Leaf Peeping with Grand Dad and Nana

The first Sunday Nana and Grand Dad were in Boston we decided to skip church to drive north and go leaf peeping.  It was the only day that Brian was going to be able to come with us since he was on call the next weekend, so even though the weather forecast was iffy and we were a little early to catch peak color we decided to go for it. After some debate between going to Maine and New Hampshire, we decided on Maine (possibly influenced by desire to eat some lobster).  Unfortunately with the dreary weather and the few number of trees that had started to turn we didn't see much spectacular color, but we had a fun and memorable day nonetheless.

The first stop on our drive north was Mt. Agamenticus, where we drove to the top of the mountain and saw some beautiful views and even all the way to the ocean.  But boy was it windy and cool plus it was starting to spit rain so we walked around for a few minutes, snapped a few pictures, and hurried back to the car. 

They don't look like they're freezing at all!

During the car ride Brian would randomly call out "who's leaf peeping?" and Sarah would answer "Not me!".  It would crack me up every time! 

We did see some nice color along stretches of the interstate.

We stopped in Portland Maine for lunch.  Based on Yelp restaurant reviews, we didn't go downtown near the port (which probably turned out to be a good thing as - surprise! - the Portland marathon was being held that day), but headed to the hole-in-the-wall Fisherman's Grill.  We got there right before it opened at noon, which was a good thing since our party of 6 only left room for one other couple to sit down and eat inside the restaurant!  But our delicious lobstah roll, haddock and chips, and lobstah stew confirmed that we had made an excellent choice of restaurant.  (Yes, "lobstah" is how they pronounce it and also how its spelled on the menu!)  Then the owner won our kids hearts when he offered them each an Oreo cookie from his freezer (stashed there for making fried oreos, which we did not sample).  They were delighted!

Afterward we walked across the road to a nature area.  We thought there may be some nice trees to tempt us to take a walk through the woods, but no such luck.

Sarah really enjoyed finding leaves to put in her pail though!  In fact we basically had to drag her away from the field asking "Mon more leaf?"  ("One more leaf" - hint: she never means "one more" of anything, she means another and another and another and another...)

As we drove to our final destination, Bradbury Mountain State Park, Nana started playing the "spot the pumpkin" game.  Both Nathan and Sarah were getting really into the game, especially Sarah who would usually call out for pumpkins that weren't really there.

I picked Bradbury Mountain as the final destination on our Maine leaf peeping tour because it was supposed to have a beautiful mountain view after a short hike and *bonus* a playground for the kids to enjoy.  Unfortunately I didn't realize that the "somewhat steep" hike meant DIRECTLY UP A MOUNTAIN!  Yes, both children were carried practically the whole way up (although "self!" Sarah needed some convincing).

But once we made it to the top (huffing and puffing in my case), we were rewarded with a beautiful view.  It looks like there was a little more color here, though it could just be that the weather was more clear then earlier in the day).

That hike seemed MUCH longer then the .2 miles this sign states!

The kids were both able to manage the hike down and after a quick stop at the playground (it had a medium-height fire pole which Nathan LOVED), we headed out on the 2 hour drive home.  We were all exhausted, especially poor Brian who was already running on low sleep all month due to his CT surgery schedule.  But we had a great time exploring together and I'm glad we went!