A few weeks ago I whisked myself back home to spend a weekend celebrating the birthdays of two of my favorite ladies and the adventures have just been non stop since then.
A few days following my quick trip down to the steaming south, my friend Eli came for a long visit to CT.  He helped me drive up here back in January and has been looking to return when things aren't so..snow crazy.  Well I took advantage of having a convenient partner in crime and we kept the schedule busy.  I explored new areas of NYC, went to a concert which I randomly picked and ended up being really awesome.  The band is called Moonface and the singer is from the band Wolf Parade.  The venue was on the lower east side, just on the border of the East Village and reminded me a lot some of the intimate, dark, low key venues we have back home.  (I would post pictures, but due to numerous drinks and a long train ride home, my flashy new camera is sadly no where to be found :( )
Last Friday was my first Yankees game.  I'm not a Yankees fan, but I do love watching baseball.  We spent the afternoon before the game exploring Chelsea, walking through Chelsea Market and paying a visit to High Line Park which is an old elevated railway converted into a little over a mile stretch of gardens, artistic benches and the occasional patch of grass littered with sunning New Yorkers.  The day we went may not have been the best, as it was an uncharacteristic 100 degrees.  But we braved it, got a ginger plum Popsicle to cool us off and replenished our fluids with a cold beer at the end where they have street vendors and a bar set up underneath the park.

Sliding lounge chairs built into the tracks

Enjoying one of the great views elevated above NYC

But perhaps the greatest adventure, and the real reason I wanted to post a blog, was our road trip up to Maine.
We lucked out the whole way, planning things out as we went and finding places to go ahead of time.  Our first stop in Maine was at a little restaurant right on the coast, tucked away in some houses.  I had seen the restaurant on Food Network, called Lobster Shack at Two Lights and really wanted to check it out.  I had never eaten a lobster before either, so of course I had to give it a try.  THis place definitely didn't disappoint!  You can order a lobster dinner, complete with a whole steamed lobster, biscuit, coleslaw and fries and enjoy savagely tearing into your lobster on picnic tables listening to the crash of waves on the rocky coast of Maine. And when I say savagely, I mean eating a lobster is no easy (or clean) affair.  Upon first breaking of it's tail I was introduced to the dirty dead of dismembering a whole lobster, organs and juices still in tact.  What followed was a tasty adventure that involved lobster juice flying everywhere, getting poked by pieces of sharp shell and pausing only to breath and take in the fresh salty air.  The mess below shows the aftermath.

We headed from there up to Camden, ME where we had decided Thursday morning we were going to camp.  Once again, Maine did not disappoint.  We arrived shortly before sunset and upon the recommendation of the park ranger, we set up tent in a flash and drove up to Mt Battie to catch the view before the sun set.  Breath taking is really all you can say about the view.  Below you can see the quaint harbor town of Camden and beyond you can see the jutting coast, islands and beyond the horizon, kissed by sunshine.

Atop the tower at Mt. Battie

The next day we explored Camden, took a touristy sail trip and perused the little shops downtown.  I will definitely have to go back and explore by bike, there are several towns along the coast there that we didn't quite get to.  We left in the afternoon to get to our next nights stay.  Eli hooked us up with his discount on Historical Hotels of America and we stayed at this very cute, inclusive type resort on Southport Island.  It is tucked away on some back highways near Boothbay
For the rest of our stay in Maine we explored Boothbay Harbor, Burnt Island, a small general store with some awesome lobster rolls and a little hike through a nature preserve on another local island.

The beach we rode bikes to

Typical rocky coastline on the property of our hotel

Where we spent the last morning in Maine, beating the noisy kids to the pool

Seeking further adventure, we took to kayaking

Eli exploring Burnt Island, a stop on our Kayak trip

A hidden beach on our hike through the Nature Preserve

So Maine, I will be seeing you again.  Perhaps with a new partner in crime or just Rosalita (my bike).
Time to go enjoy my Saturday...I see a farmers market in my future :)