August has been HOT and Steamy!  For the first time in thirty years in Maine I bought an air conditioner.  There has always been hot spells in Maine, but they were usually kept at bay by swims in lake Megunticook, or cool high pressure systems from Canada.  Not so this year.

I took some time off with my wife. We went from Northern Maine, to Southern Maine, to Southwestern New Hampshire, and Vermont.  We started off with a couple days visit to Mt. Chase Lodge on Upper Shin Pond. The weather and accommodations were beautiful.  I got out the fly rod, but was ultimately unsuccessful.  We drove up to Fort Kent, via Rockabema and St. Agatha which was mentioned in Paul Doiron's latest book.  There is a lot of Maine!

We then headed south to Higgins Beach where the weather and the beach cooperated nicely.  Spent some time observing tern families teaching their young'uns how to skim food off the surface of the ocean.  We kayaked in Scarbroough Marsh (picture above). Then off to New Hampshire and Vermont taking  a trip to E. Dorset, VT, and then traveling back through Brattleboro, stopping by one of the best food co-ops in New England, the Brattleboro food Coop.  We took our annual swim in Thorndike Pond in Jaffrey, NH, and visited with my mother who is being very well taken care of in Peterbrough.

It was a nice break from much sea kayaking around Camden Harbor.  It was nice to get away, and it was nice to come home.  We feel so lucky that we have so much to see and do in Maine, and New England.  I hope you and your family get to enjoy some time off. 

I have a couple of trips in the works to Katahdin, and the Maine islands.  More on that later.