Rockland, Maine :)

I know I already updated today, but here I am again!  I just need to share my excitment for booking my vacation to Maine!

I absolutely LOVE Maine.  It's kind of sad considering I am able to get there in an hour and most people would favor tropical places, but to me, Maine is a little piece of Heaven.

It all began about 6 years ago.  My fiance Pat and his family have a summer camp way up near Canada, and when he started asking me to visit there, I swore he was insane.  I went to college in Boston, and the wilderness just wasn't my thing - or so I thought.  When we originally went up in June 2006, I immediately fell in love.  The area his family vacations in is quiet, peaceful, beautiful and has about 800 residents. I soon realized there wasn't much to do up there besides talk, play games and enjoy the camp fire.  No TV, no cell phone signal, no radio, no communication with the outside world.  Simply amazing.

To make a long story short, Pat and I visit his family's camp every May, July and November.  Considering it takes 8 hours to get to, we take a mini-trip to Rockland, Maine every October to get a quick get-a-way.  We started visiting Rockland in October 2007 and it has been our tradition every Columbus Day since.  Rockland is a "big town" compared to where his family owns a house.  There are 7,000 people!  All the people are beyond friendly and share smiles and kind words with you, regardless of if you're a year-round resident or complete stranger.  Pat and I typically stay at one particular hotel in the downtown during this two night, three day vacation.  However, this year we will be staying in a different hotel due to drastic price differences.  When we are up there, we are planning on doing out typical Columbus Day routine - enjoying dinner at our favorite Rockland restaurant, bowling at the "cute" and resonably-priced alley, taking dozens of photographs and shopping at the nearby gift shops.  Also, we plan on checking out houses while there.  While we are not financially ready to buy a house quite yet, we love looking in Rockland because we have decided that in a few years, we are moving there.  We feel at home in Rockland, and we feel as if we belong there.  It's the strangest, yet best, feeling ever.

Hurry up October 7th!  We cannot wait any longer.