our brand new eyes: Jayne + Diane = Love

My best friend from college, Jayne, got married in Maine.

In the middle of peak fall foliage.

So of course, we had to go.

Yaaayyy!

It was another "adult only" trip. I know this is becoming a problem. But it's such a good problem to have.

We flew Grammie in and Brett and I headed out on our first trip to Maine.

It was challenging to get there, I'm not going to lie. The flight that was suppose to leave from DIA had "mechanical problems" resulting in a three hour delay in getting to DRO. Resulting in a missed connection to O'Hare. Resulting in a rerouting to Houston. Resulting in a very very early flight the next morning to DC. Which was then delayed flying into Portland, ME. By hours.

But by golly, we arrived.

And it was wet and foggy.

So we hopped in the rental car and headed three hours away to Acadia, ME where we had a pub B&B reserved for the next two nights.

Early the next morning we headed out to hike Cadillac Mountain.

Apparently there are two routes. One route is rated "difficult" and it has cliff side drop offs and whatnot. Brett said he didn't want me to kill him on the first day of our vacation so he took me on route two, rated "moderate" and no cliff dropoffs.

Smart man. He's learning.

follow the "blue blaze"

freak'n gorgeous!

during some parts it felt like we were hiking up the back of a dinosaur

it started off warm-ish

and got quite a bit colder

So we got to the top, only to find that we were sitting inside of a cloud.

So there were not the amazing views of the foliage and the ocean that we were expecting, but it was still a beautiful hike!

We made our way up the coast, stopping whenever the mood struck us to explore a bit.

Here is the ocean. It was cold.

So cold that I was bundled from head to toe while the mighty German attempted to get in the water.

He looked like such a freak that tourists were taking pictures of him.

Needless to say, he didn't last near the water for very long.

In case you didn't already know, rules are not for Brett Gerald Ziercher.

Trying telling him not to do something and you're pretty guaranteed that he will do it, just to spite you or The Man or whomever.

"Stay inside the fence." Phh, right!

The next day we hiked Acadia Mountain. It was a little more difficult and a lot longer than we were anticipating but nevertheless, amazing beautiful and so fun!


jedi mind tricks to make a leaf suspend itself in the air

dead leaves on a dirty ground

And then a last quick hike on the way to see Jayne and Diane.

I don't remember where this was exactly.

but it was auh-maz-ing!

And then the wedding festivities began.

Friday night was a bonfire s'mores roast with singing around the campfire. It was so funny to us to hear everyone exclaiming that they hadn't eaten a s'mores or been around a campfire in years and years.

Uh yeah, we did that a dozen times this summer.

Different lifestyles.

We got to see a lot of old mutual friends and slowly started to meet new people. Everyone was super great!

Saturday was the big day!

This sweet little trail led up to a clearing, surrounded by wooded fall foliage.

Rows of benches flanked a path to the front.

Jayne and Diane asked that no one take pictures during the ceremony so that everyone could be really present during the service.

It was a blessing and a curse.

It sort of killed me that I couldn't get pictures of her ceremony but truthfully, it accomplished exactly what they were after.

I was really able to pay attention to what the minister was saying and the looks on both Jayne and Diane's face as they looked at each other and repeated their vows.

So no pictures for you but it was so lovely.

They had Quaker elements that made it very personal and their Universal Unitarian Minister was a mix between wise and sassy.

Brett and I both left the ceremony totally impressed and inspired for our own anniversary vow renewals.