Explore More

Two words… a whole lot of meaning.

Explore. More.

I came across this on a shirt in a random shop in the township of South Harbor, Acadia National Park, Maine. Explore More. The shirt design caught my eye as I was browsing this friendly shopkeeper’s store – She’s originally from New Zealand! How amazing is that? She even knew what I was talking about for Penny Press machines. (Sorry AP, I didn’t remember to hunt them out on the website – Whoops!)

Explore. More.

Two words that spoke to my soul. It sparked a fire in me and I will hold on to that dearly. I didn’t make it through the bigger island of Acadia National Park this past weekend. My “Explore More” attitude only works SO much in the rain, fog, and the “no dogs please” that we encountered. Despite being do friendly historically – we did not experience the dog friendly. More the “you can leave your dog in the car” mentality.

Okay, thank you, but no thank you.

When we got back to camp we took a nap, riding out another passing rain storm. But for a few short minutes we enjoyed some sunshine in the late afternoon. I even tried to get the paddle board inflating. *Note to self: Air mattress pumps will not inflate a 9’5″ inflatable SUP board. Should have brought the hand pump to finish ‘er off. We even tested the partially inflated board on the water. Nope. Definitely not Adventuring on that sucker. The water was absolutely FREEZING. But I should have let Hazel enjoy the water some more. I was just short sighted on that adventure.

So back to camp we went. Mind you, while we spent a large majority of our time in the campground, we did still venture out. We checked out the campgrounds dog park. Went to see the lighthouse – the fog was SO bad you couldn’t see past the ledge. Epic fail. Since the rain and fog were our companions for the day we opted to drive around the smaller island to check it out. I didn’t check out the large portions of Acadia National Park as I hoped to. But I was definitely discouraged with the bad weather. I hate wet feet. And I no longer own great rainy weather hiking boots. Although this weekend I would have settled for my rain boots that were left at home… packed away.

Nicely done. Whoops.

Explore More.

My explorations took me throughout New England this weekend. While I may not have “lived it up” as others would have. I’m not the others. I’m just me. We walked through parks, checked out lighthouses, avoided crowds, and enjoyed the sunshine while it lasted.

Also, anyone have pointers are campfires that wont stay lit despite enough “air”. I’m blaming the moisture in the air, and wet wood. I also learned that I have ZERO idea how to setup tarps for camping in the rain. But come next camping trip.. we may abort mission if it’s forecasted to rain… because my cleanup injuries from tent camping in the rain were no laughing (well maybe some laughing by others during retell) matter.

But maybe that was my lesson from this weekend. Be grateful to be alive. . . Because I definitely could have died in the woods with no one to protect my baby girl. But my neck didn’t break and I’m home with my four leggers.

Happy Travels!

Nattie & Hazel Nut