A much needed rest

After 5 days and 315 miles of riding, we finally arrived at our friends' house in Hancock, ME. Jesse, Tara and their adorable son Jacob are wonderful hosts. They planned an amazing dinner (including a big pasta salad, sweet potato fries, fish, broccoli, and homemade strawberry ice cream!) for our arrival Friday evening. Getting off of our bikes, showering, eating delicious food and chatting with wonderful friends -- it made the whole ride worth it! 

We all went to bed pretty early and then were happy to wake up to beautiful sunny skies the next day. We had a delicious crab quiche for breakfast, and then went down to the ocean for a walk around Hancock. On the way, we passed the smallest post office in the country, which was in the process of being lifted and leveled. How many guys does it take to lift up the smallest post office in the country? Two, it turns out! Yep. It was small. 

We headed back home, had some lunch (with more homemade strawberry ice cream!) and then did some house projects and took some time to relax in the hammock. As I was lying in the hammock, I thought to myself again what a beautiful home Tara and Jesse have created for themselves. They have a big garden, chickens, pigs, an orchard, trees for shade, low bush blueberries all around... If I found a place like that (well, actually they built their house) I would never want to leave either! They are always working on big and small projects, and one of our favorite things to do is to help them with whatever project they're working on at the time. This time, we got to weather seal the deck using a long rolling paint brush -- I found it to be especially relaxing rolling the deck. We also thinned some of the veggies and did a little weeding. We felt a little bad -- we were definitely tired from all of the riding and so didn't feel as helpful as usual. But, we were so grateful for the relaxing day and for the chance to spend some time again in their little piece of heaven. 

That evening, we all went over to our other friends' house in Bar Harbor. Kyle, Catrina and their sweet and energetic son Gray hosted all of us for dinner. They grilled for us, and it was a lovely evening with great friends and more delicious food. Sunday morning, we went for a short hike up a mountain with a lovely view out over the coast. We came back and then went hunting for mussels. We missed low tide by just a bit, so it was sort of tricky to find the mussels, but we got enough for an appetizer for dinner that night. We helped Catrina build a jungle gym for Gray, watched the hockey game that night, and enjoyed another relaxing day with friends. The weekend was perfect -- relaxing, beautiful weather, good friends, good food, and no bike riding. Yes!