The Flowers Explore - Narrows Too RV Park in Maine - 2021/09/14-21

Today is a travel day, and we're headed to a state that no one in this family has been to. We're off to the very top of the North East United States! Maine!

Wow, we've been to a lot of different stops on our trip so far. 

From our campground at Sandy Beach, it's about a 5:30 hour drive. Not a short one, but we'll get through it. 

Theresa guided me out of the campground at Sandy Beach, and then we hit the road. 

Once we crossed the Piscataqua River, we've officially crossed into Maine! Vacationland? Really? 

There's the welcome sign we're used to seeing. Maine, Welcome Home, The Way Life Should Be. 

Cross that state off the list kids!

It's nice when there's a welcome center with lots of parking. We went inside and the kids collected the pamphlets about all the different things there were to see in this state. 

So many store names with bad puns using the state's name. 

Chow Maine, Mainely Meat, The Maine Mall, etc. 

Yes! We're at our new campground 15 minutes before the main office closed at 5pm! For the next 7 days, we'll be near Acadia National Park at Narrows Too Camping Resort. Theresa helped guide me into our site, and I got it on the first try! The neighbors would later tell me that I looked like a pro! Ha, far from it, but I'll take the easy ones. 

After dinner, we all headed out for a walk to explore the campground. It's been a long drive and it was good to get out and stretch our legs. The campsite sits right on the banks of the Mt Desert Narrows. Theresa said the sites overlooking the water book up to a year in advance! 

We always get comments wherever we go about our light vests during our nighttime walks. They're awesome! It's like we have glow-sticks on, but they're battery powered!

While the kids and I have been busy trying to learn piano with Simply Piano, Theresa has been using Simply Guitar to start learning that! She's loving it so far. Once the kids get good with piano they'll move on to guitar. Then after that Theresa has promised Alli drums!

Let's go for a walk. This site looks like they've got Christmas trees planted right next to them. I bet that'd be fun to decorate for Christmas. 

Wow! That's big! A full size RV and it's towing a triple axel trailer that's the same height. Backing up in the truck with the RV on back is difficult enough for me right now. Imagine backing up a 40' RV with a 25' trailer!

And I thought The Beast was big with a full dual cab. This is a triple cab! 

The kids are learning to skip rocks. It's a little difficult with the choppy water right here. See that pile of rocks behind Alli. Remember it for later. 

Gotta still work on that form for skipping rocks. 

While we were walking around, Theresa, who is always on the lookout for this type of thing, said APPLES! Sure enough, there was a wild apple tree nearby. Let's take a closer look!

While we were looking for apples that didn't have bugs in them, Ian heard cooing and spotted this animal climbing among the branches. 

And very surprisingly it hopped down to get a closer look at us. It's not scared of us. Crazy!

I didn't know what it was so I asked my dad. He said it's a grouse, and they're not known for being particularly smart. I can see that. They're also supposed to be tasty. 

A lot of the campsites we've been to since Labor Day have had a lot of their activities slow down. Volleyball nets taken down, tennis courts empty, and especially disappointing for the kids, the pools are closed. 

One new addition I've been wanting for the RV that I've seen on a lot of others is this state map. The kids helped me install it on our slide-out. 

This will be a different map than the one I keep for the kids. For this map, it only counts if we spent a night in the RV in that state. So if we just drive through the state, we don't get to add a sticker. This one will take some doing to fill up. 

Just a random cheddar cheese and caramelized onion bread I decided to make. I thought it was pretty tasty. Theresa would have preferred regular bread without anything added to it. 

Let's go for a bike ride! Ellsworth Trail was a short drive. I tossed the bikes in the back of the truck and we headed over. 

It goes right by the train tracks. 

And when we heard a train coming, we raced as fast as we could to the end of the trail to say that we "beat" the train. We waved at all the passengers who are paying to ride by these scenic views. 

We're getting to ride beside them for free! The leaves are changing in patches. Still a lot of green left. 

To finish our ride we're going by a school. That's a colorful crosswalk. 

At the field, there's a couple YMCA football teams playing. We cheered for both teams, calling out players by number to tell them good job. 

All done with our bike ride! Time to cross the railway tracks and get back to our truck. 

Excellent job kids! You did awesome today!

After our ride, we stopped by Walmart for our groceries. In the produce section, Ian noticed this guy hopping around the floor trying to avoid people. I was able to catch it and take it outside to a grassy area. 

As we were getting back to the Narrows Too RV Park, there was a bit of a backup along the road. Luckily there was a way to get around it by taking some side paths. When we were on a walk earlier, Theresa had noticed a seasonal RV that had a garden and they had a bunch of tomatoes growing. Today, they've put out a table and offered them to anyone who wants 1 or 2! I'm glad we took this detour!

Theresa still has quite a few apples left from our trip to the apple orchard and we need to do something with them. What better thing than an apple cake! 

Yum!

While we've been busy inside, the kids have spent an hour outside playing with a caterpillar they found. 

The fuzzier the better. 

When people are nice, it's always good to be nice back. 

Theresa and I made blueberry muffins from scratch and took them a plate. They were surprised and told us to take even more tomatoes if we wanted. 

Remember that pile of rocks I told you to remember earlier. Alli is standing beside it again. It's low tide now and a whole lot more of the sea floor is exposed!

Tonight is special because it's a harvest moon. It's low on the horizon and super orange. 

It's difficult to capture on a cell phone camera, but Alli can see it pretty well with the binoculars Gram and Pop Pop got her for her birthday last year. 

It's been a fun stay here in Maine and we've had a lot of fun in Acadia! Time to move on!

Alli - naros 2 - I lovd getig free tmados. On the day bafor we levd we saw the hrvist moon. We scipt are first rock. Ian saw a planit. We saw a groch.