Ok so we are not technically living in a double wide but the title is catchy..isnt it? Before we began this awesome journey, I knew Drew would have some trips planned that would leave me, Taylor and Cam to fend for ourselves. Now in our typical life, No problem, but not really understanding what RV life looked like, it was a little ominous! Plus, some of our loving friends asked ques. liked, "aren't you afraid for your safety"? "What if something breaks"? etc. etc. Drew, himself, even asked me, as I was driving him to the airport, to go to Walmart and buy a metal baseball bat and some Mace. BTW, they do not sell Mace at Walmart and the look on the older guys face who worked there when I asked where I could find some, was priceless!
So, Drew's trip to beautiful HI for six days and five nights has now come and gone and here I am living to blog about it!
We are not only living, and as much as we miss Drew while he is away..the week was in a word AWESOME! First of all we are parked in beautiful Bar Harbor Maine and our view from the front wide window is of the atlantic ocean. We are right on the water. The sunsets three nights in a row, rivaled Costa Rica and made the kids and I jump up from dinner and run outside, straight for the beach just to take pictures and stare up at the sky.
DAY ONE: Dropped Drew off at the airport..kids and I go on a bi-plane ride. As, I am driving Drew we pass a little airport with a sign glider and bi-plane rides. I say to Drew wow, we are doing that..his response "don't tell me tell it is over" It was fun. Taylor got to sit in front and we all had headphones so we could talk during the flight..or as Randy our pilot would probably say annoy him with sounds and singing and questions..lots and lots of questions.
DAY TWO: We met our first friends, the night before Drew left. A couple from Germany Sandra and Carsten. They have a little girl named Yulie(means July in German). The night we met them we had a steamed lobster dinner in their rented RV. The lobster courtesy of Clayton who runs his business right on site. The lobster steamed in Ocean Water..yummy better then boiled. How do I know? We had boiled the night before at the Lobster Shack. Hey, we are in Maine and we have eaten a lot of Lobsta! So anyways, we had a great night with them. The kids hit it off immediately, despite the fact that Yulie did not speak a word of English. We arranged that night to go for a hike together. So day two, little bit of school in the a.m. and then off for our day hike in Acadia National Park. We hiked up Cadillac mountain. 1500 feet elevation, stoney, rough and absolutely breathtaking. The kids were amazing! We made it to the summit. Cam loved the blue markers and insisted on leading the way. Once we made it to the top we sat with a ranger and learned all about Raptors and other birds. Then we went to a cute town..Southwest Harbor and had a delicious lunch and then headed to the pier and met some funny old lobster fisherman.
DAY THREE: The Oceanarium and a taxidermy college and the rest of the day we spent exploring downtown Bar Harbor. The Oceanarium was extraordinary. The kids got to touch, starfish, sea cucumbers horseshoe crabs. We learned all about lobster trapping from a long time fisherman. We even met a well spoken boy who was being homeschooled and lived in a solar house.
DAY FOUR: bowling..well a version of bowling in the 1800's with bocces balls. Cam won, Taylor came in second and yes then me..very humbling! This was P.E. for school that day.
DAY FIVE: Lumberjack Show. Timber Tina was our host and she has been hosting lumberjack competitions on ESPN for the last 15 years. She was a riot! They did axe throwing, log-rolling, pole climbing and the kids got to go up onstage a lot as we are in the off-season so they learned a ton and we laughed a lot...a must see if you ever have the chance.
DAY SIX: clean up RV for Drew's arrival home.
Needless to say the week was filled with lot's of fun field trips and yes btw I did teach school everyday. Some things broke like the stove which I fixed, and I learned so much about the RV....why because I had to. We learned a lot about Maine, and nature. Did you know lobsters do not have brains? That is why it is not in humane to boil them alive. How old do you have to be to learn lumber jacking? Four..how do we know because of course Campbell asked Timber Tina the first chance he had.