Peaks Island, Maine

If you’ve seen the movie Dan in Real Life, then you pretty much already know what Peaks Island is like. It’s a small, northern spot with not much going on except for a whole bunch of family time / weddings. While it is mostly residential, there are a few restaurants, an ice cream place, and the world’s only umbrella cover museum.  You also get to take the ferry from Portland, and that’s always a treat (~$7 per person).

We got off the ferry and immediately started walking. No time for ice cream or umbrellas! We wanted to get the whole experience. We began walking through a neighborhood with spunky houses, got intrigued, kept walking… and eventually found ourselves saying “where the fudge are we?” Handy Google Maps told me that we had already walked half way across the island. So then we had to get to the other side to see what was there. The paved road turned into a gravel road, which turned into dirt, and eventually looked like a driveway through the woods. Minor panic set in as we had no idea where we were and the houses were getting a bit creepy looking. All was well in the end though because the road did lead somewhere (unlike Rattlesnake Mtn)!

The other side of the island was completely beautiful. Super quiet.. the epitome of Northern summer vacation spots. So picturesque. Although we were hoping for a bar / lobster joint, we unfortunately did not find one. But the houses were lovely and we kept walking, this time going along the outer part of the island.

It took a little longer than we anticipated, but when we were almost back to the ferry landing we saw this secret path!!!

It led is to this really pretty pebble / sea glass beach. You could see the whole bay and all of the surrounding cottages, very pretty at twilight.

Afterwards, we got about 10 glasses of water from one of the restaurants near the ferry. Make sure you know what time your ferry leaves because we almost missed it (times are different for weekends and certain months).

It was a good explorative little half day trip, although not sure I would ever go back unless I was staying at someone’s awesome bayside cottage.

The Maine Coast

The Maine coast has a ton of lighthouses and rocky shorelines, both of which I love.

Here’s The Bug Light, it’s super tiny but a nice park has been built around it. We probably only spent fifteen minutes here before going on to the next.

Here is two lights, which is misleading since there are two, but not next to each other. Parking here was awful in the summer because the tiny lot is also used for a lobster shack (and you know that was crowded).

I’m obsessed with the rocky coast though. It’s just fun to jump around and see what’s going on in all the little pools.

We also went to Two Lights State Park, ironically named because you can’t see the lighthouses from it. I think it was $5-6 to get into the park, but we spent a good amount of time there just walking around. There are a lot of good walking trails along the water and through the woods. Tons of picnic tables too if you wanted to grab a bite to eat. There’s a huge hill in the middle of it that’s actually a bunker. I think they’re going to eventually renovate it so as a tourist you can walk around and understand what you’re seeing.. but right now it’s just this terrifying dimly / non lit underground hallway. You can see where the dark rooms go off of the hallway and I felt like I was going to get murdered at any second. So maybe wait til it’s renovated to walk through there.

Overall the park was nice for walking around and enjoying the ocean, but after that we needed some excitement!

 

Rattlesnake Mountain, Raymond Maine

Prepare for like 5 Maine posts. It’s just so amazing in the summer and I would advise everyone to visit at least once.

The first day I was there we hiked up Rattlesnake Mountain. It maybe took us like a half hour to get to the top, but it wasn’t bad as long as you watched your footing. It gets pretty steep and rocky for the most part.

It’s a pretty view from the lookout spot. You can sit in the grass and see the rain clouds over all of the lakes sprinkled around the landscape. It looks like the trail continues to your right, which I think it does? However, we tried to go on it and the trail we went on kind of died out awkwardly into some bushes. A couple who went on it like ten minutes before us never came back.. so we’re going to assume they ended up somewhere and aren’t still wondering around the mountain.

We even repurposed one of Will’s childhood toys to make a makeshift cooler. If that’s not being resourceful I don’t know what is.

Raven Rock – Lillington, NC

Ah, the struggles of loving to hike but living in the piedmont.

Raven Rock is not so much of hiking, but it is a nice getaway from the city. Only about an hour away from Raleigh, the drive took us through Fuquay-Varina and a handful of other small towns. The visitor center there is quite beautiful, and worth a quick stop inside. The overlook and Raven Rock trail is a 2 minute walk down the street from the center. You’ll come to a part in the trail where the loop begins, and you can go left or right. I would recommend going right and not venturing at all on the left. On the right, it’s mostly flat and goes along a stream. The left side of the loop is eroded gravel and uneven ground with nothing pretty to see (there is an outhouse though).

It’s a quick trail, and after going down like 100 steps, you’ll run right into the rocks.

The State Park was formed because the rocky mountain soil collided with the piedmont at some point, creating the rocky facades. It’s beautiful in person and you can walk along the rocks. The trail just kind of ends when the rocks get too difficult to navigate — then back up the stairs you go.

The outlook (back up the stairs + 1/2 mile or so) looks like this. Im sure in the fall it’s lovely. From here, you can go to the right and walk uphill on loose gravel, or go back the way you came and walk along the sandy stream path.

 

There’s another trail closer to the visitor center that leads to Cape Fear River. That again comes to a strange stopping point.. or so you think! The little waterfall rapids are only a foot or so deep (when I was there), and as long as you watched your footing, were completely crossable. I even saw a yellow lab do it. You cross above the little fall and can get to the cool rocks on the other side and go swimming.

There are lots of flat rocks for sunning and it’s shallow enough so the water is warm. We did see a water snake near the higher rock (the one you’ll be tempted to jump off of near the original crossing). So maybe don’t. There are more little rapids you can walk through, but you will come to a point where they’ll sweep you away for a little ride down the rocks (I did not enjoy it but some people might).

Overall, it was a nice day trip and I’m glad we went. Not many people were there and the majority of the trails are in the shade. If you do want to see awesome rocks though, I would recommend making the trip to Pilot Mtn. if you haven’t been there yet.

Southern California = Heaven

I hadn’t been to Cali since I was 4, so it was about time this happened. Will’s wonderful brother and sister-in-law live about an hour from LA and an hour from San Diego in wine country, and all the pictures I took can’t begin to really show how beautiful it was there. But I’ll post some anyways. It was by far the best Fall Break I could have asked for — although it did rain for the first time since they had ever lived there (of course). It did create some snow for our hiking excursion which was awesome.

We drove down the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Monica! Hung out on the pier and muscle beach.

Up in the mountains was a place called “The Lookout” where you could stop and get some food and enjoy the view.

Sunset in San Diego

La Jolla was lovely, and we saw sea lions!

We went to a couple different wineries; I think I was expecting Italian-like vineyards, but this was also a pleasant surprise. We got to enjoy lots of wine and each other’s company under the umbrellas. Shiraz is also my new favorite. I wish I would have written the post a lot sooner because I can’t remember the names of the wineries we went to, but there’s a long strip of them and it’s fabulous.

I just took this out the car window at one point, it was so vast and picturesque looking at the moment, I’m sad it doesn’t translate very well into a photograph. I had never been to a desert so I had my mouth wide open in awe anytime we drove anywhere. Everyone just needs to go there and see how great it is for themselves.

We enjoyed the snow at San Bernardino National Forest on a little hiking trip.

Everything is pretty spread out and we did a lot of driving, but it’s so beautiful that you really can’t complain (unlike when driving on 95). I would love to go back someday and drive up the coast to Oregon.

Freefest / DC

So, Virgin Mobile’s Freefest is the greatest thing on earth. I would recommend that you all go, but that would decrease my chances of getting another ticket this year. It’s a music festival to raise money for Habitat for Humanity and it’s FREE if you can be one of the lucky ones to snag a ticket online. We had 2 computers with about 40 tabs open, refreshing every second and got a pair!

It was at the Merriweather Post Pavilion outside of DC this summer. So we figured out the metro and did some DC stuff. IT RAINED, of course, during the concert, but luckily we got under the pavilion for the second half of it. We got to see Icona Pop, MGMT, and Avett Brothers ❤ along with some other bands I hadn’t heard of before. There’s a really cool setup with 2 stages, some funhouses, lots of food, and a stage in the forest that had some awesome techno stuff happening later at night. But really I was there to see Avett and die of happiness.

That Friday we did DC things and of course the first stop was the Arlington Cemetery. We drove there but could have easily taken the train.

We did a the monument walk at night — it was comfortable and beautiful out with a full moon. We parked near this memorial and it was kind of a far to the Washington Monument and the memorials but I didn’t mind. Also, the lighting is non-existant and it was pretty dark a lot of the way. It could have been sketchy but nothing happened; I just thought it was weird that some parts of the trail were completely dark.

We tried and failed to get dinner in the city so we just ended up getting pizza at my Uncle’s apartment in Columbia. He took us out to a bar that night in a small town near there, I don’t remember what it was called but it was awesome with some live music playing.

Freefest was of course outstanding. All seating was first come first serve, so we got REALLY close seats to the Avett Brothers show. If I had known it was so easy to get in the pit I would have. Next time.

We did a quick trip back to DC on Sunday morning. We did the Air & Space Smithsonian and also the Basilica near Catholic U. I didn’t take any pictures since I had been there before, but it’s one of my favorite places in DC so I made a point to go there again.

spacesuit reflections

I thought the x-rays of space equipment were the coolest things there

More Maine

Maine in the summertime is wonderful: Everyone is happy, the sun is shining, it’s never over 85 degrees. We did a lot of random stuff while we were there, like:

Wandering around the Old Port at night after having drinks at the Sebago Brewing Co. Super good beer. Additional shout out to Gilbert’s Chowder House for being the best clam chowder I’ve ever had or ever will have in my entire life. ❤ ❤ ❤

Hacker’s Hill — we tried to go there in January but there was 2 feet of snow in our way, this was way better.

Old Orchard Beach. I thought it was awesome, some say it’s kind of redneck, although the northern redneck and southern redneck are very different. As in I don’t think the northern redneck is redneck at all. But that’s just my opinion.

I weirdly like going to really old cemeteries (during the day), and Will knew about this one. Apparently it has some of the founders of his town buried there? It was eery and beautiful. (Sidenote: I think my fascination with old cemeteries comes from my grandma — when I was little and went to my aunt’s wedding in Virginia, the only part I remember is walking around the church’s graveyard with her before the ceremony)

Saco River : Brownfield, Maine

I FINALLY GOT TO GO TO MAINE IN THE SUMMERTIME!

The weather was perfect and there were so many different places to explore. Will had always wanted to go on a camping trip down the Saco River, and since I had never officially been camping, I wasn’t going to say no. And it also sounded like a lot of fun. Apparently the Saco can go two ways — you can go on the weekend with a ton of crazy, drinking, loud, partying kids. OR you can go on a weekday where it will be a lot less crowded. I prefer nature being nature so I was glad when the only days we could go were a Monday / Tuesday. Some blogs made it sound like a total craphole that had been “ruined” by partying, but honestly I didn’t see any of that. It was actually a lot cleaner than I expected.

If you care about logistics : we took 2 cars and 2 canoes. Dropped off both canoes at Swan Falls, drove 2 cars to Brownfield Bridge and left one there so we could drive back to Swan the next day and pick up the other car. Kind of confusing but it worked. WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE DONE THOUGH: is parked the 2nd car at Walker’s Bridge, making the trip 10 miles instead of 20. (doing 10 miles the 2nd day was rough, especially in the cold, pouring rain 😦 ) There are tons of camp grounds between Swan and Walker’s Bridge, and we were very slow paddlers who liked to stop at every beach and every rope swing.

The water was really shallow most of the way there. If it was warmer / if I was a little kid again I would have spent most of the day in the tube.

There are campgrounds with bathrooms / grills you can use / reserve? I’m not sure how it works. But they weren’t as far down the river as we wanted to be (we were hoping to go half way the first day). This is our little beach though and it worked out fine. I also heard a fisher cat for the first time, so that was terrifying.

So many rope swings!!

I’m not going to go into how the next day it started non-stop raining starting at 9 AM and I got 35 bug bites, but it happened. Apparently the rain just can’t stay away from me haha.

Day 2 was a learning experience but I would definitely do it again! Saco is awesome.

Boone, NC

Not the Alps, but I still love it.

We went on a great weekend in July and stayed a couple miles away from App State. I was still feeling super outdoors-y from my weekend in Austria and was really excited to have some more non-flooding weather. Joke was on us, really, because we got caught up in a downpour about an hour into our first hike. After that, it was good.

We didn’t want to drive too far to see waterfalls, so we opted to go check out the Hebron Rock Colony Falls. You don’t just look at these falls, you climb them! We parked at the Julian Price Memorial Park — cute picnic area with a creek all the kids can play in. Once wandering around for a little bit, we found where the Boonefork Trail was and started going. One thing Boone seriously needs to figure out is its park navigation systems because they are awful. *will get to that later*

The falls were awesome and I happily tore up my Tevas jumping around from rock to rock. And they’re HUGE. We spent a good amount of time there, I thought the water was freezing but Will swam for a bit. Honestly I think we should have just gone to the falls and back, but we thought the rest of the trail would be nice so we finished the loop. I think it would have been nice, except the rain made all the clay really slippery. Some parts were fine, but others I thought I was actually going to fall into a ravine or my Teva was going to get stuck in the mud and I would break my ankle. All in all, I did survive and it was a beautiful hike with meadows, waterfalls, creeks, forest and campgrounds.

 

I think we were completely exhausted after that and I honestly don’t remember what we did that night. I do remember driving into Boone and attempting to eat at Mellow Mushroom but having a 45 minute wait. To that, we said “no way” and drove to the next food place we could find, which was the TApp Room. It was a college-y (obviously) sports bar but I could see its fun potential on a game day or something. We got beer and burgers and I remember it being pretty good.

Day 2 was a hike on Moses Cone Trail. It was between this and another trail, and since we wanted to leave that afternoon we opted for this one because I read on a blog that it was shorter. That blog was wrong. They said 1-3 hours, and we’re like “hey, we walk pretty fast, we’ll be done in an hour”. Nope, we were there for like 6 hours and spent 2 of those hours being lost on the wrong side of the mountain because of poor signage. If any people are reading this to find out about Moses Cone : It’s not a 1-3 hour hike. And there’s not a very good view at the top. But, it is easy and would be good for bringing your dogs on a nice, long walk.

The majority of the trail looked like this, except for some random meadows where you’re not sure where you’re going when the trail dissolves for a minute. All part of the adventure.

We parked at Trout Lake on the side of the road? There’s a parking lot on the other side we didn’t see and I would recommend parking there. The summit was cool and we walked around there a little bit and played with some people’s dogs.

Upon wanting to get down the mountain a little faster than we got up, we decided to take a chance and climb over the barbed wire fence via this ladder (took this pic from another blog).. wondering why I didn’t take a picture of it myself because it was so random. Just a ladder sitting on the side of the trail with no direction what so ever. There was a path though, and it was steep down the side of the mountain, it’s what we wanted. We took the gamble and went over the ladder.

Long story short, we ended up halfway down the wrong side of the mountain on a paved road and had no idea where we were. Asked a couple where Trout Lake was, they pointed us down the road. We walked for about a mile, felt very lost, and knocked on a random person’s door to get more directions. Eventually found the cow pasture he referenced and also found the allusive Trout Lake parking lot. It was stressful and this place needs more signs FOR REAL. The hike was nice though, and next time I would know what I was getting myself into so it wouldn’t be that bad again.

Boone, I will be back!

Back in the U.S.

I know this is six months late BUT I did make it back to America in time for 4th of July ! Since then, I’ve gone on so many different trips that I can’t stand to not write about them. This is really just for me, but if anyone wants to ever pay me to go places and write about them I will not say no.

Being back was weird at first. I read somewhere that upon returning home you experience a different kind of culture shock, and it’s true. Going from Eastern Europe to the good ole South was definitely a big change. I’m not complaining, but it was hard transitioning back. While old Alex could small talk for hours and smile at strangers, the Czech Alex was like “why would I want to do that?”. I had basically forgotten to be friendly, and it took me a while to shake it off.

While six months later I’m still obsessing over Europe and thinking about visiting again after graduation, I’m also interested in traveling around my own country. While I’ve never stayed in them, America does have hostels and I’ve been looking at Roadtrippers basically anytime I drive anywhere. There are so many unique things to see in my country, why not see them? Top on my list right now is the Grand Canyon and Nashville, TN.