A Bike Riding Kind of Day

Wendy and Dan asked us to join them on a bike ride from Thornton Academy to the Scarborough Marsh today.  It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, temp in the mid 70's and a light breeze!

We left TA around 1:30 and arrived at the Marsh about 50 minutes later, after stopping to pick some blackberries.

These were a little bitter ;o(

Much better!

We have gotten much better berries in previous years but we decided the drought was responsible for small berries and as Wendy commented..."the seed to berry ratio is a little high!"  haha

From there, straight to the Marsh, which was pretty busy.  There were a lot of people on the water, in kayaks and SUPs but it was quite windy (8 mph) and they were all working very hard against the tide.  Bill and I commented we have never seen the water so high before and we wondered if Hurricane Hermine, off the coast, was pushing more water into the Marsh.

We stopped and took a break on our usual bench, which we were surprised was available.  We took pictures and ate snacks and marveled at the spectacular day.

At least someone remembered the snacks

With our legs rested and our tummies fueled, we headed out of the Marsh and up the hill toward Bayley's Ice Cream.  Unfortunately, Dan had himself a little fall off the bike at the crosswalk.  Apparently, he didn't think he was going to stop, but then he did, right before he forgot to unlock his bike shoes from the peddle.  "Oh Shit!" I believe was his comment.  To be honest, I was too far away to hear him and I didn't actually see him fall, but I did see him picking his bike up off the dirt.  Once we arrived at Bayley's, the proof of his tumble was quite evident.

Ouch...BIOHAZARD!

He went next door to the restaurant to use the bathroom and clean up his booboo; we ordered the ice cream.

This was a LOT of ice cream (and a LOT of calories)!  Dan got back just as his cone was ready but you will have to take my word for it.

This is a new really great water stop along the trail, in the area where we go on our pack walks.  It has a water bowl for the dogs walking on the trail and a section for filling water bottles, too.  Such a nice addition to the Eastern Trail!

We got back to the car at 4:05 with Wendy and I both remarking how much our butts hurt.  

We are so glad they invited us along and glad we said "yes"!

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

Spur of the Moment

I spent most of the morning having coffee with Lt. Dick Bond at Springvale Station.  He is on the verge of retirement after 42 years at the SFD so I thought I should pay him a visit before he leaves.  The only problem with visiting is that I can never get away when it's time to leave.  I didn't get home till sometime around 11:00.

We had been talking recently about how we haven't done much of anything this summer, between me working and Bill in the clinic.  Bill suggested we load up the bikes and take a ride from Scarborough to Bug Light in Portland, so off we went.

When we left the Wainwright Fields, it was mostly sunny, breezy and about 82*.  It's a 5.5 ride, completely paved and takes us about 35 minutes.  We find it very picturesque, with views of Portland and Casco Bay.

Looking at Casco Bay Bridge across the Fore River

Admittedly, this doesn't look like much but whenever I ride along this section of the trail, I am reminded of my good friend, Anna.  She always wanted to "live on the water" and after her divorce, she fulfilled some of that dream by renting an apartment in the building behind this photo.  As it turns out, she met her current husband, James, and lived for several years on a sailboat On The Water.  She always said you must be precise about how you state your intentions to the Universe.  Sadly, she is now totally disabled by Alzheimer's Disease and is living in a facility; however, I never fail to think about her and the great times we shared.

The trail takes you behind the Easy Day, a new venue which houses a bowling alley, bar and lounge inside, as well as an outside patio.  Bill's son, Scott, manages the inside bar.  There are nice views of Portland and the Fore River.

The trail goes through Mill Creek Park with nice gardens, a pond and lots of ducks!

There are pretty pink water lilies here, trust me

From here, it's a short distance to Bug Light Park.  I have decided...I love this little park.  It has great views of Portland, the harbor, Fort Gorges and several islands in Casco Bay.

Eastern Prom

Portland

Bug Light, Casco Bay Ferry, Little Diamond Island

Fort Gorges, Little Diamond Island, Great Diamond Island, Peaks Island

It's such a beautiful spot!  We spent about 30 minutes or so just sitting and enjoying the scenery and salty smell of the ocean.  I planned ahead; we even had a snack!

We try to take a picture of ourselves, which with the CamMe app, is so easy we took two!

 

Bill did a great job of framing the lighthouse between us.

We stopped a couple of times on the return trip, mostly for me to take pictures.  I love this little respite for those walking with their furry friends.

They provide water, treats and poop bags.  The "dog's" name is Panini.

Wish we lived closer to Bug Light, we would spend a lot of time there.

haha, as it turns out...the last time we made this ride was September 1, 2013 and it was almost the same time of day.  Weird!

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

Wanna Ride?

It has been a spectacular run of beautiful weather, not just our week at camp but the following week when the kids were there.  It continued through today!  Wendy and Dan asked us to join them on a bike ride along the Eastern Trail.  Initially, we declined because there were chores we wanted to complete around the house and the AWS Volunteer Appreciation Dinner was tonight.  I was looking forward to saying "hi" to some of my favorite volunteer "peeps" and catching up.  Oh well, the best laid plans...

I was actually angry that I needed to CHOOSE between the two.  I'm not working, I have no real commitments, I don't want to have to choose between two different activities; I want to do them all.  It goes without saying, that's not always possible.  Bill finally made the decision that we needed to take advantage of this perfect weather and go riding.  

 So that's exactly what we did.

We met them behind Thornton Academy in Saco and rode the rail to the Scarborough Marsh.  We haven't traveled the entire Eastern Trail but this is our favorite section of the parts we have traveled.  We left around 3:15 with clear, blue skies, a light breeze and temps around 80.  We pedaled steadily for 7.5 miles and arrived at the marsh in under 50 minutes. It was a picture perfect day.

We took a short break, had a snack and snapped a few pictures (because a blog post is boring without pictures).

Photographic proof that they really rode their bikes ;o)

Time now for ICE CREAM at Bayley's (at least the route is uphill).

OMG!!! sea-salted caramel with hot fudge

More hot fudge

I can't remember what Wendy and Dan got but clearly they looked yummy!  More calories than we burned, that's for sure ;o(

The ride back to the car took about the same amount of time, partly due to the fact that I stopped to take pictures 

We've been keeping an eye on this rock wall/pathway project

and some of us stopped twice to pick wild black raspberries, a tasty fall treat!  

Sweet treat close to trail's edge

Some of the bushes were loaded!

 Wendy even saved a few and shared them with Bill when we caught up to him.

This is a nice, easy ride, mostly flat and takes about 45-55 minutes.  So glad Wendy and Dan were interested in spending time at the end of their vacation with us and glad Bill made the decision to skip dinner and enjoy a beautiful, late August day.

Life is soooo good!

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

Eastern Trail...Saco to Scarborough

Just another day riding our bikes on the Eastern Trail.  This section is about 8 miles in length and we enjoyed it more than the shorter trip between Kennebunk and Biddeford.

We parked in a lot behind Thornton Academy and headed North.  The trail is nice, wide and mostly flat (my favorite).  It crosses Rt. 1 via an overpass and several smaller roads via making sure there aren't any cars coming ;o)  We were pleasantly surprised when cars actually stopped, allowing us to cross.

Our favorite section was the part through the Scarborough Marsh.

We rode for an hour before reaching the end at Black Point Road.  From there we rode up a really steep hill to Rt. 1 and stopped for lunch.

On the return trip we took a short break and relaxed on one of the benches to enjoy the view (and a couple of Twizzlers for dessert).

"our" bench along the marsh

the view from "our" bench

While sitting here, we were trying to determine what the name of the road was that we could see in the distance.

"da train, da train"

when out of nowhere...

It was a nice ride, beautiful day, temperature in the mid 70's.  We highly recommend it as a good place to ride or walk your dog-friendly dog.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

Eastern Trail, Day Deux

Today was spectacular...clear blue sky and temps in the 80's, just the way we like it!  We decided to take our bikes and travel the 6.5 miles from Kennebunk to Southern Maine Medical Center.  The section that took us an hour with the dog last week, took 20 minutes.   We finished the first half of the trip in only 40 minutes.  After a quick pit stop and snack break in a small garden near the hospital entrance, we returned.

Garden at SMMC

Sign marking the "beginning" of the trail at SMMC

The trail heading south is clearly marked with a nice sign and mile markers for the first 2 miles.  It isn't marked at all coming from the other direction.  Obviously there is no reason to wonder how many miles you have traveled when heading north.

Just to prove that we were riding "safe"

All in all it took us about two hours and it felt good to be outside getting some exercise.  Last week the trail was very busy with lots of people and a gazillion dogs, today we hardly saw anyone.  And guess how many dogs we saw...none, nope, not a one, zero, nada, zilch.  Not.One.Damn.Dog  We didn't see one damn tick, either.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)