from the desk of stinkpot

christina and i took an impromptu trip to maine 2 weekends ago. her firm was sponsering a convention for grants administrators in portland. (yes, even people who underwrite grants have symposia.) the convention was from monday-wednesday; we decided to go up on saturday and spend two nights camping and biking along the maine coast.

(being a graduate student has got to be one of the best “jobs” in the world. i can simply disappear from the lab for days, not give anyone advance warning that i’ll be leaving, and not get chastised when i get back. unbelievable.)

in any case, we spent our first night camping in what was really a gloried backyard. the campground turned out to be in a grove of trees alongside a crop of freshly constructed houses. nonetheless, christina and i still had a great time – we cooked tacos for dinner using the stove we bought at the nearby 24-hour ll bean store. that night, for the first time, i built a campfire by myself – i had previously only done so with my dad or with camp counselors. it’s good knowing that i learned how to do at least one useful thing during my first year of grad school.

making good use of the campfire, christina had her first-ever campfire-cooked smore for dessert. she liked them so much that she also had them for breakfast:

we then set off on a super-hilly 25-mile bike loop from freeport to brunswick and back. along the way, we got to chill out on some awesome rock outcroppings on the maine shore:

we also had a fantastic lunch in brunswick at a very cleverly named seafood joint. deep-frier + seafood = crazy delicious.

brunswick was also home to a couple of absolutely huge indoor flea markets:

later that day, we settled into our next campground, a site we found during our bike tour. recompence campgrounds was situated right on the maine shore, on a set of low bluffs overlooking a narrow, gravelly beach. we were in luck – altough the campground was not yet officially open, the owner let us spend the night anyway. we had the entire 200-tent-site to ourselves.

we pitched our tent behind a small shock of trees blocking the winds coming off of the ocean:

this picture doesn’t do the tent-site justice; it had to be the most beautiful place i’ve ever pitched a tent. down a staircase hidden behind those trees, we found a pair of canvas chairs just waiting for us to relax in:

that night, we went into town and treated ourselves to dinner at a thai restaurant quite incongruous with rural maine. back at the campsite, i made another fire, we cooked some more smores, and turned in early. we couldnt’ stay out too late, since temperatures had dropped into the 40′s by nightfall. luckily, our mummy-style sleeping bags proved nice and toasty.

i got up at about 4.30 the next morning to watch the sunrise. i dragged christina out of her sleeping bag about 20 minutes later; both of us agreed that waking up at the ungodly hour was worth watching the sun creep up and over the maine shore. needless to say, dawn’s shadows make daybreak-maine very photogenic:

we spent the remainder of the morning on the beach. life has fewer pleasures more simple than throwing huge rocks into the water and watching them go splash.

we were pretty sad to leave such a tranquil place.

we spent the final two nights of our trip through maine at a somewhat dull hotel in portland. neither of us were too upset to leave the camping behind, however, since it poared both nights we stayed in the hotel. dripping-wet camping is not a lot of fun. in fact, the hotel wasn’t bad at all, since it had cable (something we’ve cheaped-out on getting here in cambridge). we also had a great time at the conference, mooching off of corporate lobster dinners and getting absolutely smashed with another attending couple who happened to also be from new york. good times.

the rest of the photos from maine live here.

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