i've actually been dragging this out just to torture lindsay.

just kidding.

OR AM I?

after all the peepiness, katie and i packed up the car, said our goodbyes, and headed for Final Destination: Maine. we followed the new hampshire-dwelling gwyn out of boston, and you know? it's a LOT easier with the navigation that way. i believe we passed the smallest Welcome to Our State sign ever ["uh, was that it?"], but never fear: katie captured the new hampshire liquor store sign. unfortunately we didn't actually buy anything in new hampshire -- no sales tax? what? -- but we were there much longer than intended after coming across a bottleneck that funneled EIGHT LANES? down into one. wtf. the pace finally picked up, and i am very sad that it was too dark to get a picture of the best sign ever: "Welcome to Maine -- The Way Life Should Be." while searching for mark and lindsay's house, we found that maine does believe in street signs; they just like to cover them up with foliage. also, we pulled into their neighbor's driveway for a few minutes before realizing the mailboxes on the street didn't necessarily match up to the houses the way we thought they should. after getting to the proper house, we all hung out on the porch for awhile, catching up, before turning in for the evening.

friday was designated as girls' day out while mark was stuck at work. after some coffee and freshly baked blueberry muffins, we ventured north on i-95 [what IS it with the east coast and all the toll roads??], past portland and on to freeport, home of l.l. bean. i don't know what i was expecting of freeport, but it wasn't this. for you ohioans, the best description is that it's like easton, with lots of cute shops and outlet stores... only not so creepy, because freeport seems to be an actual town and not just a manufactured consumer empire. we spent plenty of time at l.l. bean, explored some shops, and found some seafood for lunch; i had my first lobster roll. pretty tasty. then we headed back down the road to portland, where there are apparently lots of nice people. and lots of miscellaneous shops, which made me sort of feel like i was in athens every now and again. took some random pictures on the wharf and then it was back home for our last new england beach of the trip. the beach was sandy, the water deep blue, and the temperature a welcome reprieve from the sweltering heat of our time spent in boston. this appears to be a nightly ritual for mark and lindsay [and sydney], and i can see why. kt and i made our own sign, and after walking the plank and listening for the ocean, we were off to dinner. lindsay and i each had trout, and mark and katie each had a new kind of fish? what? by the time we returned home, it was a little too chilly for the porch, so we bravely enjoyed some red wine while lounging on their Brand New Just Delivered The Day Before living room couches. i believe our cue for bedtime was when i began falling asleep on one of said couches. as we all got ready for bed, sydney decided to redecorate with the bathroom trash [kt, upon exiting the bedroom: "there are things in the hallway that i don't think should be in the hallway..."]. ahhh. our last blissful night in maine.

saturday morning was a wonderful repeat of coffee and muffins, and the realization that yes, we really did have to head home that day. you can only be so leisurely when you have a fifteen hour drive looming, but we did our best. we packed up, said our early morning goodbyes, and headed west. our return route was a little more interesting as far as driving and paying attention to interchanges, and included but was not limited to: more blurry and/or non-pictures of road signs; a particularly long and frustrating stretch of i-84 wherein the speed limit was 55mph; me picking bad food/gas/potty exits; creating a vacation quote list; somehow losing track of an entire travel plaza ["it was implied"]; and entire conversations consisting only of -- "um, we were in maine earlier today." "yep." -- repeated every hour or so. we finally made it to katie's apartment under a fuzzy, cloudy moonlight [kt: "the moon has great bokeh tonight"], and just sort of collapsed upon entry.

we had a slow acclimation process to normal life again, deciding to forgo church in favor of blessed, blessed sleep. we did some picture dumps and photo assessments and lounged for awhile before i decided it was time to head home.

after being within three feet of someone for an entire week, you'd think i'd be overwhelmed. and i suppose i was. but in a good way.

thanks to katie for putting up with me all week, and thanks to everyone for putting us up all week.

and if you're STILL reading this? goodness. thanks for putting up with this extended vacation recap series. i applaud your perseverance.

the end.