I am.. Peter MacWhinnie.

Okay, so I am going to try to keep this blog going for the rest of my summer and possibly into next year. I tend to do mildly interesting things during the summer that aren’t around the house, so why not blog about them?

This memorial day weekend my father and I carried out a few ad hoc traditions we’ve had over the last few years. They aren’t really set in stone, it just happens we’ve done the same thing for several years in a row, predictable people we are it seems.

Saturday we climbed Bradbury Mountain. Bradbudy Mt. isn’t really that much of a mountain. On the longest trail it only takes about 40 minutes to get to the top, and 15 on the shortest. I took a lot of pictures on the way up, and we passed several people. Most of them were walking, but low on the trail we did pass a few people who were riding dirtbikes. I have to say, it didn’t look that fun. All those bumps, it would start to hurt after a while. The view from the top was the same as it always is, green, green, lush green. I have tried to get a good picture from the top of Bradbury many, many times and I’ve yet to succeed. There’s so much to take in, and it’s all really far away. You can see several “major” areas including Cousins Island, Bath Iran Works, Freeport Water Tower, what appears to be part of Portland, and even the ocean. Its all in the very far distance though.

After taking pictures at the top, we took an easy path down. The path was not very well maintained. Several of the foot bridges were rotted out, so I am quite glad that things weren’t wet. At the bottom we went back to the car and drove home.

We didn’t really do anything Sunday. It rained a bit, was cold, and I was sick. The sun came out in the evening and I went for a walk up the road. I managed to make myself sick and walking home was incredibly difficult. That night Dad had a concert and Ellen came over for supper. She helped me with my short story paper.

On Monday, that is at this time today, we went to Fort Pompom. We’ve gone to Fort Pompom at various times for several years, so I can’t say it was a very unique visit. Fort Pompom is about 1 hour and 45 minutes away, so we left in the late morning. Along the way we stopped at Amatos to get Italians (sandwiches). They make by far the best Italians ever. We continued on our way and after another 30 minutes were at Fort Pompom.

It was packed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many people at Fort Pompom. There wasn’t a place to park. Everyone was picnicing and on the beach. It was amusing that so many people were there, because Fort Pompom state park was just up the road, and it was dead. (It should be noted that its free to get into Fort Pompom.)

As there was no parking at Fort Pompom, we went back up the road and over to Fort Baldwin. Fort Baldwin is literally right next to Fort Pompom, and is considerably newer. Fort Baldwin is sort of unique. It is built a hill and at the bottom are the parade grounds, and the parking lot. We had lunch under a tree at the parade grounds, and I started taking pictures there.

We climbed up the hill that Fort Baldwin is built into, and I took many pictures along the way. At the top of the hill is a three story lookout tower. Unfortunately the tower has been closed off. I am not sure if its permanent, but its quite a shame if it is. The view from the top of the tower is amazing, but alas I could not get any pictures.

After finding out we couldn’t get up the tower, we took a backwoods path back down from it. The path went on, and on, and on, and on. I took several pictures along the way and the bugs were all around us for most of the walk. Despite the walk being a bit long it was nice. (Although perhaps I would have enjoyed it a bit more if I didn’t have to use the bathroom.)

After getting to the end of the path, we discovered we were a few miles up the road from the Fort. The walk back on the side of the road wasn’t that long, and soon we were back to the car. We then departed.

On the way back from the Fort, we stopped at Burger King and got shakes (and I used the bathroom). Now we’re back, and going to have supper soon.

I wonder if I’ll be able to keep this travelog up-to-date all summer. Will be interesting to see if I do.