A weekend in the Hill

By K.J. Cardinal

This weekend we made a solid road trip up to Blue Hill, Maine, the hometown of Scott.

He threw a "ripper" at his parents' house that lasted three days and we had such a blast.

On Friday, we picked up Sammy from work at the Natick YMCA at 1:30 and headed right up to Maine from there. We knew the ride was going to be 4+ hours, but what we didn't know was that we'd hit traffic, accidents and construction along the way to REALLY slow us down.

We didn't end up getting to Blue Hill until 7:30, but we were so happy and surprised how well Anna did in the car. We actually got in the car to run errands and what not at about 12:30 and only made one stop on the way up (at LL Bean in Freeport to get a new tent).

So, Anna was in the car for pretty much seven straight hours and was as good as gold. We certainly are lucky with her in that regard. Not much is worse than a screaming kid in a car.

Anyway, Friday night we set up camp in the Murphy's backyard, grilled out and just hung out all night. It was a great mix of people... about half of the Surf with Murph crew and then a handful of other peeps that couldn't make that trip to Hawaii.

Scott's parents are so great... not surprising, I guess. But, Angie and I were glad to finally get to spend some time with the creators of the one-of-a-kind, Scott Murphy. Jim and Linda definitely reminded me of my parents in quite a few ways, but none more evident then their hospitality. Definitely made us feel like we were at home all weekend long and were never shy to try to push all kinds of food and drink on us. Thanks!

On Saturday, we really wanted to have Scott show us what the area was all about. This, naturally, meant a trip to Acadia National Park.

I had never been to Acadia before, but I'm really glad that we went. You could easily spend a few weeks up there hiking, camping and seeing every nook and cranny of the park, but Murph just took us to the highlights.

The biggest highlight of all was Cadillac Mountain. The drive up to the top was impressive enough, but the view at the top was nothing short of spectacular... as you can see in the family photo above.

After spending the day in Acadia, we ventured back to Blue Hill for a straight-up lobster feast. Scott's best friend from home, Adam (pictured left), is a lobster fisherman, so he got us a smoking deal on the 30 lobsters.

Adam gave Anna and her new "friend" Collin, an up close and personal look at the lobsters. He did the classic "put the lobster to sleep" trick and was explaining to all of us different parts of the lobster.

I have seriously eaten lobster my whole life and I learned some stuff from him that I never knew before... it was pretty cool.

Anna and Collin had sparked their friendship earlier in the afternoon, but by dinner time the two were getting pretty close. Collin, Scott's three-year-old God son, came up to me before dinner and said "May Anna have dinner with me?"

It was so hilarious and so cute. They then sat down and enjoyed dinner for three... Collin's one-year-old sister Mave joined them as well.

After dinner Anna chased Collin around the hot tub for about 30 minutes. It was a win-win for both us and Willie and Gina, Collin's parents, as it tuckered the little ones out.

On Sunday morning, Collin had to leave early and Anna was pretty upset. She was crying and staring out the window as they walked down the driveway. I think Collin might be Anna's first crush.

We hit up Marlintini's for a little local flavor for lunch and then came the Blue Hill tour. The downtown area is small, but definitely what comes to mind when you think of a small seaside Maine town.

The highlight of the day came when we stopped at the Blue Hill Park. It was low tide, so the water was very low, causing lots of mud on the beach area.

Anna wanted to go in the water, so we just let her have at it... fully clothed and all. It was so funny because she got her feet stuck in the mud and couldn't move. She starts yelling "stuck" and then "help me"! Take a look at the video below.

Also in the video, you'll see Scott and some others standing on top of a rock. During high tide, the water comes about halfway up the rock and people jump off of it. I wish we could've done that, but didn't hit it up at the right time.

All-in-all a fantastic weekend. Thanks so much to Scott and the Murphy's for having us over. We had an absolute blast.


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