Portland, ME

After Vermont, we drove through New Hampshire to Portland, ME. We had a fun time exploring the cute shops in the city, eating at delicious restaurants (Yosaku and The Green Elephant), and soaking up the bay.


We drove around looking for a good spot to watch the sunset and found ourselves on a tour of luxury oceanfront property before we ended up at this public beach. After shooting this photo, we were promptly eaten alive by tons of little black gnats and got the heck out of there!


The Portland Head Light has to be the most beautiful lighhouse I've ever seen in my life!


I loved these Portland banners.




We took a schooner ride in the Casco Bay. It was my first time on a sailboat and it was amazing. We were clipping along at a great speed and there was no pesky engine noise to spoil the atmosphere. We were able to bring along our own food and drinks and enjoy a picnic on the boat.




Jon loved it so much that he's looking into starting sailing lessons soon!




We headed up to Freeport, ME to the headquarters of LL Bean, which is open 24 hours a day. This is what happens when we shop while we're tired...Jon lays down to test out travel pillows and gets up minutes later.


View the rest of the Portland photos here.

Woodstock, VT

We headed to Woodstock, VT after we finished hiking the trail and made a quick stop to buy maple syrup and check out the town. It was the quintessential New England town...so incredibly adorable!














Vermont is slowing making its way toward the top of our "let's move here someday" list. Perhaps it's just the nostalgia of the time spent on our honeymoon (we look so young in those pictures!).

View the rest of the Woodstock photos here.

Backpacking the Appalachian Trail

We spent last week on a New England road trip - 10 states in 10 days!


Our first stop was in Killington, Vermont where we stayed at the Inn at Long Trail before and after hiking the Appalachian Trail. Thoughts of being able to eat their delicious French toast helped us get through our last day on the trail! (see more photos of the Inn here)


Ever the overachievers, we picked the "strenuous" hike and overdid ourselves a bit. In the span of three days, it took us 18 hours to hike 22 miles and climb and descend seven different 2500+ foot peaks. We were exhausted!

The trail was gorgeous and all of our pain and agony brought us many wonderful views and nature-y smells (mmm...pine needles!).










The trail was really steep at this point. Steep enough to warrant an extension ladder...such a funny moment to encounter this!


We saw lots of moss covered quartz - so pretty!






No foot bridges here...


I don't think I've ever been more excited to see a mileage sign...4.2 miles to go until the end of our hike!


On top of the last hill.


This is what 3 days of sweat and rain does to us!

Check out the rest of the trail pictures here.

If you're interested in backpacking the trail, here are the three resources we'd recommend:
  

A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson's narrative of the 6 months he spent backpacking the AT (get the audiobook if you can!)
Exploring the Appalachian Trail: Hikes in South New England - Lists a handful of segment hikes that can be done on the trail and outlines parking, lodging, and water options along the way
Appalachian Trail Official Maps - lightweitght, waterproof map with elevations

Backpacking in Manistee

Jon has finally turned me into a backpacking lover! He started backpacking a few years ago, but I didn't have any time to join him on his trips because of my busy work and school schedule.


Jon, always up for a trip to REI, set me up with a new pack and some other random gear and we had our first adventure together over Memorial Day weekend. We drove up to Manistee and did a fairly easy 12 mile round trip, overnight hike along the Manistee River trail.








Now that I've gone backpacking, I'm pretty sure that I never want to go regular State Park camping again. Being so close to nature and so far away from technology is such a nice break from day to day life. And, setting up the tent in the middle of the forest away from other backpackers makes the trip much more peaceful! I'm pretty bummed that I didn't get into backpacking sooner but super excited to have a new hobby to enjoy with Jon!

Pillows!

I've been in a sewing rut much of this year, but I always seem to find inspiration for another project when I attend Brighton Modern Quilters meetings in the Creative Quilt Kits store in Brighton, MI.


I loved this Tanis Keefe fabric and had to make two kitty pillow for our basement couch.


And, I combined some fun prints to make two pillow for our living room couch. It feels nice to freshen up the place with some simple projects like these!

Mail Sack

I've had the Pink Chalk Studie Mail Sack pattern sitting around in my stash for at least a year now. In an attempt to use what I have, I decided to finally put this together a few months ago.


The pattern was extremely well written and I was able to put this together in a few hours. I'd definitely recommend it!




Now, if only I could walk around the neighborhood with a kitty in tow and not get strange looks!

Branden's Grad Quilt

My aunt commissioned me to make this t-shirt quilt for my cousin. He's headed off to SUNY Geneseo this fall, so I used his school colors for this quilt. I know the colors are blue and white, but I couldn't tell if they are royal blue or navy blue, so I used both. Branden's super tall, so this quilt is huge! I used interfacing for the t-shirts, kona solids and stippled it with white thread.

Now I've got to finish making the college t-shirt quilt that's been sitting in my stash since 2003!