Bangor…Brrrr (and a very dead moose)

Jill's Journal: It was a long day beset with some minor travel difficulties, but we finally arrived at our furthest destination north this season: Bangor, Maine. The drive north through this exquisite state is beautiful.

Two things I must share from today:

First, we were stopped for 15 minutes in a random parking lot off the freeway this afternoon. Of all things, what pulled up and parked next to us? A small group of hunters hauling a very large and very dead bull moose with massive antlers on a flat-bed trailer. Our children, of course, noticed very quickly. The oldest and the youngest were intrigued and I think our scientific-leaning oldest would have especially loved to examine the bullet wounds close-up, but we were all distracted by the middle child. It turns out she doesn’t just have a soft spot for lobsters. She was devastated for the moose and cried such sad tears that it brought tears to my eyes for her. She exclaimed over and over, “You shouldn’t kill nature!” And she raised her voice in the hunters’ direction as if she was directly telling those men off – we believe she was, which made me glad for the loud diesel engine that kept her voice from carrying. I finally calmed her down by telling her people do hunt for meat, but I promised we wouldn’t. Poor, poor child. Sigh…

Second, it’s a bit chilly! Someone told Rob today there’s about two weeks in August where Maine’s weather is perfect and anyone who visits during that time proclaims they’re moving to Maine. The other 50 weeks of the year, it’s reeeeeeeeally cold.