In a vacation that spanned 10 days, leave it to me to schedule the only yard work days - for the two friggin HOTTEST DAMN DAYS OF THE FRIGGIN YEAR!
Ugh.
I'm not even going to post pics of it - because it only reminds me of how much I despised it. Mind you- I mind it a hell of a lot less when it's less than 80 degrees, let alone 90 and muggy! Thing is- we had the driveway re-done because of cracks, dips, and upheaval due to roots. That means - you gotta stay off it on really hot days for a while, right? Well it was on those two days when I had ordered mulch for the rest of the yard (and driveway) to be delivered. So we spread the mulch and then dug a trench for drainage from the driveway runoff (thanks to Taylor Rental in Rollinsford, btw- wicked nice folks and the trench digger i rented worked great! Wait! What? You thought I was going to DIG the trench by hand? Haha- BZZZZZ. Wrong answer! Why would I do that when GOD created machines that do it for you? Silly!) Anyway- that project is almost finished - but other than that - here's some photos for the other s*** we did.
Guess where it started?
The York Beach Beer Co, and Southern Maine Brewing Co -
Did you think the Brew Tour 23 was going to take a week off? Nah-
Why would it when they have a food truck there that has THIS?
Lobster Roll #1 of vacation - CHECK.
Oh- the next night we visited Kelly Brown at the Brat for dinner-
I got a Light Beer just to piss off Kelly (who was behind the bar). He returned the favor by buying Valerie's beer, and not mine. Haha- Nice Move KB!
Next we headed to Maine with Dave and Jolene to their camp up in the Eustis area.
It was just what the Doctor ordered, too.
Did some shooting as well - got some nice pre-dawn light on Flagstaff Lake in Eustis!
Then headed up to Grafton Notch Park to visit Screw Auger Falls - what a beautiful place!
It's great in summer, but in the fall - the place is even more so!
Photo: Greg Kretschmar
Photo: Greg Kretschmar
Then we headed north to Canada to Mont Megantic and Mont Joseph, two mountains that stick out of the relatively flat area southeast of Sherbrooke.
And there at the top of Mont Joseph - is this cool church. Pretty sure they do human sacrifices here during the soltices - but I could be wrong.
Photo: Greg Kretschmar
On the top of Mont Megantic- they have this cool Darth Vader Helmet looking observatory -
Pretty sure that when they pull the top off it shoots lasers into space to wipe out UFO attacks.
Photo: Greg Kretschmar
Along the way back, you can see how beautiful Canada really is - SO much gorgeous farmland, it's amazing!
And remember kids- DON'T F*** WITH BORDER GUARDS.
They're nice - until it's time to NOT be nice.
Just ask the people that were in front of us and got their car disassembled. *Ok, slight exaggeration, but they got the whole thing searched!
After the roadtrip - it was back to Eustis - to this place- BRICKYARD HOLLOW Brewing Company in Stratton.
And I'm telling you this because THIS PIZZA - the one on top - a Pulled Bbq Pork pizza with apple slices and bbq sauce-
is easily one of the TOP FIVE BEST PIZZAS I've ever had in my life. Incredible crust - and the flavor was excellent!
*I think they have other locations too - so I highly recommend trying em out.
(Oh- and the bottom pizza was excellent too - but my favorite was the BBQ Pulled Pork. Boom.)
Another day at camp - and we headed home for the yard projects -
And I saved the worst for last-
After photographing the sunrise (see the dock pick above), I was photographing the mountains in the haze and fog- when I suddenly heard a huge SWOOSH sound right over my head. It was so loud- I DUCKED! And from behind me, a bald eagle swooped down about 15 ft above me and headed straight for the water. I didn't have my wildlife/action camera or lens in my hand and I literally had NO time to even adust the settings - so in 3 seconds I just raised my camera and shot at the bird swooped down and grabbed a fish from the lake right in front of me.
I knew before I even looked that the pics wouldn't be good because the settings weren't anywhere they needed to be. Ugh.
The one show I've waited for forever- and had never seen happen live- happened - and I was totally not prepared to shoot it.
FML.
But - I shot it anyway- and here's the sequence for you -
It kills me to even look at it. But hey, what are ya gonna do? It happens! It was just cool to see it! And if Im lucky - I'll get to see it again - and hopefully be better prepared to get the shot right!
Hope y'all had a good fourth!
Looking forward to being back with you -
g