And I have the bug bites (and the pictures) to prove it.

Thanks to my aunt and her abundance of Macbook power cords, I am back online. WOOT! Never fear, I am not going to be slave to my computer while on vacation; I have been reveling in the break from technology, and I plan to make the most of this time away. But I did want to quick post a few pictures of our hike yesterday because they are, if I do say so myself, quite breathtaking.

I’m not exactly an outdoorsy girl. Frankly, I’d rather be inside the lake house with a mug of coffee and a good book, but every once in a while my husband and my son manage to convince me to join them on one of their shorter and less taxing hikes.

Yesterday we hiked to the top of Bald Mountain in Dedham, Maine. This picture was intended to show how steep the trail was, but as is often the case with pictures (and with amateur photographers) it’s hard to capture that. Suffice it to say, it was steep.

Here is the view from where I was standing.

Thankfully, it was also fairly short. In less than 20 minutes, we bounded up the mountain. Or, rather, we bounded a bit and stopped for water, bounded some more and stopped to rest, bounded a bit more and took a few pictures… you get the drift.

By the time we got to the top there was more huffing and puffing than bounding, but we more than made up for our leisurely ascent when we tore back down the mountain a half hour later.

I wore my Keens rather than my Vibrams but I may try hiking in the Vibrams next time because although I’ve been running without knee problems, hiking was taking a toll on my ailing joints. I feel fine today, though, and I can’t wait to get outside for my morning jog.

Here is the view from the top. That’s one of our favorite dining destinations in the distance — the Lucerne Inn, with Phillips Lake behind it.

And another angle.

I’m not quite sure what it is overlooking, but isn’t it gorgeous? I found myself wishing I’d brought my Kindle and a picnic lunch. I could have stayed up there for hours. But we were without sustenance or reading material, and did I mention it was about 90 degrees?

So we decided to head home for lunch.

The end.