By the time Irene reached us on Sunday afternoon, she had lost a considerable amount of her power. Though not nearly the worst storm we’ve ever experienced, she still managed to batter us with high winds and churn the ocean into a frenzy.
Of course, our power lines faint at the mere sight of wind, so – powerful or not - we prepared ourselves for the likelihood that Irene would leave us in the dark. She did not disappoint.
But credit must go to Central Maine Power. Before I left for work on Sunday night, before the winds had even died down, our electricity was restored. I’m pretty sure that sets the record for our shortest ever storm-related outtage. Considering that so many people in our area are still without power, I count it as a great blessing.
The extent of the damage that Irene caused wasn’t clear until the next morning.
High winds snapped a large tree right in half, and deposited the top half on the roof of our cabin.
The upside: ready-made kindling.
If you couldn’t tell from the 
It’s sad to know that it won’t always be just a few hours away.
First stop: breakfast at the Dam Diner.
And before we rolled on out of Vermont for good, we stopped in at the 
Hannah browsed the graphic novels, Lexi picked up a couple books, and I bought 
Did you know that we can add maple syrup to anything? It’s a New England superpower.
(and, yes, I thought it was 
Home. It’s always nice to come back.
On our way back we stopped to check out a waterfall. Stephen, Hannah and Uncle Jim decided to walk all the way out along the train tracks to peer down into the river gorge. Lexi and I declined on the basis of sheer terror. I’m okay with that choice.
