Madawaska, Maine! God’s country, because there are more cows than people.

We took the 10+ hour trek up the the heart of the St. John Valley to visit our friends Shirley and Angelo (they spend part of their summer in Maine, winter in Florida, and the rest of the time, down the street from us in CT). Karla and I seem to have a thing for only vacationing with retired people 🙂

Madawaska is Shirley’s home town and we really wanted to see it. She was excited for us to come up during the Acadian Festival to show off her roots. Angelo was excited for company, he’s a very social Italian man. They are also celebrating their five year wedding anniversary (they are quite possibly the cutest couple I have ever met).

We left really early in the morning and made a quick stop in Ogunquit, Maine to take a walk along Marginal Way and grab lunch. It’s quite breathtaking, the coast is absolutely gorgeous and the walk was very easy, relaxing and scenic. We even ran in to a friend and her husband from Connecticut on our walk who were vacationing in Maine, such a small world. Then we continued on towards the valley into the backwoods to Shirley’s cottage on Long Lake.

We literally camped out on Shirley’s front lawn, sleeping right at the lake front to the sounds of the loons. It was perfect! Still had access to the shower and bathroom and Shirley’s delicious cooking each day. We spent time exploring the St. John Valley, tried to do a little house hunting for our other retired folks, boating, and had lots of laughs. It was a great time! We met Shirley’s family and became friends with her neighbors Denise and Brigitte. The weather worked out perfectly, it really doesn’t get too warm up there but there was a bit of a heat wave that gave us clear blue sunny skies everyday perfect for boating and swimming. We saw bald eagles, fields of potatoes and wheat, and trails everywhere, but no moose!

Since our trip also coincided with the full moon (supermoon), I was able to get some practice with night time moon photos. Was very excited to set up for that.

Looking forward to coming back again

Entering Marginal Way.

Looking out from Ogunquit, Maine.

Beautiful sea.

More scenic intake on Marginal Way.

Another stop along the road to check out Mount Katahdin view.

Mount Katahdin is some where out there… I think.

Set up our “camp.”

Yup, nice view.

Started off with breakfast here. Awesome bread!

It was a little shop and breakfast place. So cute!

Explored a nearby church.

Fields everywhere.

He had a beautiful garden and gave us fresh produce from it!

Garlic!

How cute are they?

Us on the overlook to Long Lake.

One of the four corners of the U.S. Madawaska, Maine.

These heads are fun.

The causeway to the island.

Morning walk to the island.

But watch out for cars… and the dust they bring.

Wheat field in the middle of the island.

Wheat.

Boating time.

Relaxing on the water.

Pretty and undeveloped.

🙂

Swimming!

A smooch.

St. Agatha at the Lakeview restaurant.

Crab apples! (A favorite cambodian snack)

Sunset portrait of Karla.

Golden.

And the full moon.

Happy Anniversary!

3 a.m.

Calm lake water in the morning.

More boat time.

Finally, a group picture.

That’s a bald eagle!

Dusk.

And more fields

Beautiful.

Another sun set portrait.

Supermoon!

Early morning rise.

Traveling back through the fog.

Portland, Maine for lunch at Central Provisions. So good!

Karla didn’t know how to focus the camera but Life is good.