Boothbay Harbor Maine

During vacation, we took a quick trip back to the harbor where I worked for 5 summers.

Tales from Ambajejus Lake - Sunset

And so ends another relaxing time on Ambajejus Lake

This was a bittersweet trip...you see, this is my office's last year together. My boss is termed out and will go back to her other job; our Chief of Staff, our policy analyst and our communications director will probably go on to new jobs in the private sector; our secretary will no doubt stay (new leadership would be foolish to ever get rid of her - she's been in her position for more than 20 years. She's a wealth of knowledge!) and who knows what office I will be in...if I'm lucky! Once the elections are over and new leadership is chosen, it will be a whole new ball game.

It makes me very sad; I've never worked with such a close-knit group before! We enjoy working together in the office, but we also enjoy doing things together outside of work. There was never any animosity, no one ever got snappy when stressed, even when things were difficult and chaotic! And everyone is generally interested in what's going on in the others lives. Our relationship as an office isn't just a work relationship...it's a friendship!

We've decided to continue with our yearly trek to Ambajejus Lake, but instead of a Staff Retreat, it will be a reunion. :^)

Tales from Ambajejus Lake - Baxter State Park

From a short trail walk into Baxter with the express purpose of moose watching...not a one graced us with their presence. :^(

We had our own personal bird expert with us, calling birds in.

The Cedar Wax Wings were spectacular, though! They put on quite the show.

Tales from Ambajejus Lake - around the fire

Once again, my office took the 150+ mile trek up to Millinocket, Maine for our Staff Retreat on Ambajejus Lake. On the drive up, Deb and I saw a fox and a turtle crossing the road (not together). And that first night, when Marcia and I were heading down the Golden Road toward town, a moose crossed the road in front of us! That was only the 3rd time that I've seen a moose that close (despite having lived in this state all my life).

Here are some great picts from around the campfire...

Stay tuned, more pictures to come!

The Forks

I meant to post the details from the trip to The Forks last week, but time got away from me.

We didn't get to go rafting. Both the Kennebec and the Dead were running too fast and too high. My sister's friend said that we'd end up spending our trip down the river bailing (his raft wasn't a self-bailer) and because there was sooooo much water (they were releasing 10,600 cubic feet of water on the Kennebec), we wouldn't have much in the way of rapids.
Many of the rafting companies were still taking people down and I did get to watch this group launch on Sunday morning.

We did get to go on a hike into Grand Falls (45 minutes down a logging road, then a mile hike into the woods)
And that was well worth the trip!

Check out the video below...

Grand Falls, The Forks, Maine

Live from Grand Falls!
Originally uploaded by faerytreecreations

Friday Night Stroll

Dinner by the river with the best friend. A stop at a vintage clothing store to find the perfect little apron. Peeking in shop windows. And an ice cream cone to end the evening.

A photographed stroll around Hallowell, Maine.

1. Rusty, 2. Glow, 3. Haunted, 4. Juliana, 5. Watcher, 6. Amid the Clutter, Nature Prevails, 7. Art?, 8. Here Kitty Kitty, 9. Looking Down, 10. By the Stars Above, 11. Wild, 12. Tenant Parking, 13. Reflection, 14. Rose Among the Thorns, 15. Spiral

More photo's here.

Tales from Ambajejus Lake

Our staff retreat was…interesting; enjoyable, but weather ridden and sleep deprived. The camp was 2½ hours from the office. I, suffering from a rather sleepless night (only 4 hours under my belt), rode up with Deb and forgot to take some Dramamine (and I should know better being the horribly carsick type – but it wasn’t so bad, just mildly icky feeling). The road to the camp (I wish I had taken pictures) was a loooooong and winding dirt road that crossed over a well traveled, paved, logging road, then continued on for another loooooong time. It was practically a one lane road that everyone seemed to fly down at breakneck speed. But once we reached the camp, that road was worth the travel!

The view of Mt. Katahdin was phenomenal from the deck of Marcia’s camp!

We sat; we enjoyed the scenery; we had a mini-staff meeting while sitting in camp chairs around the fire pit; we played games (Scrabble got pretty brutal!)

We celebrated Deb’s 50th!

We ate; we drank; we swam; my chief of staff attempted to teach my boss how to fly fish.

Marcia hit a duck with a rock – not intentionally! It was quacking like mad and she was trying to shoo it away (since they come in and poo on her beach), so she started throwing little rocks into the water to scare it off, only her aim was better than she thought and she hit it. Poor duck! It flew off. Marcia was mortified! She felt so bad. Thursday night, rather early early Friday morning (2:00-ish), the wind came up so strong that I had to abandon the tent for the living room couch. I had put a tarp over the tent because it had rained a little earlier and with the wind, it sounded like I was sleeping in a potato chip bag that someone was viciously crinkling! It was horrible! And after about 4 hours sleep, I awoke at 6:00 – wide awake! 48 hours with 8 hours sleep, does not a coherent Tiffany make. But Friday was beautiful! The sun shone bright and the sky was virtually cloud-free all day. Then, just after dinner, I looked down the lake to see the most ferocious black clouds creeping across the sky, so I put the tarp (crinkly potato chip bag) back on the tent. Within an hour, the lightning started, then the camp-shaking thunder rumbled and rain began pelting down. When I looked outside, the trees were beginning to blow almost sideways! I looked over at my tent to see my tarp flying, attached only by one mere string! Then the tent itself began to lift off the ground, pins pulled from the dirt. Roger, Deb and I ran out into the pouring rain to grab all of my stuff from the tent before it got totally soaked and take down the tent, as well, before it blew off down the lake!
Talk about the craziest of weather. It was like a mini-hurricane! Everything was so soaked Saturday morning that I threw it all into trash bags and left it till I got home. What a mess! And so ends my adventures at Ambajejus Lake.