Last day of March today. Feel like the end of winter has been a long time coming--- despite the fact that we have had it pretty easy weather wise. Nonetheless it still has been a completely mentally draining one. But things are on the up and up.
Ellery and I took a roadtrip down South March 19-26th. It took us about 2 days to get down there, and 3 days to get back....and amazingly we didn't kill each other in the car! Which if you knew how I act on long road trips you would find this to be some sort of miracle. (I have a tendency to bite, sing annoying loud songs, and ask several times if we are ever going to be there---pretty much I act like a small child.) But I held myself together- slept a lot and read while Ellery drove a great majority of the day.
We stopped in Virginia on the first real night of our drive (we stayed with Ellery's parents in Mass as a pit stop the night before) and stayed with our good friend Jack and his family. After 12 hours of riding in the car we were treated to immediately being thrown into shooting rifles and hand guns. I am not kidding on this...I was not, not allowed to shoot a gun. Mildly horrifying....but typical Jack. Plus it is very amusing looking back on. We also ate an amazing dinner, and then obviously followed it up with a fireworks show (what else?!).
Back on the road at 5am--- we started getting really excited to see green grass and brightly flowered trees. My brain didn't know how to react to all the color. It was like living in black and white for several months and then being thrown into a beautiful painting of sorts. Instantaneous mood lifter.
We made it into Georgia by lunch time--- where our stomachs immediately took over (this is always the case with me)--- we hit up a local lunch spot in the strangest little town of Darien. Where I had my first glass of Sweet Tea. Now I have probably one of the worlds largest sweet tooth's...but this was almost too much for me. They must have supersaturated the sugar in the water (thanks science classes at UNH!). I had one glass and felt like I could run circles around the table...actually i jumped up and down a bit but Ellery who was grumpy from the ride said to sit down...
We found some shrimp at a stand across from the restaurant. This big southern dude was selling them out of a cooler. I told him that our shrimp in Maine were much smaller-- and he mumbled that ours were like krill. But after tasting them later that night- I decided that Maine shrimp are 100000X more tasty. I do not like theirs at all!
After a few errands--- Ellery and I finally picked up our boat from a guy named Bubba (i think everyone is named Bubba down south)....and we cruised over to our island oasis.
The ride alone was amazing--- we saw bottlenosed dolphins, egrets, pelicans and a billion other birds. We went in and out of these amazing canals-- and we finally reached out cottage. I could not have been more happy with it. Right on the canal- had a great porch and boat house. We were in love.
It's possible that I have never been as relaxed- or seen Ellery so relaxed as we were for the few days we were there. We learned the art of doing nothing- or very little. We would wake up, take our time drinking coffee--- I would go for a walk and Ellery would tinker with the electric skiff. Later on we would pack a cooler and take off for a cruise somewhere--- mostly we went to this deserted beach--- only us and the birds, oh and the bottle-nose dolphins close to the shore.
At night we would have a couple adult beverages and sit and watch the sunset (until the bugs became so bad that we feared we would be dragged off by no-see-ums (which by the way you can totally see.). Or we would take the electric skiff out for a cruise through the canals with a gin and tonic in tow. Beautiful and so quiet.
We took a side trip to Savannah one day, and on our way back we stopped in Charleston, SC. But nothing can compare to the beautiful island we were on. I never wanted to leave.
However it was a long way home--- and we broke it up in a few days in order to see our new nephew in DC. Which was worth it.
I am very sad to be back in Maine. It's like we went back in time--- slowly the green grass faded to sparse patches...and the flowering trees became non existant. 2 days ago it snowed here. But alas I see signs of life: crocus's, my tulips are popping up... and April 9th we get some new baby chicks:) I am excited to have had the adventure of traveling South--- but I am also happy to have a whole summer ahead in Maine. The only place to be as far as I am concerned from May-October.
