This past weekend was very nice; Saturday we had weather in the 90’s and Sunday was more of a warm autumn day- 80’s with a crisp sporadic breeze from the North. If I could choose one season to live in it would be autumn. Fortunately, most Maine’s fall weather consists of crisp breezy days with enough sunshine to keep the daylight hours warm.

For most of the day on Saturday I stayed inside trying to stay as cool as possible. I caught up on some Xbox 360 game time, after I worked on a client’s website. Later in the evening Nate and I went to Pushaw Lake to go swimming. The water was very warm and calm. As we swam the sun began to sit behind the horizon, its rays being absorbed by the atmosphere and reflecting in the mixture of clouds and humidity in the most brilliantly beautiful sunset that I’ve seen in a long time, unfortunately I did not bring my camera with me. To remedy this issue I plan to take my camera everywhere I go from now on. Speaking of cameras, I decided to keep my Canon S3 IS., I just need to purchase or find a tripod that has a removable bracket so I can easily attach / detach the camera.

I went to Church on Sunday and headed up to Kokadjo to spend some time with dad. After eating we decided to kayak on one of the nearby ponds. When we arrived we spotted a young bull moose about 20 feet from the shoreline eating Lilly roots. I ran back to the truck to get my camera and was able to snap a few photos; unfortunately I did not have enough time to adjust the settings so the moose wouldn’t be as dark. The moose soon darted off into the woods and I followed quickly behind to snap a candid photo of it looking curiously at me. When dad and I returned to the truck we found that in our haste the doors were locked with the keys inside. We walked about a half mile up the road to another pond where he knew a lady that had some tools to open a door. The walk was nice as the cool air was filled with the scent of raspberries and pine; the skyline had a backdrop of mountains and the clear sky that went from dark to light blue.

After getting the truck unlocked we headed out onto the pond. I wanted to take my camera out but was unsure of how stable I would be on the kayak, I found that I was stable and next time I’ll bring my camera out. As soon as we were on the water we spotted 4 other moose spread throughout the shoreline. I quietly drifted towards one of the moose and was roughly 25 feet from it until it started to walk towards me. I spotted a few loons and attempted to get close to them but they dove under and swam away. Loons are beautiful visually and audibly, I didn’t realize they could stay under water for so long.

I had a really good time kayaking; I’m highly considering purchasing my own kayak from Old Town Canoe. I never realized that Old Town was so popular throughout the US and worldwide. Now that I think of it, I’ve seen Old Town canoes and kayaks in Virginia, on TV, etc. The name Old Town is actually a name of a town in Maine that’s actually 15 miles from where I live. L.L. Bean is another popular, high quality company that was started and based in Maine.

I wanted to take a panoramic photo of Mount Katahdin and was able to take a perfectly aligned photo. Mt. Katahdin is 5,270 feet high and is the last mountain of the Appellation trail. On the way back to the camp we picked about a quart of raspberries, I had to fill my camera case. I plan on baking a raspberry pie very soon. I left shortly after returning to the camp as it was getting late and I wanted to leave in time to take photos of the sunset over Moosehead Lake in Greenville.

The following photos were taken in Greenville: Candian Geese flying by, Almost there, So close, Tall shot, sunset and Sunset 2.

Today we woke up early and headed off to Duffield, VA to see the Natural Tunnel. The tunnel amphitheater is 400′ high, the stream ran very deep through this once ledge and carved a natural tunnel through the caverns. In the 1800’s railroad tracks were laid through the tunnel to save time transporting minerals. The railroad was and is still used to carry coal and natural materials from the mines. We road down the steep hill on a chair lift which carried us to the foot of the hill and the entrance of the natural tunnel, after looking into the tunnel we hiked up the trail that took us up the winding ledge until we reach the top, a point where you can step out on and look down the 400′. The weather was close to 100; needless to say we were very warm. We took an alternate path down that took us through a more wooded area.

After the hike we had a picnic mom and made for us, the food was refreshing, I always enjoy a good picnic. Duffield is not too far away from Tennessee so we decided to stop and pickup a magnet of the State. We all collect the State magnets of where we have visited.

The Appalachian Trail is very beautiful in southern Virginia; all you can see are the rolling mountains in a blue haze for miles and miles. On the hillsides there are hundreds of Black Angus cows just roaming the fields looking for grass to eat. The mountains look massive as you’re driving through the valleys winding around sharp corners.

I am now sitting on the swing on the front porch waiting for the fireworks in the surrounding towns to be fired off. Sharp Top is starting to fade away into the night; the lightning bugs are coming out to perform their own little fireworks.

I’m taking in the scenery, noises from the birds chirping, cows mooing and thinking about how mom as always tries so hard to make vacations fun and worth while- I must say that she always succeeds, I’m very thankful for such a loving mother.

Yesterday after Church I drove 180 miles north to Kokadjo, it’s roughly 20 miles past Greenville, Maine. The weather was hovering around 86 with a hazy sky (not from smog). When I arrived we ate cheeseburgers that I had prepared earlier. We had planned on hiking but Dad did not bring the right shoes so instead we went 4-wheeling. The air is freshly filled with the scent of water, pine trees and pure air, it’s rejuvenating. We stopped at Penobscot pond which is 18 miles from Roach pond, where Dad’s camp is located. Penobscot pond had some very large tadpoles, it appears that these tadpoles will turn into large frogs if a Snapper does not decide to have a snack.

Later in the day I went swimming with my cousin Hunter. The water was 60 degrees, which was cold until your body adjusted. After swimming we decided to hunt for Crayfish, which look like mini-Lobsters. We found three hiding under a few large rocks near the shore. Dad boiled them and we all ate one to see if they taste like Lobster, to my surprise they do!

On the way home I snapped a few photos of the sunset over Lilly bay. I did not see one Moose on the ride home which was very unusual.

Here are some of the photos I took: Dad & I, Live Crayfish, Live Crayfish, Cooked Crayfish, Eaten Crayfish, baby Ducks, sunset and the sunset few minutes later.

Last night CCC had a cookout and recognition for the seniors. We had the typical food that an American cookout would consist of, hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, fruits and vegetables, soda, etc. After eating, we played softball for a few hours. I quickly found out that my left should that I had previously dislocated 4 years ago had not completely healed. I cranked the softball in center outfield and my shoulder came out a little bit. I also took a graceful tumble to second base- I do not recommend running in Crocs in sand.

After the cookout some of the guys invited me to their “Halo House” to have a LAN party. There were around 20 people there, 16 playing Halo 2 on 4 TVs. We played until about 1 O’clock, I had a very good time. This was my first LAN party and I can see why they are so fun.

Here are a few photos I took at yesterday’s cookout. One | Two

It seems as though the January Thaw has ended. Last night we received roughly 4 inches of light, fluffy snow. When I woke up this morning I stepped outside and headed towards my car and noticed a few inches of snow on all of the tree branches with the sun peering through the crevasses of the mangled barren branches. Before work I took a few pictures of some trees and of the Penobscot River. I hope they come out alright, but I am afraid since I was in a rush that they didn’t come out as I am expecting. I’ll update this entry later tonight if they came out O.K. I would love to take a day off sometime when I know it’s going to snow like this and just take photos.

Last week I was invited to go to University of Maine in Orono’s Campus Crusade For Christ meeting. I went and had a really good time. I met a lot of people there that are close to my age. I am hoping that I can learn more about the Bible and gain some good friends out of these weekly meetings. The next night, Friday, we went to see “End of the Spear”, a movie about some missionaries that witnessed to a tribal group in South America and were killed. It was a good movie although it could have had more Scripture in it. The following Sunday we were going to go Tubing on Hermon Mountain but it was too warm so we went over to one of the member’s house and played games for the night.

Update: I have posted a few of the photos I took, these are not the full resolution- the lighting is different because of the sun and not having enough time to tweak the manual settings. Ejoy.