a hike, a real hike

A few years ago, many years ago, B.C. (before children) in fact, Sandi and I found ourselves hiking the charming Blue Hill, a sweet little mountain with big views.  We went up one side and down the other only to be stunned, I mean completely blown away, by the magestic lupine field in blooming spelendor at the bottom of the opposite side. 

 

The lupines are a wild flower (apparently non-native to Maine but as iconic of Maine as red lobster) that blooms in early June for about two weeks.  If you come to this hillside any other time of the summer, you wouldn't even know it was home to so many wild lupines.  That day all those years ago when the woods trail we were on opened to a blooming lupine field, we knew how lucky we were to see it.

 

Nearly every June since I have wanted to go back to Blue Hill to see the lupines.  A few times I even put it on my calender months in advance only to have the weekends of early June eaten up by something else.  But last week I mentioned it to Sandi and this past Sunday found us in a lupine field.

 Because Blue Hill is on the coast, their lupines are a bit behind ours.  I would say the field was in maybe 70% bloom.  And even given that, there seemed to be numerous plants that weren't blooming at all.  It wasn't the carpet of indigo I remember but it was lucious and wonderful just the same.



 

 

 

Maya had this butterfly (moth?) land on her hand and she was rivited.  She struggled to move ahead with any semblence of forward progress as she didn't want to distrubt the butterfly.  We would say, "Okay, Maya, let's keep moving up the hill!" and she would say, "I'm coming..." whilst moving millimeter-length steps and looking like she was trying not to detonate a bomb. 

 

 

Sandi and I did a lot of hiking and backpacking B.C.  It has been one of the things we have truly missed during the many year gestation of our young family.  And here we were, finally, hiking as a family on a Sunday afternoon, everyone on their own feet and of their own steam. Sure there was a little bit of  "are we there yet?" but the dangling carrot of Subway sandwiches and Smartfood popcorn to be eaten at the top kept them moving.

 

Ella collected this little bundle of fallen wildflowers in the field and then at every puddle we found, she would stop and place them in the water to drink.

 

 

 

 

 

A mountain peak is like no other place anywhere.  I am more at home on top of a mountain than I am anywhere. And it is an even more special place to share with your beloveds.   It is also a perfect way to celebrate the growth and transformation of little children into bigger ones.  It makes me less sad and more excited for all the adventures to come.