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We're back from our trip to Vinalhaven, Maine. We had a lovely time (see the Flickr pix for more specifics). Lucy had a grand time being the focus of lots of adult attention.

Here is the house where we stayed:
It was amazingly awesome, with lots of rooms and nooks and crannies and tons of books,

and lots of nooks where the reading of books took place:
The house was HUGE, with 9 or so bedrooms (we lost count) and a HUGE fireplace:
Here's the large kitchen:
There was a music room:
(we had to provide our own musicians, though the piano was provided).

[Edit: We only had to provide a violinist. The man on the piano is the owner of the house, Mr. Terry, whose family built the house in 1917.]

There was also a cocktail room.
This photo doesn't do it justice, but it was upstairs, with full-length windows to the outside, and these windows (in the picture) to the inside. I wish we had a better shot of it, but it was perfect. We're thinking of adding a cocktail room to our house!


On the way there, we had terrific lobster rolls at Red's in Wiscasset, Maine.
And here's the famous lobster rolls:
YUM!

We went to the beach for a bit one afternoon; it's not quite Rehoboth, Delaware (where we usually spend our beach vacation).

Despite the muddy, muddy sand, and the cold, cold water, Lucy insisting on going out into the ocean. Jake was a good sport and walked her out through the sink-into-mud-sand, and Lucy got into the water up to her neck. Seriously.

Next time, we'll bring a swimming suit. And boots.


On the way home, there was a bit of drama when the tandem bike fell off the roof of the car while we were on route 95, crossing a bridge between Maine and New Hampshire. Thankfully (and amazingly) no one was hurt. We were in the middle lane when it went over (on the passenger side) and it ended up in the right lane. Jake did some great driving and managed to get us pulled over quite quickly. It was in the middle of the lane with heavy traffic, so it wasn't safe to go grab it. He called 911, and within 10 minutes or so, a state trooper came and retrieved it safely. Meanwhile, we had pulled off the bridge to await what we thought would be 1) the drastically damaged remains of our bike 2) a lecture and ticket from a trooper or 3) both of the above. Instead, the trooper left the bike by the side of the road on the bridge, called our cell and told Jake he could go retrieve it. WOW! We were very relieved. It turns out that the frame wasn't damaged (as far as we can tell). The handlebars and one saddle sustained some damage, but really, it doesn't seem that bad. Jake will be doing a full maintenance check (we had already broken the chain while we were on a ride, so the bike was out of commission pending a mechanic anyway).

So that's the update for now. We had no internet access while we were in the house, and our cell phones didn't work either. It was nice to be (mostly) disconnected for a bit. And you should think nothing of the fact that while we were on "vacation" and you weren't able to contact us, fugitive Boston mobster Whitey Bulger was captured. Nope, nothing at all unusual there. We were on vacation.