BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day #155 09/10/05 Today Dad and I went kayaking with my Uncle Wayne. We went out of the Pocasset River around Toby’s Island and across to the Mashnee Island Beach Club for lunch. It was nice to pull up with our kayaks and head up to the outdoor porch and have some fantastic food by the ocean. Then we headed back over to the Car and came home and spent a couple of hours on the beach. It was a very productive day for relaxing.

This weekend Allison and I went to Maine to Moosehead Lake. We stayed at the Evergreen Lodge in Greenville, Maine. Population: 250, Moose Population: 2000. How many moose did we see? 0. Despite the lack of moose viewing we had a great time. We drove up to Maine via Freeport on Friday morning. Stopping in Freeport we checked out L.L.Bean and a couple of shops. Had some lunch and got back on the road. We arrived at the Evergreen Lodge around 3:00pm Friday afternoon. Once we got settled in and met our hosts, Janice and Hank, we headed out to drive around the lake and see if we could see some moose. No moose but we found the Black Frog restaurant. We had a great dinner and saw the Red Sox win their series. Then we went back to the Evergreen Lodge and chatted with some of the other guests, Terry and Jim from Florida and Mike and Patti from Washington State. On Saturday we had the first of three mornings of great breakfasts prepared by Janice. We had a cherry cobbler and French toast and bac...

Hi everyone, hope that your Labor Day was great. Allison and I started off the day with a great breakfast with Neil and Andrea at Crabapples. And thanks to a small craft advisory yesterday they were unable to go on a kayak trip. But they were scheduled for one today at noon with Cape Cod Kayak. So Allison and I called Kim and got in on the trip and we also spent the afternoon with Neil and Andrea and Kim on the water. We paddled out of Pocassett River over and around the two smaller islands of Toby's Island. Then in the afternoon we went for a BBQ at Kim's to celebrate Greg's birthday.

This Labor Day instead of the usual Jimmy Buffett afternoon we were on the Cape. This morning My Dad and I kayaked around The Coonamessett Farm Pond. It started as a windy morning and as we crossed the pond the weather turned very tranquil. It is such a great place to go and kayak. There is a photo below of the landing at the pond. My sister Tara and her husband Erik came down with their two dogs, Taylor and Daisy. Taylor is the retriever mix and Daisy is a German pointer mix. They are both Southern Belles, as they came to us from Mississippi (Daisy) and North Carolina (Taylor). Those two caused quite a ruckus at the house as they chased Shelby's two cats, Hannah and Lilla around the house. Hannah christened the kitchen. Ahh Lysol orange and cat piss, how aromatic. The beach was very windy today but the water was wavy and warm. I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend and hopefully a fun day with the families. Taylor Daisy Mae

Today Allison and I found a new kayaking spot on the cape. There is a pond not far from the house that is out in the woods. Its a half mile off a dirt road in Falmouth. There was an article in the Cape Cod Times last Sunday that talked about beginning kayaking and some of the nice places to go. The Coonamessett Farm Pond is 151 acres in size and has very few houses around. It was a perfectly clear day to go and kayak there. Here is a map of the Coonamessett Farm Pond. Today was also a great beach day. It's been nice to relax out on the Cape. I was able to finish one of the four books I've been reading and start a new one. I finished Shackleton's Forgotten Men, the story of the group of men whose jobs it was to lay supply depots for Ernest Shackleton for his trip across Antarctica. It was a long slog through that book but I finally finished. Tonight I tried a food network recipe for Grilled Bacon Wrapped Corn on the Cob. It was pretty good, I'll have to try it again and ...

This weekend Allison and I went Kayaking in Megansett Harbor with Kim and a tour from Cape Cod Kayak. This weekend marks the first time out on the water for Allison and the second time for me. How very sad, the entire summer almost over and we get out on the water at this late in the game. Shameful. Anyway, the tour was a fun one with a play in the waves, and some live Celtic music. Inside the inner harbor of Megansett are some pretty nice well-to-do homes and at one home there was a wedding going on with a Live Celtic band. It was awesome to be out on the water while live music was playing. I thought it was a sound system on a boat at first and then realized while that would be a complete waste of money. Salt air and electronics - not a good match. I also saw as I got closer a large group of people at one of the homes on the shore. Some of the group went a little closer and were terrorized by three little boys who were throwing rocks at them. Actually they were not throwing rocks at t...