Escaping, or, Are You a Man or a Mushroom?

On Monday it was a spectacularly beautiful day. It was about 80 degrees out, bright blue skies, and a pleasant breeze. I was bound and determined to get everyone out of the house and off on an adventure where we could hike and swim in some fresh water. I have still not been able to convince Cesar to go swimming in any of the lakes and ponds to which we have ventured except Walden. As soon as Cesar was finished working, we jumped in the car and headed to Tassle Point State Recreation Area. It is supposedly a "hidden gem" in Maine that has a less-explored beach and nature trail on Lake Sebago, the second largest lake in Maine. When we got there there was a sign that said "Beach closed. Full. Try back later." I guess it is not so hidden anymore. Since we had already gotten ready, psyched up our little explorers, and driven 30 minutes, we decided to venture on to Sebago Lake State Park, about ten minutes away, so we could at least see the big lake and go swimming. When we got there we realized it was incredibly crowded. People populated every inch of the beach. We also discovered that the lake is HUGE! It reminded us of the Great Lakes from our college days. There were sailboats and waves and a sandy bottom. It was a little cold and, although the water was perfectly clear--you could see the bottom--, Cesar did not want to go in because it was brown instead of blue. Sabine dipped her toes in and kicked a bit, but then hung out with Cesar on the beach. In the meantime, Che and I frolicked in the water, swam a bunch, and were befriended by a little boy that decided my knee would be a perfect diving board (for about thirty minutes!), much to his mother's embarrassment. They also had another fabulous playground there (I swear Maine must be the Playground State) so we played on that for awhile before heading home. Che made friends with whomever was near him, adult or child: "Guess what my name is. Che. I am four.", was Che's ice-breaking introduction. Sabine also made lots of friends and insisted on going on all of the various dangerous slides "MYSELF!!!", without any help. She made friends in her typical way-- staring, smiling, and then waving and saying hi constantly. On our ride home Cesar and I both discussed why we did not like swimming in Lake Sebago as much as Walden Pond, even though it was bigger and more ocean-like. The conclusion was it was not pretty like the ocean, which you enjoy driving right up to and jumping in. And it was not an adventure like Walden-- no hike, lots of people, and not hidden in the woods.

On Tuesday we headed to downtown Portland to get soup from Kamasouptra. Their motto is "Hot. Steamy, Soup." Mine was very good-- Roasted Red Pepper and Smoked Gouda, but Cesar's Vegetable Tortilla Soup was not that great. We then went to watch a breakdancer in Post Office Park. Che was very excited about watching it, but then froze up and didn't want to dance with him. When we got home he begged to have music put on so he could practice the new moves he had learned and his facial expressions were hilarious--he obviously was taking it very seriously.

Wednesday we went to Freeport for lunch and then on a hike at Wolfe's Neck State Park. The park was full of pine trees, hemlocks, and other tall trees, plus huge rocks placed by glaciers, and mushrooms of all sizes and colors, and it ran alongside the rocky shore with islands off in the distance on which osprey breed. We felt like we were the only ones there most of the time. A lot of the trees had fallen on the ground and we also noticed that there were holes in many of them. We assumed that woodpeckers had put holes in them, which killed them and made them more susceptible to falling down with heavy wind and rain. We heard, and then spotted, two very large black birds way high up in the trees which we assumed were ospreys. We also found two squirrels stealing mushrooms from each other and then shouting at each other and chasing each other up trees--it reminded us of several Beatrix Potter tales. The most amazing part of the entire hike was Che's desire to be the leader. He has decided that he no longer wants to be a kid. He wants to be an adult and be in charge. He keeps asking when he can have kids and drive the car and make all of the decisions--I told him on Saturday. He brought Sabine's baby along on the hike and zipped her into his jacket like the Baby Bjorn. He walked with her the entire time (100 minutes of hiking!) and whenever he fell he would make sure she was ok. I actually think she cushioned his fall several times preventing more serious injuries. He led the way and would stop to tell us to be quiet so that we could hear the birds chirping and told me to be careful on the rock steps leading to the shore because they were "Nature's steps and were slippery and uneven". He was very mature the entire hike, except when he found rocks to jump off of (which he did several times, screaming "From Infinity and Beyond") and mud puddles to sink his shoes into. Thank goodness he isn't too mature and too much of man already to get muddy and pretend he is a superhero. Cesar carried Sabine in the backpack carrier and towards the end of the hike she was trying to push her way out. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "Escaping." I couldn't believe it. How does she even know that word???!! As we watched Che running 50 feet ahead of us we couldn't help thinking that he was trying to escape as well; escape from my admonitions, "Careful that rock is slippery!", "Watch out for the mud puddle!", and "Don't eat that mushroom!", and in some ways escape from dependence. I suppose our trip this summer and all our excursions are attempts to escape as well...to infinity and beyond!

The whole hike was delightful! We even asked the park ranger on the way out what caused the trees to fall down and found out we were unfairly blaming the birds. The trees fell down because of lightening or died of natural causes and then bugs moved in and that made the birds poke holes in them to eat the bugs.

So after escaping the house three days in a row and going on little mini-adventures we discovered Wednesday evening that we did not even need to leave at all in order to escape our normal lives and experience a little adventure--we saw a family of wild turkeys from our window and a porcupine came right up to our kitchen door!