October 7, 2023 - Lake Kezar, Maine - Fort Collins, Colorado

Wendy, Lydia, and I had an early morning wake-up call - about 5:15 am! We needed to return our car to the Boston airport by 10:00am and it's about a 3-1/2 hour drive from Sue's place in Maine. No problem - we were loaded and on the road a little before 6:00am. It was DARK, DARK, DARK - and raining as we left. Fortunately, there was very little traffic on the roads which were 2-lane and winding for our first hour. We got onto I-95 when we got to Gray, Maine and made our way through Maine, New Hamshire and into Massachusetts with sprinkles off and on. We made good time and managed to stop for breakfast and gas along the way and still pulled into the rental car return about 9:45. Good timing!

The other women were flying back from Portland, Maine and had most of the day to spend with Sue before their flight at 6:00pm!

Wendy and I flew back to Colorado and Lydia went on to Washington, D.C. to meet family and friends for a wedding. After touching down in Denver, we gathered our bags, got the car, and were back in Fort Collins and I was home by 5:00 pm.

It was a great trip and while Stephen King didn't come to our book club meeting in person, we listened to a couple of his interviews online after discussing our book. 

  I think we need to make this an annual event!

October 6, 2023 - Lake Kezar, Maine

We decided to take a short drive today to see the colors and make a short detour into New Hampshire so a couple of the women could check that state off their visited list. You would never know you were in Maine if you came upon this road sign!


It was foggy and misting for the first part of the day, but the colors were still pretty.


One of our first stops was the Sunday River Bridge in Newry, Maine.


Built in 1872, the bridge which is about four miles northwest of North Bethel, has the reputation of being the most photographed and painted covered bridge in Maine. The 87-foot Paddleford Truss bridge was closed to traffic in 1958 when a new bridge was built downstream. I had no idea what a Paddleford Truss bridge is, but it has to do with the way with the posts and counterbraces are aligned. It was also fun to see since Sue's daughter got married on this bridge!

Here are more views as we wandered along through eastern New Hampshire and back into Maine.







We stopped in Stow, Maine for lunch. Who would have guessed what a HUGE and varied menu they would have. I had a Thai chicken soup filled with veggies and dumplings ... and homemade bread! Others had Pad Thai, chili, Reuben sandwiches, and mac-and-cheese and everything was delicious!





Back at Sue's "camp" (house) we relaxed, read, and Sue's sister, Lynn, came over and we played games and cards. Dinner tonight is homemade pizza.



It has been a great week with beautiful scenery and wonderful memories with great friends.

October 5, 2023 - Lake Kezar, Maine

This morning was foggy, foggy, foggy, and humid, but Wendy, Kathy, and I took a short walk anyway. You can see the moisture just hanging on the plants!

Kathy and Wendy

The colors are still changing in the trees.

Back at the house, Lori, Jaye, and Sue were busy putting together a puzzle. I love it - it was all book covers for children's books. We had fun trying to decide which book was our favorite!

Sue also built a fire in the fireplace because it was chilly and we sat and read - or napped - until lunch! This afternoon she took Lydia, Lori, Wendy, and I out in the boat for a tour of the lake. Because it had been so chilly all morning, we all bundled up, but were soon shedding layers!

Suki enjoyed the ride, too!

The mountains were still socked in with fog even though much of the sky had cleared.

Many of the trees along the lake were starting to change colors.

We were lucky to spot four loons as we were motoring along.

The author, Steven King has a couple (or more) houses on the lake. A couple of them are really tucked into the trees and were hard to see, but we did catch a glimpse of one that is on the east side. It's pretty private, as well!

Lori got her turn driving the boat on the way back to Sue's house. She did a good job!

After we got back to the house some of us decided to walk to the lookout tower which is actually on a neighbor's property. It was actually up quite a large hill but we managed to make it to the top.

We spotted some cool mushrooms along the road.

Then it was up the steps to the lookout - and what a great view of the lake we had!

They even had six nice rocking chairs for us to relax in and enjoy the view!

These flowers were called toad lilies. They were on huge bushes. 

We got back to the house about 5:30 and it was Wendy's and my turn to cook dinner. We made baked sweet potatoes with cinnamon and brown sugar, grilled haddock, green beans and a large salad and fresh baked rolls. It turned out pretty good and no one went away hungry!

This would normally be our book club night, but Stephen King didn't show up for the discussion so we will wait until tomorrow to see if he shows!! Instead, we played some fun card games before turning in. It's hard to believe we only have one more day before we head back to Colorado!

October 4, 2023 - Lake Kezar, Maine

Who knew how quiet it can be until you sleep in a cabin on a lake in the woods in Maine? It is SOOOO quiet you could hear the loons calling in the middle of the night and it was awesome. This morning we slept in and enjoyed sitting out in the screened porch which surrounds two sides of Sue's house.

Around 11:30, Wendy, Lydia and I decided to go for a hike at Sabattus Mountain which was about a 15 minute drive from here. The weather is amazing - it got to 82 today! Starting up the trail was actually fairly steep, but we took our time and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Lydia and I used to teach together and it was great fun hiking with her for the first time!

Wendy is the hiking expert!

Who is missing in this picture? Tobey!!! I miss you!

The colors are changing more every day.

It was cool to see all of the moss on the ground as we made our way down the mountain.

As we were enjoying the view, another couple came to the top and asked where we three sisters were from! We chuckled because from the back we all had the same hair color so we had them take our picture!

We went by the Pleasant Mountain ski area and they were nice enough to have a pulloff on the road so we could snap a picture.

After the hike, we went to Bridgton to shop at the Corn Shop. What a cute shop with LOADS of Maine souvenirs! We all got a little something before heading back to Sue's.

We had fresh lobster for dinner tonight which Sue cooked for us - nine live lobsters into the pot to steam. Sue's sister, Lynn, joined us and helped guide us in the proper way to break the lobsters apart and get the meat out.

We also took time to get a group photo of the seven book club members that made the trip to Maine.

As the sun went down, Sue lit the fire and we enjoyed sitting outside sharing stories and looking at the stars before coming in to play some card games and share lots of laughs. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be beautiful again so we are planning to spend some time on the lake, so until then, goodnight!