Greetings from Portland, Maine!
We took about a week to drive up here from Tennessee - leaving on Monday (May 19) and arriving on Sunday (May 25). Besides limiting our total driving time each day, we also had a few things we wanted to see and do along the way.
On Monday, we left Tennessee and made our way to Charlottesville, Virginia (5 hour drive). The cats re-acclimated to my car fairly quickly, and the drive passed uneventfully (we're still working on that separate post about traveling with cats!). Once in Charlottesville, we got dinner at a Mexican restaurant in the same parking lot as our hotel. The decor was great, and so was my margarita flight!
On Tuesday, I had been planning to play a highly regarded disc golf course located at a cattle farm east of town. Unfortunately, the owner contacted me a week prior to let me know that the course had closed for the summer due to environmental conditions (the area had received above average rainfall, and the grass had grown too long for disc golfing). We instead spent the day driving around the northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, as well as the Skyline Drive in the adjacent Shenandoah National Park. I feel like between driving each end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and driving about half of the Skyline Drive (50 miles), we got a great taste of this region's Appalachian scenery. We also enjoyed the "Big Meadow" visitor area at the center of the park, even though our lunch took a long time because the place was clearly understaffed (support more funding for our national parks instead of less, please)!
After returning to Charlottesville, we stopped at a cider mill just outside of town and then ate dinner outdoors in a pedestrian mall downtown. I capped the evening off with nine holes of disc golf while Corinne charged up her Tesla. Before heading to bed, we helped our cats let off some steam. They both love playing with their stick toy and Fiyero is quite the jumper!
On Wednesday we made our way up to Scranton, Pennsylvania (5.5 hours) - and then followed that up the next day by continuing on to Sturbridge, Massachusetts (4 hours). We drove through quite a bit of rain on both days - including what the local newscasters called a rare May nor'easter on Thursday. When we reached Sturbridge, it was only 43 degrees Fahrenheit - brrr!
Fortunately the weather improved somewhat for Friday and Saturday (temperatures in the 50s with clouds and some drizzle), as those were planned disc golfing days for me. On Friday, Corinne relaxed at the hotel and caught up on her TV shows while I played a disc golf course in nearby Rhode Island (my 24th state played) and two highly rated ones in Massachusetts. All of the courses were a lot of fun. In the evening Corinne and I enjoyed a great meal together at the Rapscallion Pub.
Saturday was a special day for me, as I was able to drag Corinne to show Corinne the best disc course I have ever played to date - Maple Hill in Leicester, Massachusetts. This is a beautiful course that works its way around a Christmas tree farm with rolling hills, ponds, and rocky outcrops. It's rare for me to re-play courses - and especially ones that I have to travel to get to - but Maple Hill is worth revisiting. We enjoyed some barbeque (available on site!) between two rounds. A lovely day, at least if you ask me!
On Sunday we drove the rest of the way up to Portland (2.5 hours). On the way, we made a special pit stop - a beach in Wells, Maine where we showed our cats the Atlantic Ocean. I decided that I wanted to show them both oceans during our travels, and now we are halfway to that goal! We also decided to create a page here on the blog visualizing which states we have visited during our travels (I know we already had our pin map, but what can I say? I'm a big map person). You can find a link to that new page on the blog home page or by clicking here. We'll keep that page updated as we continue on our adventure.
We have settled into our place in Portland, which is a beautiful and spacious New England house with tons of natural light (I'm still adjusting to the 5am sunrises!). It's in a quiet neighborhood just outside of town - a perfect space to unwind and relax. That said, even though we'll be here through June we do have a bit of a busy schedule. Our families are each coming to visit for a long weekend, and I'll also be taking a quick (one night) trip over to Vermont next week to play two world-renowned disc golf courses there (I'm hoping they may even rival Maple Hill!). We'll keep you all updated as summer heats up.
Cheers!
- Dan
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