Sand Beach in March

This is what we were doing 1 month ago:

Now winter, though snow still covers the ground here in Orono, seems behind us.  In fact, as I write this it is 62º outside and another beautiful, if not extremely windy, day.

So yesterday Wynn and I (along with a handful of friends) traveled to Acadia National Park and took advantage of the AWESOME weather at Sand Beach.  In the summer the only comfortable place to swim is in the stream that empties from a slightly inland pond.  Today the pond was frozen and the water was, like the ocean, cold!  The sand was thankfully baked warm by the sun and was wonderful to stand barefoot on.  This log bridge spanned the stream; Evan made it just a bit farther before requesting a rescue:

The 2 two year olds ran around the entire time - this rock was a seriously cool play location and hosted a whole bunch of fun jumps and sand sculpture building opportunities.

 

We had the place nearly to ourselves, such is the luck of visiting in the off-season.  There were some friendly dogs to pet and some other families, some flying kites. 

This water just looks tropical to me!  That effect is just slightly perturbed by the fact that Wynn is wearing fleece pants and a rain jacket, but Evan is very much naked from the waist down!

This weekend is a full moon.  The forecast is calling for clear skies and the plan is for some easy (my wrist is still healing) night climbing or night cycling around the park.  The roads are still closed to cars yet they are free of ice and snow - perfect.

Snowshoeing for Bouldering

Good blog reading music:


Yesterday was a beautiful day - a day that truly hinted that spring was just around the corner: light coats, no gloves, high angle sun... a glorious day.

We headed out to Dedham, ME with some friends. Our goal, to explore some bouldering locations from our friend's guide book -->
Our destination: Hurd Pond.

View Larger Map

Even after the 5" or so of rain and several days of 40º weather there was still 2+ feet of snow in the woods. The conditions weren't ideal for trail finding but we did eventually find one of the guide book climbs, though I can't remember what it was called or rated, V13? Here are Greg and Kim going through the moves:

Evan was climbing the same rock but around the corner. He would have made it but commented that he couldn't do it "with his mittens on."
There were plenty of sunny, dry rocks to have our picnic on, which made for lots of smiling faces.

Did I mention there as a surprising amount of snow!
The ferns were, as always, beautiful:
And at the end of the day Wynn found herself helped back up the steep hill by her two suitors!
I was hesitant to have winter leave, it's been such a good one. But a few more days like this and I will be stricken with spring fever for sure. Ending the blog on a Wynn note as I like to do:

Best Cupcakes in the Milky Way!

These are amazing - amazing!

If you are fortunate enough to live in the SE Pennsylvania or NYC then hit up Dia Doce and get your hands on some of these little cakes :)