As Hurricane Joaquin has been threatening Beatitude in Annapolis, we’ve been in Portland, Maine, where I’ve been working in the Southern Maine Medical Center emergency department. Thankfully, it now looks like Joaquin will head out to sea and leave our vessel alone.

This past Saturday we flew from Baltimore to Portland to spend ten days while I replenish the coffers for further cruising. The night before we flew out, we spent the evening at the Ram’s Head Tavern On Stage, enjoying the quirky, yet entertaining music of Livingston Taylor, the less-famous brother of the very famous James Taylor. It is remarkable how much alike they are.

I worked the first four days we were in Maine, including on my 57th birthday. Cindy was sweet enough to come with me on this trip just so I wouldn’t be alone on my birthday. When I returned from work at 11:30 p.m. on September 27th, she had placed balloons and signs all over the hotel room door and inside the room to help me celebrate my birthday the next day.

Yesterday, I enjoyed my first day off. And, what a wonderful day it was! Cindy and I decided to do our own, single-day, fall colors tour. Three years ago this month, we visited Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine for the first time on a bus tour to see the fall colors. This time our mode of transportation was rental car. We left around 8:30 in the morning and headed for the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The drive through the back roads and small towns of southern Maine was beautiful. Once past Conway, NH, we made our way across the Kancamagus Highway, a 32-mile stretch which cuts through the heart of scenic and mountainous White Mountain National Forest. The fall colors were not yet at their peak, but the vistas were still gorgeous. We gazed on lovely mountain streams and waterfalls populated with brilliant flashes of purple, red, orange, yellow and green. Cindy loves the fall colors more than just about anything else in nature. She was nearly in tears for most of the day. What follows are (a lot of) photos of our trip through the White Mountains. Enjoy God’s artistry:

After having some great burgers at the Black Mountain Burger in Lincoln we decided to continue the fall sight-seeing in a big loop. We continued northward on I-93 through Francona Notch State Park, before making our way back to Conway on Route 302, passing below the 6,288 foot peak of Mount Washington. The scenery was breathtaking.

Before returning to our hotel, we had dinner in Waterboro, Maine at the cutest diner called “Blast from the Past” (also the name of one of one of our favorite movies starring Brendan Fraser) which served excellent food (especially the country fried steak!) in an immaculate diner right out of the 1950s.

We are halfway through our week and a half in Maine. On Wednesday of next week we’ll fly back to Beatitude. Our plan is to hang out at the boat show in Annapolis for a couple of days before quickly making our way south. The islands are calling!