Del Sol

We've been here for three weeks, so I figured I should probably put up some pictures of Del Sol. If you were to walk into Del Sol Bar Harbor today, you would see Chris with his brilliant smile waiting to greet you.


After a bright hello, I would give you a fantastic demonstration of our color-changing products.
Indoors, away from the sun, this fairy shirt has no color in its print (seen on the right). But while walking under the UV rays of the giant fireball in the sky, the fairy bursts into color (seen on the left). Of course, you would be so enthralled with the product that you would buy two t-shirts (and get a free tote bag), 3 nailpolishes (and get one free), a set of Sol Pearls for only $69, and probably some solar slime for the kids. Great deal!!

Here's Chris in action. He had no idea I took this picture, don't tell!

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Islands and Beehives

We’ve now had lobster twice since we’ve been in Maine.  We just can’t stay away from the seafood. On Sunday we walked across a sand bar during low tide to get to Bar Island.

We walked along the coast of the tiny island looking for treasures, which consisted of rusted metal objects and broken lobster pots.  

Behind me in this picture is the main strip of Bar Harbor.

On our way back on the sand bar, Chris picked some mussels so we could have fresh seafood.  It sure beats paying $1.50 a pound!

Okay, so I know it’s really random, but a few days ago a man came into the store and we found out he’s a beehive keeper.  Who knew that was even a profession?  Anyways, he talked to Chris for an hour and gave him a crash course on traveling across the country with his bees pollinating people’s fields.  He’s been in Milbridge, Maine for the past month pollinating massive wild blueberry fields.  So naturally, we made the trip up to see Eric and his bees.

We toured the wild blueberry fields in his work truck for over an hour.  This entire field is covered in billions of tiny blueberries just recently pollinated.

And man, did we see bees.  Each of these stacked boxes holds a beehive and its queen.  Eric, with his thick South Carolina accent, talked a mile a minute about the beloved creatures.  Did you know that the male bee mates once with his queen and then dies? Yikes.  

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Lobsters, Trees and Ocean

The five hour drive from MA to Bar Harbor was nothing for us. The unpacking was fairly easy compared to all the packing we had done just a week before. We were sure to eat lobster immediately, and even Dexter joined the fun. (He didn’t know that you aren’t supposed to eat their faces.)

We gave ourselves a tour of Mount Desert Island to see what it’s all about. Here is the top of Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the East Coast.

Here is Sand Beach. The only beach with a stretch of sand along the shore, the water here never exceeds the 50’s. Yikes!

Bar Harbor is full of rocky shorelines…

antique lighthouses...

quaint homes peaking from the trees...

and crowded lobster pounds.
In general: it's good.

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Moving

We packed our lives and everything we own into the Explorer and our trailer, and said goodbye to Malley, our friends, and the life we knew in Rexburg, Idaho.  We spent the week in Utah with the Ropers at Jessica’s aunt’s horse ranch.  So naturally, we took a ride on Rocket.

After a week of horses, Utah salt flats, Del Sol training, and the Kennecott Copper Mine we left Morgan, Utah at 4:30 in the morning to begin our ridiculously long drive.  

We made it to Wyoming to watch the sunrise.  It seemed like forever to get across the massive state, but at least the landscape was really pretty.

As for the state of Nebraska, we’ll give that a big old B-O-R-I-N-G.  Here’s our packed car with Nebraska behind it.  We drove about 9 hours with nothing but flatness in all directions.

We slept in the car in Illinois that first night (for about 3 hours).  Here we are crossing the Mississippi River.

The second day felt longer than the first.  We were so close and yet so far.  But the stinkier and sleepier we became, the closer and closer we were to home.  We slept in Pennsylvania the second night, and arrived in MA by noon the next day.  Yay!

What a welcoming sign this was.  We are so relieved to have the ride complete with no accidents or problems.

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Yellowstone

For one last day trip in Idaho, we went to Yellowstone National Park with Malley and Chris Black.  We saw Bison and their babies from a distance..

and some we saw from much too close.  This little guy was walking down the road right next to our car.
We walked the boardwalks through the thermal pools and geysers...

and watched Old Faithful faithfully burst.

We stood above the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and ooh-ed and aah-ed over its majestic view.

After one last much too long walk over steaming holes in the ground and vibrantly colored boiling water, we called it a day and headed home.  

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Look at that Chrome

We cherished our Honda Shadow for its beauty and its smooth ride. When we sold it a few months ago it felt like we were abandoning our family dog.

So we bought an sv 650 to fill the void. Okay, so we're not really bullet-bike people but we bought it at a fantastic price and made some money on it when we turned around to sell it a couple weeks later. So we're back to being bike-less. But knowing Chris, we'll own another sometime soon.

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Trenton's Wedding

This weekend we, along with a bunch of friends, drove down to Salt Lake City for Chris' old roommate's wedding.  The Salt Lake temple grounds are absolutely beautiful.

Here are the boys waiting for the wedding.  I told them to strike a "looking away" pose, so they all stared at a naked cherub mounted on the wall.  Nice.

(In case you were wondering: Colt, Chris Black, my Chris, and Cory Black)

Trenton looked so happy and his new wife was radiant.  Here's the clan:  Chris Black, us, Trenton & Kathryn, Colt & Sally, Brian & Brittany.  Seems like all of Chris' roommates are jumping on the marriage bandwagon!

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