If any of you are wondering why we’re traveling up the EAST coast to get to Santa Barbara, CA from Nashville, TN, welcome to the reason why. For almost two years, we’ve talked about the Gill and Cunningham clans convening at their family vacation home in Maine this summer. (Trenton, Maine, oddly enough… I liked the sound of it already). Once we’d come up with this grand scheme to relocate out to California, we realized we could either rush out to the west coast and fly back east for the trip OR we could see it as a sign and route our trip through Maine. Think about it. Nashville to Santa Barbara via Maine. You really can’t go a much more roundabout way. Unless you go into Canada. So we went to Canada, too, for good measure. You’ll hear more about that soon. But wouldn’t you rather be driving through the north than the desert in August? It’s also kept us largely off the interstates which makes this feel much less like touring.
Before we get to Maine, let’s talk about some more reasons. For example, some of y’all might also be wondering what inspires a man and woman after 17 years together in their beloved hometown of Nashville, to say yes to a crazy idea about moving somewhere you’ve never lived with a 20 year old cat and a 12 year old dog? The answer is simple: family. Casey’s going home. And I am, too. You see, Casey’s mom is in Santa Barbara County. And it’s not that she’s on her deathbed or anything—she’s healthy as horse and still looks great in a two piece bikini! She and Kam are a couple of our favorite folks in the world, so we wanted to live closer to them. Plus, the developers finally beat our door down until we sold our house in Edgehill. And where else would we have lived in Nashville? Y’all know we’ll be back to visit often. Might need a couch or two to crash on.
As my good friend John Bohlinger said, it’s good to rotate the crops in your brain. So we’ll see what happens in California.
So back to Trenton (Maine, that is). Jenny’s new in-laws and our new family are the Cunninghams (plus John!). They’re a for-real-deal American family, as in Declaration of Independence signers in the family tree kinda family, full of badass lawyers, educators, and artists. The matriarch of the family, Beverly, whose stunning home we were staying in, went to acting school with Don Rickles. I swear to God he stole her shtick. For real. They’re the kind of people who don’t just talk about buying a little tip of the United States up in Maine with cousins and friends, but actually do it. And get to see the 4th generation starting to enjoy it as well. Cue the montage of cute Elliott pics (plus a video of him discovering Farm Rock):
We had a long, rambling drive up from Livingston Manor, NY, so we ended up getting to see Vermont after all, plus New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and more. It was a proper New England tour. It’s so cold up there in the winter, they build their barns attached to their houses, like so:
We were pretty far up the Maine coastline (which we learned has more miles of coastline than California—what?!), near where the sun comes up earlier than anywhere else in the continental US. Check out the quality light in the photos below. Really wishing we’d brought a real camera along. Thankfully, Kam was there.
We had a proper New England vacation as well. Everyone had their own whole lobster on lobster night (plus enough leftover for amazing lobster rolls the next day). The Cunninghams showed us how to crack open lobsters like pros– Marie being the best I saw. We dipped into Acadia National Park to gasp at the views and crystal clear waters… so did most everyone else in Maine that day, but it was still stunning despite the crowds. Had lunch at the legendary Jordan Pond House where we ate our weight in popovers, tried to protect Austin from the yellow jackets, had amazing conversation with the Shays, watched Charlye pull off a parking miracle like only Charlye can do, and read about the history of this special place and the handful of artists and outdoorsmen who came through and painted it, created the trails, and brought it to the world’s attention.
Most of the time, we spent enjoying the incredible home, the views, the porch, the clean air, the hot tub, the drink. Many games of Ticket to Ride: Rails & Sails were played. Many tide pools were walked. Many blueberries were picked. We might have kicked anyone who wasn’t caught up on Game of Thrones out of the house to watch Game of Thrones not once, but twice. Never before have I seen a more satisfying climax of dragonbreath fire. I liked those dudes they mighta killed at the end, but Dany’s gotta do what Dany’s gotta do. That little handsome man can’t talk her into everything. If y’all are enjoying my GoT recaps, you should hear Warren break the show down with a kitchen towel tossed jauntily over his shoulder. He could have his own YouTube show. Just saying.
Kam and I played an exclusive private golf course that we had all to ourselves. Or maybe it was just raining. Who knows. Either way, I played my ass off. Kam still beat me, but he did say “Where did this guy come from?” at one point when I almost had a hole-in-one (that of course I three-putted for a bogey—Jay Knowles has seen this many times. The three-putt, that is).
But mostly, the dozen or more adults would gather around and watch Elliott tear it up in his bouncychair or in his newly installed tree swing or watch him dance to “Macho Man” as sung by a mechanical Homer Simpson doll (yes, it’s really that funny). Endless hours of laughter and entertainment. Thanks, Ellie. And thank you, Cunninghams. Our family has grown larger and we love you all. From the bottom of our hearts.
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