Tues 31 Aug

Gotta walk to the library again today to renew my library card. Who knew it expires? The librarian told me it needs to renew every 4 years, but I don't ever remember having to renew it before. All I need to do is show them my ID and it should be done for another 4 years, so it's not really that much of a bother. If I regularly carried my ID, I could have taken care of it when I picked up my book yesterday. Food: 7:55 am 2 slices Costco butter cinnamon pound cake, 104 g blackberries, coffee

Mon 30 Aug

Back home from a wonderful vacation! Safe and reasonably comfortable travels in our little Prius C with good gas mileage thrown in the bargain. Sufficient room for all our stuff and enough for a Costco run on the return trip. All the Hotwire hotels were satisfactory, a cut above what cheap hotels used to be. Had a really good oatmeal/eggs/sausage/pancakes breakfast at Tru in Elkhart, IN where I had my first exposure to a countertop machine that made the pancakes to order on a little conveyor belt. The breakfast bar attendant said people have been videoing the machine ever since they got it. Lots of good hikes in Acadia and in Vermont, but this will go on record as the sweatiest vacation ever! Temperatures weren't too high til it reached 90° the last couple of days in Vermont, but the humidity must have been in the upper 90s most every day. As soon as you reached even a slight uphill or challenging hiking surface, you'd start sweating and never stop. I would spend all day with my underneath layer soggy with sweat. The merino shirt kept it from irritating my skin, but I could feel it was wet if I touched it, and my cotton underwear never dried out all day. Food: 7:55 am Cinnamon roll, 103 g blackberries, coffee

Sat 14 Aug

Today's the day! We head out on a road trip for the first time in a long time. I think we are quite well-prepared, but I'll find out what I've forgotten as we go. Since we'll be stateside in pretty well settled areas the whole time, it shouldn't be too difficult to replace any forgotten items.

Fri 13 Aug

Sunny, temps of 58°, humidity is still 89% but supposed to fall and remain lower over the next few days. Feels wonderful at the moment. Today is the day to finish laundry, start putting things into the car, deliver John's raffle prize to Michelle, two gym classes - busy day. Food: 7:55 am Honey bear, 75 g blackberries, coffee

Thurs 12 Aug

Humidity is slightly lower this morning at 85%, and it's gone down a couple of points since I first looked. Doesn't feel as oppressive. Nice. Food: 7:55 am Chocolate croissant, 77 g blackberries, coffee

Wed 11 Aug

Once again we start the day with very high humidity, 96% today. It will be nice when that drops back into tolerable ranges. Making slow, steady progress on trip prep, but could stand to kick it up a notch today. Food: 7:50 am Cheese danish, 77 g blackberries, coffee

Tues 10 Aug

High humidity again today, at least I think 99% is pretty high. Hope it decreases some through the day. I plan to wash my merino today and hopefully finish cleaning out the car. Food: 8:15 am Chocolate pecan pinwheel, 101 g blackberries, coffee

Mon 9 Aug

Michael and Taylor came over for dinner last night and brought a faux Olive Garder Tuscano soup that was quite delicious. I cut up the orangedew melon and mixed with some of the organic blueberries and mint. Bob is helping Michael put in the bathroom floor so it seemed good to eat together when they were ready to break. I had originally suggested getting Ski's brats, but Taylor had already started the soup. Food: 7:50 am Blueberry coffee cake, 101 g blackberries, coffee

Sun 8 Aug

Rain. Much rain. We drove to Madison yesterday through a couple of real downpours and quite a bit of regular rain. It held off while we were moving around outside. We were able to eat outdoors at Daisy Cafe with Laura because they had umbrellas over the tables and we were under a fairly large tree. Had a nice visit and picked up a few things from the stores. Food: 8:00 am Kouign amann, 101 g blackberries, coffee

Sat 7 Aug

Made it to the Farmer's Market and back without getting rained on, but it felt close. Got a full complement of pastries for the week. After breakfast, we'll drive down to Madison for lunch with Laura and restocking what we need for the week. Don't think we need much for travel, but it doesn't hurt to look. Food: 8:40 am Antwerp square mixed berry, 62 g blackberries, coffee

Fri 6 Aug

Having a "don' wannna wake up!" day today. Doesn't happen often fortunately cos' it's hard to shake. Temp is 67° but humidity is at 94% at the moment, not good. Food: 7:55 am Honey bear, 70 g blackberries, coffee

Thurs 5 Aug

Hazy and 66° this morning. We are getting residual smoke from Canadian wildfires, messing with the air quality. Food: 7:55 am Chocolate croissant, 101 g blackberries, coffee

Wed 4 Aug

Had a really nice dinner at El Mexcal on the patio after hiking Schmeeckle last night. Margaritas and enchiladas rancheras. Yum! Got my toiletries for the trip sorted and went through all the bags at the end of the upstairs hall to get rid of things that were mostly used up or too old and sort the items into bags by category for later use. Food: 7:55 am Apricot danish, 101 g blackberries, coffee

Tues 3 Aug

Weather has been remaining less hot and somewhat less humid. Walks were just in the neighborhood or to the library yesterday as Bob didn't feel like going to Schmeeckle yesterday evening and I already had my daily quota. We did go to Target to get a couple of travel items. I stopped at TJ Maxx after Pilates and found a really nice little organizer to use in the car. It is actually designed to go in a larger purse to keep items that may only be needed daytime or evening so the purse can be used at both times without carrying excess items, but it will work well to separate and hold a number of small items that may be useful in the car. Food: 8:00 am Chocolate pecan snail, 101 g blackberries, coffee

Mon 2 Aug

Sunny and 58°, feels like a pleasant day. Yesterday was delightful, but both Bob and I were really tired. Might have been a reaction to the longer hike, partially in the rain, on Saturday. Who knows? We just did a Schmeeckle hike instead of something more intense since we both lacked energy. Food: 8:00 am Apricot danish, 101 g blackberries, coffee

Sun 1 Aug

Wow, August already! Added the travel directions to the trip itinerary yesterday and looked at some activity options with Bob. Ordered a waterproof topo map of trails in Acadia which should arrive on Tuesday. Getting more excited now that it is approaching. Had a good hike at the Ice Age segment near Aniwa, but got caught in a substantial rain (with thunder and distant lightning) in about the last quarter of the hike so we were quite wet. Haven't done that for awhile, and since it wasn't cold, it wasn't a problem. Food: 8:05 am Caramel chocolate pecan roll, 101 g blackberries, coffee