Maine Vacation 2011, Part I

We set the alarm for 3:30 a.m. in order to get the car parked, the shuttle ride taken, and be on the plane by 6:00. We flew to Boston by way of Baltimore on Southwest - the best ticket price I could find. We got a nice new rental car, set the GPS to Kev and Angie's address, and headed north to Maine. We stopped for a sandwich at Subway along the way, arriving at their house around 6:00 p.m. It was sauna-like, inside the house and out. Fortunately, we were blessed with the basement for our sleeping time there. Kevin and Angie have been blessed with a house to live in rent-free for a few months at least. I'm aggravated that I forgot to take pictures outside the house, so here are two tiny ones that she posted from her camera on Facebook. It's in the woods and is so peaceful.

We got up early in the morning to head for the Teen Challenge house, so Kevin could do his last minute arrangements for the golf tournament. It was 86 at 7:00 that morning. It was the beginning of the hottest July day they'd had in many years. I tried to get a picture of the air you could visibly see at the golf course.

The foursome was set up, and the day began. There were 48 players in 12 teams.

It was so hot that water was one of the most important elements of the day. Some of the Teen Challenge students spent the day delivering bottles of cold water to the parched players. Kev and Dwight said they each drank at least a dozen bottles. (I never did hear how many bathroom breaks they took!)

The tournament was held at the same place as last October, when I froze to death in the club house - the course is built on an old farm, and the club house is the barn. There's no insulation, so it was frigid last fall and blistering hot on this incredibly hot day. I'm guessing it was at least 90 degrees in there all day. I could have spent the day in the basement, where there's a nice rocking chair in the ladies' room. But I feared if I went down there, I would never come back up into the heat. I spent the day reading in front of a very large, noisy fan that didn't do much, but was better than nothing. But I was really glad I was there, because the guys kept coming up and introducing themselves to me, then telling me their stories, and then telling me how much Kevin means to them. It was such a blessing to this mother's heart.

One of Kevin's duties in preparation for the tournament was to put together prize packages for a raffle at the end of the day, during the dinner. He worked really hard at it and had some lovely prizes. I gave him $20 to supplement what he had so he could have a few chances to win one of the packages. How excited we all were when he won the big "date night" prize.

In October, there's going to raffle off this - which Dwight sure wishes he could win! But the tickets are $100 each - and then he'd have to ride it cross country to Colorado~~




When Kevin was able to leave, we headed to Augusta to visit Angie's office - all of us looking like something the cat dragged in. I was so happy that none of the players had fainted from the heat! It was so much fun for Kevin to be able to tell Angie that he had won something --



And then he told her what it was - Two nights in two nice hotels in Portland, a gift card for a restaurant, an hour massage, tickets to a museum, and some beautiful salt water pearl jewelry - necklace and earrings. This was so perfect, because their 10th anniversary is on September 1 and they were wondering how they'd come up with the money for a nice celebration. This is such a special anniversary, because they've been together only about 5 of their 10 anniversaries.

It was so great to meet Angie's co-workers and learn how much they're appreciating her in her new position. She's doing great and loves her job. We met the head doctor in this large pediatric clinic who told us, "She's showing her true colors this week!" I'm not sure exactly what that means, but it has something to do with some tough issues she's had to deal with and done it very well.

We ended up taking a young guy to meet up with his parents in a town about 45 minutes away, and caught a bite to eat on the way back to their house - which was 89 degrees inside when we got there.

I'm happy to say it cooled down overnight and was in the 70s the next day, which was perfect for Part II - stay tuned!