Finding a Different Path: Vacation Firsts

We came back from our vacation in Vermont and Maine, and it was glorious! There were absolutely zero isolated cabins on islands you have to canoe to that have no electricity. We did familiar things, but also experienced a few firsts.

First #1:

We went out on a sailboat! It was a sailboat tour, so we didn't actually have to do anything. No rope pulling or boom-swinging.

This is a big deal because I am terrified of sailboats. We had originally booked a tour on a bigger boat that went out to the outer islands of Boothbay Harbor, but that boat needed repairs and so it was cancelled. So we had a choice between a mailboat for an hour that went to Squirrel Island and back, or the Bay Lady sloop for 1.5 hours that tooled around the bay, not quite in open ocean. Fun fact that we learned on the ghost walk tour, which was delightfully kitschy: most tours will tell you Squirrel Island is named because it is shaped like a squirrel holding a nut to munch on, but ACTUALLY, it is named after the ship The Squirrel that disastrously wrecked upon its shores. That's not why I didn't want to do the mailboat, though. It was more that a one hour ferry trip sounded kind of boring.

What I didn't realize is that the word "sloop" means it's a SMALL boat. Like, a 12 person sailboat that's 31 feet long. That sounded terrifying. I have been on a sailboat only one other time, in the Long Island Sound when I was maybe 8, and I remember feeling like we were totally sideways in the water and I was going to die. Or it was a speedboat and I am misremembering, but I did associate doom with sailboats. Additionally, see sailboat disasters in Sleeping With the Enemy and the very upsetting White Squall. Although in Sleeping With the Enemy the sailboat disaster is also an escape hatch of sorts, the idea of tipping over into the sea wasn't exactly part of my vacation dreams. Oh! And Dead Calm, although the sailboat in that one isn't so much the problem as is the the weird water hitchhiker dude.

Anyway, I was scared but I booked it anyway. I can do things that scare me!

I did feel loads better when the captain (if that's what you call the head sailor guy at the wheel) said that the keel was 500 pounds or something, and so there was no way we would tip over. Tilt, yes, but we wouldn't flip. With that said, I thoroughly enjoyed every tilt and bouncy wake that we hit. It was delightful!

First #2:

The ENTIRE time we were away, not one person asked us if we had kids. Not. One. We stay at an inn in Boothbay Harbor, and breakfast is very bed-and-breakfast-y. Which can be delightful when you meet fun new people, and painful when you meet people that you wouldn't necessarily choose to hang out with (that happened a lot last year). This year, it was a lot of older couples or families, and some talked about their children in passing, but NO ONE asked us if we had kids. It was AMAZING!

I can't tell if this is people realizing that asking people if they have kids is a mixed bag, or we've reached an age where kids aren't central to your daily existence so it's not like when people had toddlers or school-age children and it's literally EVERYTHING everyone talks about. Or maybe we're also looking older ourselves and that has something to do with it? We had 4 breakfasts there, and only one was just us because everyone else was an early bird. Lots of opportunities for the dreaded question. Not to mention dinners out, and when we were in Vermont (also an inn, but less B&B-y...you get your own table at breakfast). I sure hope this is the wave of the future!

It was a delightful vacation, lots of reading and walking (good job, new knees!), visiting new spaces and activities, and truly relaxing. Here are a few more pictures -- it was sunny (but HOT) and just gorgeous.