T Minus 8 Days and Counting

In the final weeks leading up to the Maine Fall Fling I have had some awesome developments.  I have secured lodging for the first night of the trip: a campsite in Acadia National Park (did you know that Maine has a fjord?!  It's true.  Somes Sound fits the description...and I'm going to see it).  I've also found a spot for later in the trip (I'm intentionally keeping this leg of the journey a bit more fluid).  Herring Cove Provincial Park (actually in Canada--not sure if it's New Brunswick or Novia Scotia, but up there.  And actually, it's in the Atlantic.) closes this coming Saturday.  But the lovely woman I spoke with told me I could stay there anyway, and that she would try to arrange for a fire pit and some fire wood to be left for me.  And the best part?  Chances are good that I'll be the only one in the whole park.  How awesome is that?
Other things seemed promising, but did not materialize.  Machias Seal Island is the summer nesting ground for Atlantic Puffins...but they're already long gone.  I was so excited to see a puffin, but alas, for this trip it is not to be.  I'm starting to feel like this is a place I might like to visit again in the future, though, so I'm tucking it away for later.

The Herring Cove campsite got me thinking: could this be the north-eastern-most extreme I've traveled to in the United States?  So I looked it up.  Eastern: yes; Northern: not even close.  So I charted out my travels to America's perimeter and this is what I've found.
Farthest North (in ascending order):
Calais, ME: 45.1889 degrees N
Duluth, MN: 46.7833 degrees N
and the winner...
Seattle, WA: 47.6097 degrees N
(If I include international travels the list continues:)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: 49.883 degrees N
Amsterdam, The Netherlands: 52.3700 degrees N
and at the top of my world travels (literally)
Laide, Scotland: 57.850 degrees N

Curious about my eastern travels?  I was.
New York, NY: 74.0064 degrees W
Boston, MA: 71.0603 degrees W
Manchester, NH: 71.4553 degrees W
and the eastern champ (soon to be declared)...
Calais, ME: 67.2792 degrees W
(here again Laide would win if international travel was being weighed: it's just 5.5420 degrees W of the Prime Meridian.)

Since I was on a roll, I went onto south and west.
Farthest South:
San Antonio, TX: 29.4239 degrees N
Siesta Key, FL: 27.3017 degrees N
(I didn't dwell on the south too much.  I am, after all, a northerner at heart.)

Farthest West:
San Diego, CA: 117.1564 degrees W
Los Angeles, CA: 118.2428 degrees W
Portland, OR: 122.6750 degrees W
and just edging out Portland for the victory...
Seattle, WA: 122.3331 degrees W

So I've been to the south-western corner of the country, lived for a summer at it's northern-most point (St. John, ND),  and will now see the north-eastern tip.  How cool to remember all those trips and the great memories associated with them.  How blessed to continue to have more travels and stick more far-flung pins into the map!

525,600 Minutes

I have a friend who teaches Show Choir and helps with the school musicals and is big into musical theater.  Based on her recommendation, I just recently watched the film version of the musical "Rent."  On the whole, "Rent" is (and I know that die-hard fans would stone me for saying this) not that great.  It's okay.  But I much prefer oldies like "Man of La Mancha" and "Pippin."  To me, the story has to be significant.  Even if "Rent" had more of a plot than "disenfranchised bohemians deal with drugs, AIDS and...life" the music isn't exceptional.  Some songs are quite good, but others leave me cold.

HOWEVER (and it is a big however), I absolutely love the show opener, "Seasons of Love."  If I listen to it there is a strong chance it will get stuck in my head and I'll sing it over and over for days.  Great tune.  Great message.  Perhaps what I like most is its question, "How do you measure a year?"

I've written elsewhere about my frequent annual meditations: New Years (obviously), my birthday, the end of summer/start of a school year.  Well, with this song running through my head I keep thinking about how I would measure this last year.  One of my most often-repeated mental exercises these days is to think back on what I would have been doing this time last year.  This was especially true when I was contemplated being married vs. being alone.  But enough time has passed that I am now comparing the early days of being alone to what it is like now.  The big difference at this point is my workout regimen.  Unlike last year, I am not working out at all and eating as rarely and as lightly as I can.  For fun I thought I would do some general numbers to "measure the year."
Time spent eating: 65,700 minutes (6 meals a day, 30 minutes per meal)
Time spent lifting: 21,900 minutes (an average of 60 minutes per day)
Do you want to hear a really depressing figure?
Time spent painting: 6,000 minutes (just 10 hours)

So I'm reevaluating my goals.  I'm looking at how I'll spend and measure the next year.  One big (anticipated) highlight will be the Maine trip.  In one year I will have visited two places (Europe and Maine) that I've wanted to see for a long time.  Also, I'd love to have more "cups of coffee" with friends, see more "sunsets" and meditate on God's creation, savor both the laughter and the strife, and enjoy everything that God brings into my life.

A Brief Post from the Front

It is not my habit to blog while at school, but I am overcome with excitement and thought I should jot a quick note.

One month from now I will be riding a motorcycle along the coast of Maine.  I called today to finalize all the necessary reservations and I am so pumped.  It's going to be awesome.

So...what to do for the next month?  Well there's school.  Another awesome school year is already in full swing.  I am loving my job.  There's also days of 100+ degree temperatures to endure.  The big highlight weather-wise?  I dip to the high 80's this weekend.  Oh well--it's better than nothing.

I'm excited.  Look for countdowns leading up to the trip and updates following!