The First Post....

Hey there. This is pretty much a test post. The goal of this blog is to have a site to share some pictures, videos, and stories of what is going on in the lives of our family members. We'll see how it goes.

I'll try to post some pictures now.

Last September Carri and I went on a vacation with the Ellis Family to the east coast. We started off in Charleston Josh's 30th birthday. It was a very interesting city to visit. Lots of history. We wandered around the historic district that had many well preserved houses from the pre-Civil War era.

These are some photos from a centuries old cemetery tucked between some old buildings.

From there we all went up to Maine to Bar Harbor where we rented a house for the week. Bar Harbor is right next to Acadia National Park. We went on a very misty hike to one of the peaks called Mt. Pemetic with our friends Jay and Suzzane.

Josh and I went on a hike to Bar Island. It is a small island with a fairly high peak on it opposite the town. It is connected to the town by a bar (hence the name) that appears at low tide.

There are really nice views from the top. As you can see the weather was nice.

But if you go there you should be very careful to monitor the tide.....

I realized the bar was disappearing soon after that picture was taken. We immediately began running like crazy people being chased by bears once we realized out path back to civilization was soon to vanish. We did pause to tell two women were climbing the hill of the situation. they seemed to believe they had plenty of time. It turned out we made it just in the nick of time. We only had to wade across a quarter mile section of the half mile bar. You could watch the water line rise across the remaining bar. Soon the bar was under many feet of water. It would take about 6 hours until the water returned to a walkable level. Hopefully those ladies packed a lunch.

Micah, Beth, Carri, and I also went on a really interesting hike up Precipice Peak in Acadia. It is a hike that was definitely made in a pre-litigious day of yore. The hike wound its way up a granite cliff on catwalk paths and with ladders of iron rungs that had been set into the stone when a path wouldn't suffice.

It was a beautiful day with a great view at the top.

There was lots more that happened on the trip that was a blast. I learned how to eat lobster. We went sailing. We made pizza in a relative's backyard pizza oven. And we got a lot of time to hang out with out niece and nephew Emily and Blake, which something we don't get enough time to do with them living on an opposite coast. It was a great time.

Well, that's it for my first post. The hope is that anyone who wants to can be a contributor and add a quick story or picture to the blog whenever they can. I'll try to figure out how to allow access to other contributors. In the meantime feel free to add comments. -Paul