I traveled. I worked. I rested. I will travel.
Over the past couple of months, I have worked really hard. I find it difficult to stay focused and move in one direction. I often find myself moving in all directions which prevents me from getting very far in the present. Movement happens and without noticing time carries me further and past all the goals I had laid ahead of myself.
I had an amazing opportunity to collaborate with architects and community members in creating public art work for the neighborhood community center. Our ideas revolved around environmental conservation, literacy, and social health. The youth created art that would positively impact their space outside of their homes.
It was challenging but it was fun. I didn't give myself much of a break between work and work and work. In fact my break was more work at Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware. I volunteered and was able to experience performances by great artists but I think I was too exhausted to really enjoy it. The following weekend I committed myself to the DC Zouk and Kizomba festival. I had bought a 2 for 1 ticket deal when I was in a different place in my life early in the year ... I didn't lose much but I spent a lot of time hiding behind the refreshment table, resting and staying out of the way. I didn't really want to be there. It is a fabulous festival and I had the opportunity to learn from Enah & Carolina privately. In the third weekend of the summer, I volunteered at the Sawa Sawa Kizomba Festival. I gave back to my dance community and loved every moment of it. I totally embraced new sleep patterns and felt no guilt in not being there when I wasn't there.
I enjoyed any free time I got this summer. I would lose myself in music, dance, and art. I took opportunities to run away from reality and touch the ocean or play in the waterfalls and climb a mountain and scramble on rocks. As soon as my work commitment ended, I began celebrating my birthday month with the start of my real vacation.
I spent 9 days with my childhood friend and joined him on his family vacation to Fortaleza, Brazil. I chaperoned his girlfriend who is an anxious traveler and we became great room mates. I love them all. I was so thankful. It was an experience to live that I dreamed of as a child. It was strange. Another realization of "I am here. I got here. I imagined this as a kid. This is weird, this reality is different. This is great!" We were confined to the safety of our rented airbnb condo and vehicular transport between the apartment, beach, malls, and venues filled with live music. There was music everywhere. I had nothing to do and nowhere to be but just be happy. I am so thankful.
I returned on August 11th and only had time to take care of a few errands before disappearing again. I rented a car to drive north to Maine. We stopped by my cousin's house in Brooklyn to get a headstart on the drive and rest. On the way out of New York, we stopped by Mac Demarco's house by the water in an attempt to get a cup of coffee from the man ... but he wasn't home.
Getting out of NYC was a nightmare - we survived.We drove on and after many hours arrived at our host's home late at night. We found a room in a Permaculture Inn in Orono, Maine. Our hostess welcomed us into her beautiful home. I can't forget the delicious burgers we enjoyed at
Bramhall in Portland, Maine on the way.
The next morning we began our Stephen King adventures in Maine. We went to
Mount Hope Cemetery to see the site where they filmed Pet Sematary. We then drove to
Stephen King's house in Bangor Maine. We got hungry and decided to make our first trek to Bar Harbor for lobster. We went to
Thurston's Lobster Pound on Bass Harbor on Mount Desert Island. I couldn't order a lobster once I saw it move so I opted for the Lobster Roll filled with anonymous lobster meat instead. Definitely an experience worth having. Afterwards we ended up wandering around the shops at Southwest Harbor and found dessert at the
Quietside Cafe & Ice Cream Shop. We learned that in addition to lobstahs, blueberries were also a Maine thing. As we ordered blueberry pie a la mode, I saw a sign for fried cheesecake... so we had to order that too. SO GOOD!
The next day began late as we were trying to figure out our accomodations for the rest of the trip. Our original couchsurfing host canceled on us at the last moment and we weren't having much luck. We eventually found another airbnb with a pair of super comfy couches in a community house. Once we knew where we were going to sleep, we went in search of whoopie pies. We discovered the
Whoopie Pie Cafe in Bangor, Maine. I got a chocolate rasberry filled creation. The blueberry cheescake whoopie pie was really great. Both were too sweet so we took a bite and decided to save them for later when we would need a sugar boost. We ordered a really delicious Dazzlin' Daph grilled cheese sandwich to share. We were warned that their bread slices are really big. Totally worth it. So good.
In the afternoon, we returned to Mount Desert Island and took advice from our original host. We parked our car in Village Green and rode the free shuttle to Sand Beach in Acadia National Park. The water was frigid. I did not take a swim this time. From Sand Beach we took the Ocean Path down towards Thunder Hole. We found a little beach off trail that had rock stacks. We took time to add our own contribution of balancing stones before continuing on to the next destination. It was not too far. We climbed around the rocks at Thunder Hole. Some teenagers had really great viewing spots. We found some by the metal bars on the walkway. It was nice - apparently it is best at low tide. We left to catch the second to last shuttle back into Village Green.
We walked around and completed our souvenir shopping while forgetting the car keys in a store. Very successful night. We retraced our steps and were able to find the keys in a closed store. They let me in after hours to check and success! Found! We were too tired and decided to get dinner nearby at
Thirsty Whale, another recommendation from our original host. We successfully returned to Orono, Maine to rest on the couches.
We failed to wake up early enough for dawn. We did wake up enough to find an untimed parking spot at the Village Green in Bar Harbor again. On the way we stopped by
Sylvia's Cafe in Ellsworth, Maine. We had the best breakfast there! It was perfect! We had a filling meal to prepare us for the day. We got distracted by a really cool building that used to be a
Moto-car Sales Parlor for antique cars.We parked in Bar Harbor, and took the free shuttle back to Sand Beach and took the trail to the Beehive. It was what I was most looking forward to. It was not too difficult. It was a relatively short hike. I LOVED IT! We ate wild blueberries on the summit. We climbed rocks around the top. We took the Bowl trail back down. It was pretty but we were fearful of the lake leeches so we did not swim in it. We continued back to Sand Beach and I finally had the courage to jump into the Atlantic Ocean on the coast of Maine. I didn't stay out in the water for too long. The surface of the water was the worst. I could handle being in the water but it felt like ice chips near the surface by the wind. We rested on the beach for a while. I wanted to sun to warm me up and dry me off before we headed back. We slept the entire shuttle ride back to Village Green.
We made our final Maine culinary trek to the
Eagles Nest in Brewer, Maine. Our hostess at the Permaculture Inn said they had the best chowder in the area. It was good. It tasted homemade. On our way out of the area we managed to fulfill a couple stops we thought would be interesting. We stopped at
Blue Moose to buy albums to listen on the drive back south. We even got a $5 Misery DVD. That was the only book I read by Stephen King prior to this trip. It seemed fitting to watch it once we were back. We were thankful for a friend of a friend willing to host us in Boston on our way back.
We got lost in the Boston streets at night and did not really want to return to explore the city the next morning BUT I really wanted to see Frank Gehry's Building 39 at MIT. We got a recommendations for breakfast at
Veggie Galaxy. Neither of us were vegan or vegetarian so it barely even compared to Sylvia's Cafe. The decor was cool and retro. I ordered a blueberry short stack and my friend ordered a Pearl Street Redhead omelette with seitan sausage. We found metered parking by Graffiti Alley at a really cheap rate that resulted in $2 for 2 hours. After breakfast, we walked 15 minutes to the building. I had fun taking pictures to share. It felt like a trip where we were on quests to find architecture we deemed significant. I had fun. I completed that mission. We spent the day driving and I fell asleep while attempting to watch Misery on DVD when we finally got back home.
More adventures to come. I woke up really early on my birthday to book flights to Tuscon, Arizona and Montreal, Canada in November. I will travel. Until then I will work and try to rest as much as possible while making gains.
I saw Prophets of Rage in celebration of my birthday. It is going to be a good year.
