Travel & Destination Blog Posts

Well, we finally did it. I didn’t think it was going to actually happen this year, but it did. We went apple picking and surprisingly, there were tons of apples to be picked. I thought the trees would be stripped clean, but they really weren’t. So many really beautiful (and huge) apples! I see an applesauce recipe in the very near future. So mark this on your calendars, mid-October – apple picking can totally happen.

Okay, first of all, why is it that every time we get in the car to do something like this, it’s sunny, but by the time we arrive at whatever location it is we’re going to, it’s cloudy? Two o’clock in the afternoon is when it happens. Sunshine makes photography exponentially better and today, we were forced to take about half of our photos under clouds. At least the other half looked good. I’ve got a ton of photos to show you in this post, so settle in and enjoy.

By the way, it’s supposed to drop to 32 degrees tonight. It’s getting chilly out there. I think I might need a fire in the stove tonight.

I’ll start off by telling you where we went. There’s a nice orchard on a really great looking hillside in Farmington, Maine.

It’s called Morrison Hill Orchard and if memory serves, they offer about 15 different types of apples. We stuck to one side of the hill because the other side was picked clean. I think those were the apples that ripen up in August and September. We had fun with the ones that go all the way to late October. The Red Max, Empire, Rogers Red, Cortland and Macoun.

After we got back to the house, I looked up each one of these apple types and I have to tell you, they all look identical. Weird. That’s fine with me though because they were all rather large and super crispy. I did the ol’ eat my way through the orchard thing this afternoon. I’m sure you know how that goes. Really good apples.

When we first arrived, I saw something that looked like a huge slingshot. Guess what – it was one. Check this out.

For two bucks, you can buy a bucket of lousy apples and sling them into a field way down the hill. Since it’s difficult to describe what I’m talking about, I had a photo taken of me demonstrating.

We didn’t buy the apples because I was on another mission – a picking one. Do you see that smile in the photo above? I know, I don’t smile enough. I’m trying.

Here’s the field you can sling the apples to. There’s a board with the furthest distances recorded off to the side.

I’d say this is a pretty good idea for this orchard. I really came this close to slinging some apples.

After I played with the sling for a bit, we did the majority of our picking. The trees weren’t huge, but I had a tough time getting any apples. Because of this, I had to go grab two pole pickers.

We picked a half-bushel. I think that’s what it was. It’s the big bag and it cost $18.

Here’s what the bag looked like.

And this is my favorite apple. It’s pretty big and it’s sitting on my desk looking at me right now.

After the picking, we walked around the orchard for a while taking random photos. There was a lot of good stuff to photograph and it was really enjoyable. This first photo is of the upper portion of the orchard. This is the area where there were no more apples.

I thought this next shot was pretty. I framed the front of the farmhouse with the apple trees. Talk about skill.

Next up, we have the standard apples on tree photo. This is a given. Along with the next apple trees in a row photo.

This is an example of one of the apple trees.

I thought it was pretty cool looking, so I grabbed a picture of it.

I also thought the signs that described the types of trees were cool, so I snapped a few photos of them as well. This first one is for the Empire apples.

And this next one is for the Cortland apple trees.

Hey look! There’s even one of me holding an apple and giving a half smile. I think this picture was taken a second after I thought it was taken.

Here are a few more random shots. One is of an old broken down wine barrel.

This next one is of a pumpkin on a nice stone wall. I thought this was a pleasant touch. It’s so New England.

If you take a look at the photo above, you’ll also see some pretty flowers at the base of the wall mixed in with some autumn leaves.

Okay, this orchard had some chickens in a coop, or a pen, or whatever you call it. One of the chickens got out and was walking around. It wasn’t the easiest thing in the world getting a good picture, but I managed to get a few that were presentable. This one was the best.

I’d say that’s one good looking chicken.

I saved the best for last. You’re going to love this story. I paid $18 for a half-bushel of apples. Last night, we had a lot of wind because the temperature dropped so much. It actually woke me up from slumber a few times. Today, while we were at the orchard, I saw a bunch of big bags that were full of apples, sitting every so often throughout the trees. The orchard people usually clean up the dropped apples every day. Well, since there was so much wind last night, a ton of apples fell from the trees. Good apples too! As I was doing my regular picking, I saw them all over the place. I kept commenting on how much of a shame it was to lose so many great apples.

I noticed that they were selling these bags of dropped apples for $7 each. Each bag weighed at least 60 pounds. I inquired about them and the lady said that they “have to” sell the apples as animal feed because they touched the ground, but that she can’t control what everyone actually does with them. We both knew everyone who gets a bag makes pies with them. At the other orchard, they press the fallen apples and make cider out of them. I said to myself, “What the heck,” and I bought a bag.

I put the big bag of apples in the trunk of the car and just opened it a little while ago to see what was inside. Guess what – the apples are perfect! Yes, some are small, but so many of them look just like the apples we picked off the trees just this afternoon. I’m totally washing as many as I can and am going to be doing some serious cooking with these things. And now that I know this place sells fallen apples, I swear I’m going to look at cider presses. I just have to.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I hope you enjoyed today’s post and if you have a comment please leave it below. Thanks for reading!

Yesterday was the day we chose for our yearly apple picking adventure. We’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember, and for as long as I can remember, we’ve been late at getting out every single year. Well, perhaps that isn’t exactly true. I can recall times many years ago that we ventured out in September, but the problem with those occasions was that September is oftentimes just as hot as August is. For some odd reason, we seemed to have found the hottest days of the month for our picking. In more recent years, we decided that any time after October 1st is just fine with us. It’s been working out too. The only issue is that many of the better apples are already gone. We manage to get our fair share though.

Last year’s picking was the best. As I wrote in a previous post, we found the most beautiful orchard in the world and it was right in our own backyard in Mercer, Maine. If I had to guess, I’d day the orchard is a good 20 minutes from our house. This orchard, for some strange reason, has the best energy about it. It’s quiet, has a ton of different apple varieties and has a landscape that I could get lost in for hours. It’s stunning. And what’s best of all is that there’s a cat named Felix that lives on the property. Felix just loves to come out to play with those of us who visit to do some picking. Take a look at me falling in love with him just yesterday.

When anyone approaches Felix, he drops to the ground and rolls on his back waiting to be pet. Of course, this is what everyone does. I like to rub his belly and then pick him up for a squeeze. I can remember doing the same exact thing last year. He’s a real highlight at the orchard.

I have a story about yesterday’s picking, but I’d like to start at the beginning of our outing first. Later on in this post, I’ll get to what happened at the orchard.

We decided to take the long way down to Mercer yesterday. There weren’t many people out, so I could drive very slowly like I enjoy doing. When I drive slowly, I see things I don’t usually see. Yesterday, after I pulled off the main road onto the dirt road that leads to the apple place, I passed by a regular looking Maine house. There wasn’t anything all too special about it. As I was peeking in the back yard of this house, I noticed a small cemetery situated along a treeline. I remarked at how interesting it is to have something like this so close to a residence and as I continued driving, I realized that the cemetery was larger than I first thought. I decided to pull over to the side of the road to see what it was all about. Again, we were pretty much alone out there yesterday, so I could have parked in the middle of the road to enjoy a sandwich. Very little pressure when it comes to the driving around here.

The cemetery was beautiful. It had a traditional iron fence that surrounded it and it was in very good shape. I love seeing things like this in the month of October. The weather is usually so good and sometimes, the exploring is even better.

After I took a few pictures, I turned around to notice that I had parked in the parking lot of the Mercer Meeting House.

As I learned yesterday, much of the construction in the area occurred in the 1800s. You wouldn’t know it because so many structures have been re-sided, but many of the original houses and buildings still stand. Don’t get me wrong here, there were never many to begin with. But from what was built, so much is still being lived in and used.

The Meeting House is still in very good shape. I took a few photos of it. I’ll share the best one here.

Sitting all the way over to the left of the building, along the road, was a mill stone with a plaque attached to it.

On this plaque were some words describing an enormous tree that once existed in the town. If you can’t read the words in the photo above, here’s something that’s more clear.

Who knew the largest tree in New England grew in Mercer, Maine? I sure didn’t. I love interesting tidbits of information like this. Of course, I view this claim with skepticism. I have a weird feeling that there are many “largest tree” stories out there. But, without knowing any facts, I’ll give this one to the town of Mercer.

After leaving the Meeting House parking lot, we didn’t get much further than an eighth of a mile before I noticed the most beautiful pond over to our left. There was a sign in front of the pond indicating that the area was, in fact, a bog, which is a wet, muddy area that is too soft for any heavy structure to be situated.

At first, I told myself that this area was particularly beautiful. As I continued to walk down the street though, I realized that the area was actually remarkably beautiful. Take a look at this next photo.

I mean really? How nice does that look? I stood there for a while soaking it all in.

As I walked just a bit further, I saw the coolest grass pathway leading to the rear of a nearby house. I simply love features like this. I have a long history of exploring a variety of properties, and when I can picture myself walking though some grass on an autumn day with a glass of red wine in my hand, I’m a happy camper. Take a look at this path that leads to the area in back of the bog.

I think I like the wooden fence all the way to the left the best.

Across from the path was a dead milkweed pod that was just begging me to photograph it. I love the details in these things.

Okay we’re down to the final photo for this part of the post. As I was walking back to the car, I noticed another mill stone hidden in the high grass, right off the road. Upon closer examination, I noticed that this stone had some writing on it. It said, This wheel was used in the Mercer grist mill to grind grain into flour in the 1800’s.

The road we were walking on was dirt and there was a large ledge right off of it, in back of this stone. As I moved closer to the side of the road, my left foot fell into a hole. I went down all the way to my knee. Apparently, there was some erosion in this area that I didn’t see because I was so focused on getting a picture of the stone. The lesson I learned was that I need to pay closer attention to the environment when I’m in the field taking photos. You know, I’m frequently so enthralled with taking pictures of things that I oftentimes don’t notice the danger that lurks all around me.

Anyway, let’s move onto the apple orchard. That’s where most of the fun happened.

Unfortunately, since we had such a rainy spring this year, the orchard we visited had a tough time with their spraying of the trees. Because of this, there weren’t many apples that were good enough to pick. Sadly, we didn’t fill our bag at all. We left empty handed in that regard. I did, however, take a few bites of an apple during our meandering through the orchard. Also, the owner of the property gave me a red delicious as a gift, which I ate on the ride home. Here’s a picture of me holding the apple I just spoke of.

I also purchased a gallon of freshly pressed apple cider, which I tasted last night and found to be delicious.

We did manage to snap a few photos during our stroll around the property. You know, the usual photos. I was actually kind of nervous that I wasn’t going to be able to get any because I have done such a thorough job of photographing things like this in the past. Sometimes, I feel like I’m writing and sharing the same posts over and over again. Especially when it comes to apple picking. I mean, how many times can I show you photos of apples? I’ll limit this year’s to only a few random shots of the orchard.

The owner of this apple orchard, whose name happens to be Carol, sometimes operates quilting getaways for friends and family. The last time we visited the orchard, I noticed a building that looks sort of like a house, with a sign that read “Quilted Apple Retreat” on its side.

Like I said, I never thought much of the building beyond that fact that it was in very nice condition and that I liked the sign on the side of it. Well, as it turns out, the building is a restored barn and as Carol was talking to us yesterday, she invited us inside for a tour. I was especially glad she did this because, as I mentioned above, I wanted to write a blog post about the day and I didn’t have many photos. I’ll tell you right now, the tour of the barn really helped. It helped a lot. I love the pictures I took of the interior. I’ll show them to you now.

Let me tell you, when we walked into this structure, my jaw almost hit the floor. I wasn’t expecting what I saw. Take a look.

I mean, can you imagine having a place like this? I can’t. I would love it, but I couldn’t imagine ever finding the luck that would allow me to own something so wonderful. Talk about cozy. As we were walking around and as Carol was telling us about the building’s history, I couldn’t help but to imagine relaxing in front of the huge wood stove. This wood stove has a story of its own. It was given to Carol by a group in town that had gotten it from another group. To make a long story short, the stove is considerably old and it has a rich history. It’s also enormous. Check it out.

For some reason, I always picture myself cozying up near a wood stove at night during a snow storm. There’s nothing more peaceful than that idea for me. I love having a wood stove here at the house, but ours is nothing compared to this larger one above. I could get used to something like that.

The building contained so many unique attributes and features. For instance, there was a huge hand-forged chain that Carol’s family found in the back yard during some excavation. The chain was wrapped around a boulder. I guess someone tried to move the boulder, failed and gave up. They simply let the chain sit in the dirt and eventually it was covered by earth. It was found and restored and now it sits upon a beam in the barn.

Here’s a different view. It’s a big chain.

Along the walls are signs from a long time ago. This one that says “Wealthys For Sale – One Mile” is from 1930.

I don’t know the story about these next two, but I thought they were really cool, so I took some photos of them.

Inside this building, there’s a loft, a kitchen and a bedroom upstairs. Here’s the kitchen.

And here’s the bedroom.

I honestly don’t think you can get much more cozy (apparently, I find myself using this word a lot in this post) than this. I instantly fell in love with this place. I really didn’t want to leave.

When I was remodeling the room I’m sitting in right now, I had a great idea. I thought that I would attach cedar shake shingles to the inside of the ceiling. I also wanted to place restored barn wood on the walls. After thinking about this for a while and after adding up how expensive it would be, I talked myself out of the idea. Well, as it turns out, someone else had the same exact idea and actually followed through with it. This next picture makes me want to re-do the room I’m in.

I love the warmth of interior wood. There’s nothing like it.

The last thing I want to show you from the inside of this building is an example of the creative lighting Carol used. I want to copy this idea so bad, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin. Luckily, there are a lot of folks out there who are now getting into these types of creations, so I might just have to purchase something similar. Perhaps I could hang a few over my puzzle table.

Wow, what a great place. I’m excited to post these pictures to share with you. I also enjoy looking back on them, so this is a win-win.

After our tour was finished up and as we were leaving, I decided to grab some shots of the apple cider press this establishment uses. First, I took a photo of the apple crates.

And finally, for the last photo of this post, I present the apple cider press. I’m starting to think I want one of these. I was watching a few videos last night and learned just how easy making apple cider can be. Believe me when I tell you this, there are apples all over the place up here. All over.

Overall, we had a really great day yesterday. What began as a loss quickly turned into a sheer delight. I loved the adventure and look forward to our next apple picking effort, which might happen in a few days from now.

Thanks for reading!

Laura and I had a fun filled, action packed day. We had to run around Farmington to get some chores done and since it snowed last night and everything looked so good outside, I decided to bring along my little spy camera. I bought this camera way back in 2008 and I have to say, it’s still pretty awesome. It’s over 13 megapixels and fits right in my inside coat pocket. Virtually no one can see me as I’m sneaking pictures of this and that. As you’ll see below, we visited many places and I took photos in a casual way that would have otherwise been awkward. Well, the one of me in the ATV was awkward no matter what, but we were laughing the whole time, so that’s okay.

Anyway, I tried to grab a photo right after we pulled out on the road and began to climb the hill. Of the few that I managed to get, this one was the best. What is it a photo of? The snow, of course. Also, I just wanted to show you what our closest “real” road looks like.

Today’s weather was perfect. I believe the temperature rose all the way to 37 degrees and much of the day was sunny. These types of days have always been my favorite because there’s a lot of slush everywhere and it feels like spring.

I decided to stop at our local lake for a few pictures of the ice fishers. First, I took one of a small bakery called Dovey’s Kitchen. Laura and I stop by every so often to buy a cookie or two. They have very large and very good cookies. We really shouldn’t do that, but we are weak willed folk.

Just to the left of Dovey’s Kitchen is Clearwater Lake. This is one of the two most beautiful lakes I’ve ever seen. The other one is over in Wilton, Maine and I’m not sure which one is better, but I’m telling you, they’re incredible to look at.

Today, there were a few guys out on the ice doing some fishing.

If you’re interested in seeing what this lake looks like in the summer, check out this post.

Every single time we go to Tractor Supply, I walk over to look at the trailers. I’m not sure why I do this because Tractor Supply has got to have the most overpriced trailers on the planet. Today, I especially shook my head because just this weekend, I looked up the price of a double-axle 16 foot Sure Trac trailer and it cost around $2500. Now, if you’re not familiar, Sure Trac is one of the best trailer companies on the planet. I used to own one, so I know first hand. I’ve been through trailers for a good long time now and Sure Trac kicks some serious ass. For an up-close look at the one I sold during my stay in Florida, you can click here. Their trailers are solid and they’re powder coated.

The reason I mention this is because I saw a comparably sized, really low quality, trailer at Tractor Supply for $3240 today. I was shocked. Take a look.

The price is at the upper left part of the gate.

I do like the fact that this outfit has a lot of trailers, but they really need to get away from the lower end stuff. Either that, or reduce their prices so they’re in line with reality.

Thinking of that price makes me shiver. Okay, enough of that.

After looking at the trailers, Laura and I went into the store, which is always a good time.

Every time we enter this store, we’re greeted by some stuff on sale. I always like to look through the bins because sometimes there’s some good deals on tools. Today though, the both of us became fascinated by the toys.

Here’s a photo of some small toy cars.

This next one was Laura’s favorite. It’s a Jeep Rubicon that has movable doors and hood. She even set it all up for you.

And right next to the toy cars were the little toy animals. I see these things all over the place. I guess they must be popular because they’re set up in the hardware store we go to, the lumber place we go to and, of course, both Tractor Supplys.

They’re pretty neat. I bet the kids love them.

If you don’t have a Tractor Supply near you or if you’ve never been in one, this is your lucky day. I took a lot of pictures of my favorite stuff. I only had to stop after feeling weird because I knew I was on camera. I did manage to get some boots though. Tractor Supply has a good selection of very durable and realistically tough boots.

The real reason we had to go to this store in the first place was to get cat food. We used to feed our cats Science Diet, but discovered that the Tractor Supply brand was actually better. It’s also less expensive, which is a bonus. Our one cat stopped eating the Science Diet, so we were forced to switch. Now, both of them love the Tractor Supply stuff. One nice side-effect is that our over-sized fat cat is down about two pounds because of the modified diet. I’m not sure what was in that Science Diet food, but whatever it was, it was making our cat extra fat.

This is a random picture of some cat food on one of the shelves. This isn’t what we bought, but I liked the looks of the cats on the bags. They look just like our orange cat.

One of the things I really try to stay away from is the bird feeders. Laura loves them and I seem to get sucked into looking through them and imagining ourselves hanging one up at home. Today, I didn’t stick to the plan of running away from the feeders and I got suckered into getting one. It wasn’t that expensive and it looks nice outside. Laura also likes it, so it’s okay.

Here are some photos of the bird feeders they had on the shelves today. The first photo is of regular bird feeders and the second one is of hummingbird feeders. Trust me, there were more, but I stayed away.

Okay, enough of this home decor. Let’s get over to the good section. The winches and the trailer mounts.

For some reason, I want to buy every winch in the store and just hide them someplace. I’m not sure if this type of feeling floats through every guy’s head, but is certainly does mine. I simply can’t get enough of padlocks, cables, winches, trailer axles and all other things made of steel.

Here is a photo of some truck winches.

I mean seriously, who doesn’t want one of these things? Here are some Reese ball mounts. A little blurry, but that’s okay.

See? I knew I could do some damage with my spy camera.

I saved the best pictures for last. This is a Massimo UTV that we’ve been seeing quite a bit of. Before today, I haven’t sat in one. Just to see if I fit, I gave it a shot. I fit just fine. There’s actually quite a bit of leg room.

And this shot is just a tad further away. The cashier was just as entertained as we were because she was watching the whole fiasco.

Sitting in this UTV got me all revved up. Now, I want one, but not this brand. I’d like a Can-Am. Those rock.

As you can see though, they cost just a dollar under $12,000, so it’ll be a while before I get anything like this.

The Tractor Supply part of this post is officially over. Next, we’ll move onto Ron’s in Farmington.

Ron’s Market is world famous. People from different states know about it because they have such an extensive assortment of micro brew beers.

To show you just a small sample, I took a few pictures of the inside. It’s sort of like a deli – but a deli with hundreds of brands of beer. It’s a very important pillar of our community.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have what we wanted. Out of all the brands they carry, they didn’t have the Lion Stout I ordered over a month ago. I guess I’ll have to go without again. Oh well.

I was a little hurt because I really wanted that beer. It’s one of the best stouts I ever had and I did order a case. I think what happened was that I waited too long. They probably put it out on the shelves and sold it on me. I’ve got to figure out a better way.

Next, we’ll move onto the SugarWood Gallery right in downtown Farmington. This is a really great gallery that sells all sorts of nice stuff. From photographs to postcards to furniture, there isn’t anything that’s low quality. Local artisans create what’s for sale and show it off right in this establishment. And really, it’s not that expensive. Perhaps for the average person who’s looking for something temporary, but if you wanted, say, a piece of furniture that you would keep forever, you could go with something from SugarWood.

This caught my attention as we were walking to the entrance.

And there were more inside.

I thought these birdhouses were really neat.

The next few photos will show you what’s in this great little gallery. Perhaps if you’re ever in the area, you can stop by to pick up a souvenir.

First off, there are tons of paintings and photographs for sale. Right after we walked into the gallery, we bumped into these.

And further into the store were a wall full of paintings. These were very bright and exciting, and interestingly enough, all sold.

The furniture is what really stands out at this gallery. Much of it is made from reclaimed wood. I saw a few pieces that used the edge, with a bit of tree bark leftover, as an accent. I can’t afford this type of furniture, but if I ever won the lottery, this is what I would get. Every piece has a story.

Finally for the SugarWood Gallery, we have some hand-made pieces of art. They range from stained glass butterflies to melted glass bowls to metal lawn ornaments. It’s all very high quality.

I swear, I could have stayed in there all day taking pictures, but if I had, this post would be even longer. I’ve already uploaded way too many pictures and I still have one section to go.

They say that Renys is a Maine adventure and I’m here to tell you that it is. It truly is. I absolutely love this stove. As Laura and I were walking around for the 100th time at one of the locations in the chain, I told her that these stores are something special. I can remember some like this from my hometown when I was a kid, but they’re all gone. The movie theater closed, the pharmacy closed, the post office moved and so much more happened that wasn’t good for anyone. In the small towns of Maine, many things are still the same as they were years ago. I never thought I’d be saying this because I never really gave much thought to a lot of things, but we need to protect what’s special. In my opinion, the world doesn’t need to change. If something is good, leave it alone – forever.

Renys opened its doors in 1949 and I’m not sure if much has differed through the years, but I’m certainly happy that we still have it. They sell a lot of what Laura and I need and the prices are very reasonable. I’m telling you, Hannaford has the preserves that I love for $4.99 and it’s $2.99 per jar in Renys. There is so much more that we buy. I could tell you all about it, but you would get so bored you’d cry. Just the sales we took advantage of over the past few weeks would make your head spin. Again, if I went on, you’d stop reading this blog.

Okay fine. Just one. I got a 4-pack of Zest soap for $.75 on sale. That’s all I’m going to say. And about 8 boxes of candy canes for $.25 per box. I’m done now, I promise. It’s just crazy though.

Renys has sections that hold all those toys we used to love from the 80s. There are Tonka trucks and puzzles and coloring books. It’s so cool. Sometimes, as I’m browsing around, I slowly walk through those aisles remembering back to what I had when I was a kid. If I had Renys, I would have really been spoiled.

I don’t know what I would ever do if we lost this store. It’s a special place. Now I know what people are talking about when they refer to the “good ol’ days.” It’s true, they were good!

Renys also sells housewares, clothes, boots and shoes and food. I won’t bore you with all of that, but I will show you just one last photo from the store. This is where we got our preserves today. Down on the bottom shelf.

We also picked up three bags of coffee. I’ll tell you all about that in another post. It’s good stuff. One of them is blueberry pie flavor and the cashier says that we should get the whoopie pie flavor next time. She’s got relatives who visited and who won’t leave her alone about it now. She has to keep shipping them the coffee because they don’t sell it anywhere but here. Crazy and fun at the same time.

I’m not sure what you would call this place. A department store? A variety store? I’ve only been to two locations, but from what I can see, they’re very similar. Not in their layout, but in what they carry and sell. One day, I want to buy one of the little lamps that they have on the shelves in the back. The base of many of them is a ceramic teapot. I think Laura would like one too.

I’ll leave you with one final photo. This is a building that’s across the street from Renys. It houses the old State Theatre, H. Brown Fine Art and the Broadway Barber Shop. Now this is what I’m talking about. Perhaps one day someone will look back at this photo and talk about what used to be. That’s what I would do, anyway.

Well, that brings me to the end of our day. I sure did take a lot of pictures. I hope I didn’t overwhelm you. This is what I do when I have a camera in hand. It makes me want to do this more often. I enjoy walking tours like this. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can browse through my walking tour of Kingfield, Maine. That was a few months ago, but it was good.

Anyway, thanks for reading!

I’m telling you, there’s really nothing like waking up to a 38 degree (chilly) house with a full day of visiting and shopping in the Carrabassett Valley planned. We’ve been having so much fun this year. We’ve met so many people I just can’t stand it. It’s like every time we go out, we’re taking names and numbers. Perhaps we’ll have a party one day. Well, probably not but a party certainly would be a lot of fun.

We’ve been struck by the cold front that’s sweeping almost the entire USA. Really, I don’t mind. Before I got out of bed this morning, I pulled the blankets up so they covered half of my face. I knew I’d start shivering the moment I pulled them away, so I stayed there as long as I could. Laura was already up and getting ready, but I tried to stay hidden for as long as I could.

The reason it was so cold in the house is because we had to let the fire in the wood stove burn out overnight. If our plan is to leave for the day, I don’t like having the stove hot while we’re not here. That’s part of the compromise we have to deal with for paying so little for heat during the winter. It’s cheap, but it really dictates what we can do and where we can go. If we left for too long, I’m sure we’d return to frozen pipes and other problems. The place warms up awfully quickly once I get things lit up again though. As I sit here and write this post, my back is nice and toasty because the wood stove it rosy red. I wouldn’t give this up for the world.

Laura and I have been talking about this trip for a week. Our goal for Christmas this year is to buy each other a few small gifts that would fit into two stockings. I already bought two and currently have them hanging from the wall near the pellet stove. I wrote some of my ideas down for her stocking. They are chocolate, candy, coffee, tea, beer, candles, incense, wine, soap, a coloring book (she has her eye on one), food from Reny’s, books and figs. While I’ll probably only get her a few things, this is the pool I thought I could choose from.

The idea for today’s visit to Kingfield was to check out a few shops we haven’t gone into yet and to try to gather the beginnings of our presents. We’ve already admitted that they won’t be a surprise since we spend so much time together, so we’re doing the shopping out in the open. To me, that’s fine. She doesn’t seem to have an issue with that either.

We had to run over to Madison for something this morning, so we decided to take a different route up to Kingfield. We’ve never gone on this set of roads, so I was excited to see what they were like. From Madison, we’d pass through the towns of North Anson and North New Portland. Little did I know that there would be a mountain right in the middle of our route. It was awesome climbing it and seeing all the new snow on the backside of Sugarloaf. It was like we were driving through the hills of Vermont. Very cool.

That’s Kingfield right down in the valley. Incredibly cute little town.

Much of the time was taken traveling on Route 16 between North New Portland and Kingfield. I was fairly surprised to see how beautiful that leg of the trip was. It was full of all types of pine trees and was really quite nice. I think we’ve decided that this will be the new way to go. It’s only a few miles longer than the other way and we don’t have to deal with that bumpy dirt road that sits north of our town lake.

I tried to take a picture of the road I’m referring to. I think it came out okay.

It’s kind of tough while driving.

Our first goal was to stop by the Carrabassett Coffee Company to pick up a few pounds of coffee. My buddy Steve told me that this is a good place and I’ve been meaning to get there. Since coffee was on the list for Christmas, today was the day. The thing is, they closed at noon, so we had to get done what needed to get done in Madison and then quickly get up there. Luckily, we made it with plenty of time to spare.

They had a decent selection of unique flavors of coffee. We even made a few new friends while there. The fellow who was working the counter looked out the window and complimented us on our car. Then, he complimented us on a few other things, which I thought was nice. Since we were all buttered up, I promised him that we’d come back if we liked the coffee.

Ultimately, we decided on Rooster and Back Draft. I have no idea what these are like, but the fellow said they were dark. That’s good enough for me. Dark coffee and beer. That’s all I want.

Our next goal was to visit a small shop that sits just outside the village. It’s called Scentsations and it’s very interesting and full of nifty items. The last time we stopped by this store, we grabbed a few sticks of incense. They sell 10 sticks for only $2. I don’t know if that’s good or not, but I do know that Laura has fun picking them out.

Today, we bought some more incense. We also found a treasure trove of cookbooks in their upstairs section that were on sale for half price. After taking my sweet time browsing through each and every one, I decided upon a collection of magic called Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi. The book’s cover price is $35, so we got it for $18.46. That includes the tax. I just took a look on Amazon to see what others think about it and to find out the price. I was pleasantly surprised. Apparently, it’s rated at 4.6 stars by 859 people and costs $21.49. This time, I won. I love winning.

This is Laura’s gift to me. Unfortunately, it’s not going to fit in my stocking, so we’re going to have to let it rest beside it.

I’m so excited. It’s got so many incredible looking recipes. I know I just told you about my collection of cookbooks yesterday, so I guess I’ll have to update that list for future posts.

By this point, I was getting revved up for our next stop. We’ve already been successful with the most important things on our list and I was ready for more. I knew that we had to go to the local Shurfine grocery store to get some eggs and other things, so I thought it was time to get that out of the way. Tranten’s it was.

Well wouldn’t you know it. Tranten’s sells wine and beer. Since beer is on my list, it didn’t take long to make it to their selection. Ultimately, we didn’t find much in the way of the dark beer we enjoy so much. There was a lot of ale, but not stout. They did, however, offer a very small selection of stout that was hiding near some other stuff, so I grabbed a few bottles of it.

The two types we got were Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout and Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout. I’ve tasted the oatmeal stout before and liked it, but I’ve never had the chocolate stout. I’m sure it’s good. Both of these bottles are going in the stockings. They should make for an entertaining Christmas morning in our PJs.

As I was taking pictures of the beer, Voleman decided to jump on the counter to help. After seeing this, I just had to share his cute little face with you. Laura was waving a ball behind my head so he would look up. He’s not cross-eyed. He just looks it in this picture.

Only two more places to go. First, we’d stop by the Orange Cat Cafe for some coffee and breakfast and then the art gallery again. First, the cafe.

I’m so glad we did this. We’ve passed by this cafe a million times but never stopped. Now, since we introduced ourselves to everyone who works there and found them to be extremely friendly, we can visit for a coffee and breakfast whenever we’re in town.

It’s such a cool place. They’ve got an interesting dining room that is quite relaxed. There are couches and tables and streamers and all sorts of decorations. Did I mention couches? Yes, the kind that you sink right into.

Since I was just sitting there doing nothing after I finished the breakfast, I thought I’d take a few photos for you. Enjoy the tour.

This first picture is of the staircase. As I mentioned earlier, it’s decorated and it’s really neat.

This next photo is of the room right next to where I was sitting. There’s a big table, a couch and another small cafe type of table and chairs.

Check out the cat in this next picture. His name is Copper and I think he’s the inspiration for the cafe.

Here are some more tables and chairs.

This final shot is my attempt at being artistic. I just snapped one looking out the window.

Oh yeah, these next two are Laura’s. She snuck her camera out as well. The first one is of some butterflies mounted on one of the walls and the next one is of some house plants on the table.

Moving on to our last stop, the art gallery. I know I already showed you what some of the inside of this place looks like in a previous post, but there’s more. I still needed to get Laura a gift and I knew the gallery had collectibles as well as artwork, so I thought it would be in my best interest to see if I could find something nice. We went in and looked around.

I first looked in the antiques room.

I found a nice picture of a lady, but I decided against it. Somehow, I didn’t think she’d like it.

So I went out and into another room to check out some artwork.

Nothing struck me, so I turned around to take a closer look at some locally made dishware. These items were made with the Sugarloaf logo.

While it was very nice, I’d either have to purchase all of it or none of it. I didn’t have enough money in my wallet for all of it, so I moved onto some hats, pillows, towels and quilts.

They didn’t do it for me. It wasn’t until I heard, “Bob, I found it. I found what I like.” It was a Christmas tree ornament made by Susan P. Hudson of Beech Hill Farm. I agreed that it was beautiful and I bought it.

Laura likes it because she can hang it on the Christmas tree during that season and on the window for the rest of them. I’d say that’s a job well done and a very productive day.

Now, onto worrying about the impending snow storm. We’re supposed to get over a foot tonight and tomorrow morning.

Years ago, Laura met someone on a cruise. The woman was from Maine, so they began chatting about life in the state. During their conversation, the woman mentioned that she had lived here for over 70 years and feels like she hasn’t even made a dent in all there is to do. I thought that was interesting. At the time, I hadn’t done much around the area, so I had no idea if it was true of not. I’m beginning to think it is.

Yesterday was our second and final apple orchard visit for the season. So far, we picked 1/2 bushel at Cayford Orchards, which simply wasn’t enough. We needed more apples. We have trouble letting the season go by without completely stocking up.

For the past few years, we’ve been picking at North Star Orchards in Madison, but I’ve been making a concerted effort to get out there to see new things. While North Star is beautiful and they have wonderful apples, we’ve sort of worn the orchard out. This past week, I told Laura that if I have to take one more photo of what I already took photos of last year, I’m not sure what I’m going to do with myself. The time was ripe for change.

Sandy River Apple Orchard isn’t the easiest orchard in the state to find. Like many other addresses around here, GPS can’t quite figure things out. I knew this before getting in the car because I’m a Google Earth genius. Where we would have ended up if I hadn’t looked online is anyone’s guess. But, with my navigational expertise, we made it there just fine. And when we arrived, I was a little bit surprised at what we found.

I jumped out of the car and told the man sitting near the boxes of apples that he may have one of the mose beautiful orchards I’ve ever seen. It’s really true. The orchard is totally cozy and is, and I don’t use this word very much, “nestled” on both sides of a very infrequently traveled dirt road. There’s an interesting history to the orchard that dates back to 1852. Apparently, the initial owner of the property was given the land by the U.S. government for his service in the military. Since there wasn’t enough money to pay the soldiers, they were given land. That was a long time ago, but I really enjoy listening to stories like that. To think about these things as we walk around places we visit is incredible, to say the least.

There are all sorts of cool things on the orchard property. One of them is a restored barn and the other is a Quilted Apple Retreat, where folks can take a few days off to visit the orchard and quilt to their heart’s content. I’ve never seen something like this before, but I think it’s a great idea to get away from it all.

The farm has a huge variety of apples to pick or purchase. I want to say they have 40 varieties, but I’m not sure about that. I believe that’s what one of the owners told me. It’s a lot of fun because they’re all mixed in with each other, so you don’t really know where you’ll end up or what you’ll get.

Just walking around the farm with camera in hand is a lot of fun. We picked our apples early on and then strolled around to take photos for a while. It’s not very difficult to bump into many quintessential photo opportunities. The rows of trees, the old bird house, the cat. Yes, I’ll show you that one a bit later on.

As Laura and I made our ways through the trees, we bumped into a special surprise. This surprise is called the Wolf River Apple, which is, by far, the largest type of apple I’ve ever seen in my life. I wasn’t even aware that this type of apple existed, but when I saw them hanging from the branches, my jaw almost his the floor. These photos completely don’t do justice – just take my word for it, they’re huge. I started eating one at the orchard yesterday and I couldn’t finish it. It’s sitting in the refrigerator right now.

We easily filled out bag with this type and others.

After picking for a bit, we walked around some more where I took a heck of a lot more photos. I won’t bore you with all of them, but I will show you one of the classic apple tree. Such a nice day. It was definitely sweater weather at only 50 degrees. This is the time of year everyone I know waits for.

We made our way back to the barn and paid up. We also looked through the different varieties of apples those who don’t like to pick themselves can purchase. Good looking apples with an awesome crunch. By the way, half a bushel of pick-your-own costs $15. Just in case you were wondering.

The first half of our visit was spent on one side of the dirt road. That was where we picked all of our apples. The second half of our visit was spent on the other side of the road, where we did a bit of exploring.

After I paid for the apples, Laura and I spoke to the owner of the orchard for a while. Her name is Carol and she’s an extraordinarily nice person. We chatted about this and that and during our talk, she mentioned that we were welcome to walk down, in between some other apple trees into the woods, where we’ll find a small cabin. I guess it’s a getaway or a fishing cabin or something like that. It’s a stone’s through from the Sandy River, so I’m guessing I’m near accurate. Laura and I took Carol up on her offer and took off with cameras in hand.

This is the kind of place you can walk around during the evening with a glass of red wine in your hand. Now that’s my kind of activity.

We didn’t get very far before I began taking random shots of Americana. There are hidden gems like this all over the place, especially in the leaves during autumn.

This first photo is of an old Radio Flyer wagon. If you were a kid, you may have had one of these. If you were never a kid, you probably didn’t. That was a joke.

This next photo is of an old apple box from Moose Hill Orchards in Derry, New Hampshire.

We didn’t get twenty feet before we realized we were being followed. I turned around to see a giant Maine Coon cat hot on our trail. His name is Felix and he’s a real big boy. I picked him up to introduce myself to him.

I also took a bunch more photos of him, but this was the best one. He has a tendency to walk toward you as you get down on the ground, which makes for some tough photography. He stayed still for this one though.

We spent far too long with this cat. That may have been Laura’s fault.

Of course, as you walk through these types of places, you continuously see different angles of the sun hitting different things. This is the curse of photography – never getting anywhere and spending all your time shooting away. I promise, this is the last apple picture I’ll show in this post.

The tree in the photo above is right at the corner of where the trail begins that goes down the hill to the cabin and river. Here is the trail. Man those leaves were crunchy.

The trail wasn’t too long. We did have to hold hands while walking down the hill though, which became very romantic, if I don’t say so myself.

It wasn’t long before we saw the cabin.

I thought this was just the coolest things in the world. Doesn’t it look like something from a fairy tale?

As we got closer, I took some more photos.

After hanging around outside for a bit, we went in, which we were allowed to do, by the way. I grabbed a few shots of the interior as well. Can you imagine renting or owning this? I’m not sure people understand how inexpensive it really is.

Think about it – no news, no politics, no people, no traffic, no drama, no fighting – just a cat and yourself reading old books together in the woods. It doesn’t get any better than this.

For my final photo, I’ll show you how close this cabin is to the Sandy River. I took this picture while standing on the front porch.

What a day. One of the best ones we’ve had in a while. There’s some good energy coming from that area. I’ve been places where I couldn’t wait to leave and I’ve been places where I’ve never wanted to leave. This is one of the latter. Crazy.

We’re out of whack this season when it comes to picking apples. It’s like this every year. Either we’re too early and head out when it’s still September or we’re really late and end up at the orchard towards the middle of October. I’d say the first week in October is probably the best. September has the tendency to hover in the 80 degree temperature range and that’s absolutely terrible for apple picking. Too late in October and you run the risk of having nothing to pick. It’s a delicate balancing act.

Since Laura and I were heading down to Hannaford this afternoon to pick up some ingredients for a few upcoming recipes on my other blog, I thought we really should stop by a nearby orchard to grab a few apples. We usually do our picking at North Star, but since we were in Skowhegan, Cayford Orchards was a better fit. We’re actually planning a second apple picking escapade this year, so maybe North Star will be a contender.

Today’s visit was fast. There were hardly any apples left on the trees and we had chores to do. The lighting was also very bright, so we weren’t in any position to be hanging around taking photographs of trees, equipment, etc. In the most basic sense, I wanted apples. I need them for some pies I have planned for the future and you can’t get the good ones any cheaper than you can when you pick them yourself.

The orchard was beautiful. It sits on top of a small mountain and the trees follow the side of a hill as it slopes downward. It sort of reminds me of the one we used to visit in Stockbridge, Massachusetts – Windy Hill. While the Windy Hill orchard was fairly large, Cayford is relatively small. It does have a wide variety of apples though, which is great. From the limited exploring we did, I can definitely see that a longer visit could be very fun.

I’m not sure we were supposed to pick some of the apples we did. Upon arriving, I was explicitly instructed to pick only from the trees that had ribbons attached to them. The thing is, when I listen to instructions, it’s sort of like when I listen to someone’s name the first time I meet them. Or when I listen to driving directions when someone gives them to me. My eyes fog over and I ask anyone standing near me to repeat whatever it was the original person said. In one ear and out the other.

When Laura and I walked across the street to begin our picking, I ran towards the only tree that had tons of apples still attached to it. I filled about one third of the bag when I realized there was no ribbon. Once I thought about what I had done, I ran to another few trees with ribbons and covered up the illegal apples. Then, I hid the bag in the car and ran inside to pay. Finally, I booked ass outside to drive away as fast as possible. I don’t really think the lady who was running the register cared very much, but it was fun acting like I had done something horrible. Brings me back to the days of my youth.

I don’t even know what kind of apples I picked. I do know they are big and they taste good though, which is great. They have that wonderful “crunch” only a fresh from the tree apple can offer. Again, if we do decide to visit another orchard this year, I’ll be sure to take some more pictures.

Kingfield, Maine is, by far, my favorite town in Maine. I’m not sure why this is. Perhaps it’s the fact that Kingfield is just small enough to be hidden from the rest of the world, but just large enough to find on the map. Being this way, only a select few have decided to call the area home. And these select few are wildly interesting, to say the least.

Every once in a while, Laura and I like to jump in the car for a short road trip. If you’re a reader of this blog, you may have concluded that these trips usually occur around September and October. The air gets cool and the need for sweatshirts returns. All in all, autumn is the best time of year for antiquing, visiting restaurants and hotels and meeting new people. And just so you know, when you meet someone in a small Maine town, such as Kingfield, there’s a good chance that you’ll know them for the rest of your life. I’m not kidding about this. It’s just the way it is.

I had a few goals for today’s trip. First, I wanted to try out my new camera lens that I purchased for food photography a while back. It’s a Canon 50mm prime lens and today would be the first day I used it outside of the house. Second, I wanted to go out to lunch so Laura and I could talk about various ideas we have for the future. It’s good to enjoy a change in scenery to get the mind working in all its glory. Third, I was hoping to bump into some locals and business owners up in the area because it’s always fun to see who’s steering the economic ship and finally, I thought it would be nice to see what kind of events were planned for the next few months. I’ll talk about all these goals and their outcomes as I write the post below.

We parked in front of the Herbert Grand Hotel, which is really the centerpiece of Kingfield. We’ve seen this hotel as we traveled through the area in the past, but have yet to go inside. The reason I like to park in front of it is because it’s side-of-the-street parking and there’s a reduced chance of someone swinging their car door into mine. I’m not a fan of “snuggle” parking.

Kingfield has tons of flowers up and down the sidewalks. Combined, Laura and I probably took over 50 photos of them. The town does a fantastic job with the display.

You can find all different types of flowers in pots along the sidewalks and in planters on windowsills. Their existence is a benefit to visiting the area during this time of year.

After taking some photos of the flowers, we decided to check out the bridge in the center of town. The bridge spans the Carrabassett River, which is used for all different type of recreational activities. Kayaking, swimming, jumping from the bridge, a big pumpkin float that’s going to happen later on in October – you name it. It’s an awesome spectacle that runs from Sugarloaf Mountain all the way down to Anson where it joins the Kennebec River.

There’s a little bit of traffic that crosses the bridge, but that didn’t stop us from shooting away. I’m pretty sure we got some funny looks, but that’s fine. The world is meant to be photographed.

The first thing I noticed after I stepped foot on the bridge was a long line of American flags. I thought they would be wonderful to photograph, especially since the sun was shining on them and their colors so vivid.

Next, I looked upstream to see a beautiful mountain. I’d love to say this is Sugarloaf, but I have very little confidence that it is. I thought it was something from the Bigelow Preserve, but as I look at Google Earth, it appears that it’s probably something else. Perhaps Mount Abraham, Mount Redington or even Black Nubble. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s Mount Abraham.

Please correct me if I’m mistaken.

Since Laura and I were so close to the bridge (standing on it), we thought we should get some different shots from underneath. So, we walked right down into a nearby parking lot to do just that. Here is a side view of the bridge.

And here is the spillway that sits right past the bridge. I’m not sure why this is here, but there seems to be some semblance of and old mill on the shore. Pretty much every town in Maine has an old mill involved with its history.

On our initial trip into town, Laura and I passed a small gallery (Stadler Gallery) that caught my eye. It was situated in what looked like a large garage. It may be some type of a barn, but what it is doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that it’s huge when you get inside. Its construction is post and beam and the artist, who is a German woman named Ulrike Stadler, paints some rather remarkable pieces. From what I gathered after speaking with her for a bit, she cooks all of her paint herself. She told us that she makes everything from scratch and doesn’t purchase anything. I thought that was very interesting.

Here is a photo of the entrance to her gallery.

And here are two pieces hanging from the walls inside. Unfortunately, due to my new lens not having image stabilization and me using the wrong aperture setting for indoor photography, many of the photos I took indoors came out less than stellar. These two were okay though and should give you an indication of what’s going on.

It’s a really curious place and I’d like to go back again at a later date.

After leaving the gallery, we continued walking up the road. There’s a small sidewalk that kept us somewhat safe from the passing cars. At the end of the sidewalk was a really cool little store called Scent-Sations. It’s one of those places that sells all sorts of things from Crocs to candles to incense to cookbooks. It’s a tourist’s dream. The thing about this shop is that unlike other similar places I’ve visited is the prices are very good and the quality is high. Laura purchased some neat incense that smelled like spiced pumpkin, root beer and a few others that I forget. Overall, it was a fun visit. I even got to talk to the owner about the Berkshires and various hotels and mansions that I visited in a previous life. That was fun.

Here are a few photos of this store. The first one is obviously the front entrance.

If memory serves, I think this is a collection of different types of tea. I’m sure there are some other things included as well.

And finally, this is just a photo of one of the corners from the upstairs level that I found cozy. I’m always joking with Laura about how much I’d like a chair in a corner with a table next to it. On top of the table, I’d like a lamp and next to the chair, I’d like a small book shelf filled with my favorite cookbooks. I don’t ask for much.

By the time we finished up looking inside the gallery and shopping at the gift store, we were hungry. In reality, the real reason I asked Laura to accompany me to the area was to bring her to lunch. We’ve eaten at a great little restaurant called Longfellow’s in the past and have found that they have the best sweet potato fries and garlic hummus this side of the Carrabassett. We go there primarily for those two things. If we can get a few veggie burgers thrown in, that’s all the better. With that in mind, we started walking back to town.

On the way, I took a few photos. Nothing in particular – just some odds and ends. The two that were my favorite were signs. The first is the sign for the Western Maine Pharmacy. Check it out.

The second sign is one that I found on the wall at the back of Longfellow’s. You can see it from the parking lot where all the snowmobiles are parked in the winter months. It’s pretty cool.

After moseying around for a while, we made it to the front of the restaurant.

It really is an awesome restaurant. One of the things I had planned was to take some random shots of things inside. I know it’s weird, but I enjoy these odd types of photos, so I did what I had to do. I kept showing the waitress my creative work and she gave me the thumbs up.

I’ll spare you from having to look through all the photos, but I will post three of the better ones. I really like these. The first is a photo of some painted wrought iron that was situated near our table.

As you can see, the bar is behind the iron. Next is the old window that was next to where we were sitting. I took a photo a long time ago that reminded me of this shot. The previous one was from when we were visiting Putnam and the quiet corner of Connecticut. I love antique windows.

Finally, I managed to snap a few shots of some bumpy gourds as we were leaving after we ate. I don’t know – it’s just the way the sun was hitting them, I suppose. I don’t argue with these things.

It’s funny. As Laura and I were walking around town with our cameras in hand, a few folks made recommendations for where we should visit next. One recommendation was that we head towards the Wire Bridge in New Portland. Since we had already visited that area, I had to explain that we’ve been there and done that. It’s always hard to see the disappointment in people’s eyes after they get shot down in such a manner.

The second place that was recommended was the Grand Herbert Hotel. We were told that if we headed inside and asked for a tour, Dawn, the innkeeper, would be happy to show us anything we wanted to see. Since we’ve never been inside this hotel, I definitely wanted to see what it was all about.

The lobby is really big and actually quite stunning. I wasn’t expecting something so expansive. Since I had a 50mm lens on my camera, I wasn’t able to take many good indoor shots. I did, however, manage to take one of the staircase, which was a marvel in itself. Take a look.

After looking around for a bit, Laura and I introduced ourselves to Dawn and expressed to her how we were told about her talent at giving tours. I think she knew what we were talking about, so she invited us to follow her through the upper floors. She showed us three of the larger rooms that were recently remodeled and some of the interesting and unique antique furniture. I asked questions and she was very happy to answer all of them thoroughly. She’s a really nice person and both Laura and I sincerely appreciate the time she took out of her day to let us see behind the scenes. She even brought us out onto the upper balcony so we could take in the view of Kingfield from a different perspective.

On our way out, I asked if I could take a photo of the out-of-service switchboard that remained behind the front desk. “Of course you can.” she said. So I did.

What a great visit and what a great day. Everything turned out exactly how I had planned. We managed to do so much more than we normally do and that’s really only because we put the effort into it. Regarding the goals for our trip, we met them all.

Camera Lens: From now on, I’ll be leaving my Canon 50mm lens at home. It’s really no good as a walk around lens. This has to do with the fact that it’s permanently zoomed into 50mm, which is horrible for indoor photography. I’ll be reattaching my trusted Canon 18-135mm. That has yet to fail me.

Lunch: It was perfect. Laura and I discussed many a topic and came up with some great ideas for the future. Many of them have to do with photography, but some even pertain to this blog. All really good stuff.

Meeting Locals: This goal was met and exceeded my wildest dreams. I’ve been searching for a local attorney for a good long time and the few that I’ve called, I haven’t liked at all. I’m looking for some very casual work to be done, such as estate planning and things like that, so I’d like to talk to someone who is as casual as I am about it. Well, just as luck would have it, we met an attorney on the sidewalk as we were wandering through town. I mean, really. What are the chances?

Meeting the attorney, the innkeeper of the Grand Herbert and the owner/operators of many local shops was really fun and productive. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Events: Kingfield offers many events throughout the year. The one that’s closest and that interests the both of us the most is a Halloween Ghost Walk. Apparently, the town is hosting some sort of spooky walk for four hours on a Saturday in October, where the townsfolk will be led through various establishments and will listen to stories of the scary nature. The event is to celebrate Kingfield’s bicentennial. You can read all about that here.

I think I’ll end things here. We did a lot and I left many photos out. I’m sure you’re thankful for that. We’ll have to make another visit soon so I can continue writing, photographing and sharing some of the types of experiences that aren’t often shared. Thanks for reading!

This is the second time this year that Laura and I stopped by North Star Orchards to pick some apples. Our first visit was just a few weeks ago in September during a cool spell. We ran up there early in the picking season and grabbed ourselves a half bushel of McIntosh. That was the only type of apple ready to be picked at the time, which didn’t bother me because the McIntosh happens to be my favorite.

Today was different. It was a cooler 42 degrees and we had a wider variety to choose from. But while we had more diversity, there were fewer apples overall, which is to expected this late in the season. Either most of them were already gathered by others or they naturally fell from the trees. It’s been kind of windy, but I’m going with my first guess – they were already snatched up by other folks. Good thing I’m tall and can reach up nice and high to pluck the tricky ones.

I think we’ve decided that apple picking during the last few remaining days of the season fits us well. We were almost the only ones in the orchard. To have a place like North Star all to ourselves is the best one can do, apple picking-wise.

We took over a hundred photos between the two of us. My goal was to steer clear from taking pictures of apples, which is a challenge in itself, being in an orchard (the first two photos are of apples). But since there was a lot going on otherwise, I didn’t have too much trouble. And I didn’t want to take the same photos as I did last year either, which was another challenge because there are certain spots just simply beg to be captured.

I’ll post my photos below. I haven’t gone through Laura’s yet, but when I do, I’ll post them here as well. You most likely won’t know the difference.

I think this is a Macoun apple. I picked it, rubbed it so it was nice and shiny and then got an idea. I thought by holding the apple in my hand would make for a clever picture. Let me tell you, holding something so close to a camera that won’t auto-focus properly is not that simple. Add the fact that my hand was shaking, I’m lucky this one came out at all.

These are Golden Delicious apples still on the tree. We had plenty to choose from when it came to this variety, so we filled half our bag with them. I would say this is my second favorite apple. I grew up eating these guys because my neighbor across the street had a big tree that was full of them every year.

I saw these apple pickers leaning against a fence and thought of my artistic side. I went over and snapped a few shots and got somewhat annoyed because the lens I was using didn’t offer much depth of field. It’s a little stock lens that came with Laura’s camera. While it takes fine photos, when you want to get creative, it falls somewhat short. Still, it was fun to take some photos of the colorful apple pickers.

This is my favorite picture of the entire collection. I think the colors are great and the plant tells us the end of the season is near. You’ll get a glimpse of part of the valley behind this plant in the next photo.

If you walk or drive up to the trees toward the rear of the orchard and have a camera in your hand, it’s nearly impossible to pass by this view without stopping. I don’t care how many times you’ve seen it. What you’re looking at is the Carrabassett Valley in Maine, which is right below Sugarloaf Mountain and the Bigelow Preserve. If you remember my post from last weekend, you’ll remember these same mountains, but from a closer proximity and different angle. It really is a beautiful area. By the way, Sugarloaf is now covered with snow.

While I was picking some McIntosh apples, I stumble across a birds nest in one of the trees. Of course, I left it alone, but I did take a few pictures of it.

Since it was during the week and no one was around, we were able to take our car through the orchard. I enjoyed this very much because any time I’m able to drive off road, I like it. And since I drove on the dirt, I wanted to capture the memory of the road. This picture was taken on our trip back down the hill.

I saw these cool ladders last time we stopped by the orchard, but Laura took all the photos that day. I forgot all about them. Today though, since I had a camera in hand, I decided it was my time to do the snapping.

And lastly, here is a picture of the orchard store and warehouse itself. Visitors can get a nice view of this as they walk or ride down the hill from the rear of the orchard.

Actually, that was the last of my photos. In this next section, I’d like to present Laura’s photos. I know I told you earlier that you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between all of them, but the way it ended up, I edited them separately. I suppose that’s good because you’ll get a better idea of our stylistic differences.

While I was inside the store picking up some cider, Laura was outside picking out a pumpkin. We have a grand plan of cooking one of these this season. I don’t know what she’s going to make, but I’m hoping it’s good. I’ve never eaten pumpkin before.

I didn’t even know there were squash (or gords) outside with her. She’s quite creative at times.

They do a pretty nice job over there at North Star. The entrance to the store is colorful and full of the season. There’s a lot to photograph, especially these orange mums.

I’m not quite sure what to call this. Is it a pallet or a box? I’m sure they’ve got a name for it in the apple world. Either way, the gentleman who was backing up the trailer loaded with these boxes was gracious enough to stop when I asked if Laura could take a few shots of them.

If they’d let me, I’d go up and search through the apples on the ground to help clean up, if they’d give them to me. There are many good ones and I’d be happy to take them. Eh hem.

I think it looks pretty cool with all these apples fallen under the trees. There are none in the rows, but under the trees, it’s like a carpet.

What did I tell you? No one can pass by this spot and not take a picture.