Cotopaxi Questival 24 Hours in Portland Maine

Meet the dream team, six basically strangers to all but me, team captain of the Powers Posse.  Brought together by a love of adventure, Maine and a good time. Outdoor enthusiasts, rock climbers, a medical professional, photographer, engineer, van-lifer, art therapist, nurse, and yours truly - a photographer, filmmaker and lover of spontaneity. 

We island and lighthouse hopped. Ate Indian food and oysters. Drank some hoppy beer and a few cups of coffee. Made a pancake the shape of a llama and some Good To Go Foods.  We cheered on a baseball team and arm-wrestled the fire department. We cartwheeled and did enough USCG style pushups to make Kaleigh proud.  We sang songs and learned about snake bites. We hiked a mountain and ran into the ocean. We embraced the silly, wild, outgoing parts of ourselves that rarely get to come out and play. We made a few new friends both on our team and on others and we would do it all over again. 

The other half of the Powers Posse namesake - my little sister Dominique!

Thank you to Cotopaxi for sponsoring our team and for the Questival team for putting on a great event! To find a Questival near you check out their race page HERE.

While our team was supported by Cotopaxi, all opinions expressed here are my own.

5 Reasons to Get On (or In) The Water in September

If you live in the upper-north east of New England you know that the water temperature of the Atlantic doesn't really get bearable until late August.  With "back-to-school" signs in all of the stores and the recent re-release of the PSL everyone's itching to be wearing flannels and bean boots and thoughts of bikinis and sunscreen are a thing of the past.  These are lies.  September is actually the best month to be on or in the water.  The air temperatures might be a bit lower but with the warmer water it's actually the most delightful experience.

1. Summer Is Not Over

Until Sept 22 that is. So enjoy the next few weeks!! That means keep donning those flip flops and enjoy your last days of salty beachy hair!

2. Avoid the Kids and the Crowds

With kids back in school and families back home from vacation don your post-work sunglasses, grab the beach reads you didn't get to and splash some of your favorite summer beverage into a tumbler and get your toes in the sand!

Photo: Bethany and Dan Photography

3. The Water is HOT! 

And by that I mean it will feel delicious on your skin and not take your breath away in the worst frigid way! Jump in!

Photo: Bethany and Dan Photography

4.  You are Finally Tan(ish)!

If you're pasty-pale like me that is, by September you finally look a little less translucent so go rock that beach bod!

Photo: Bethany and Dan Photography

5. Get Out for One Last Camping Adventure

Late summer and early fall are the best camping seasons so grab your tent one last time and get out there!  The water-side sites are finally rid of bugs and some of the best sites are more available in the slight off-season.

prAna just released their fall line which I highly recommend checking out HERE- lots of cozy sweaters and new colors in the Kara jean (if you know me - they are the ones I wear all the time) you can snag 15% off all new items with the code GHGP15 You can also find the suits we’re wearing on sale for 50% off!! Who says back to school shopping is just for kids!? #fallforprana

Oru Kayak: Behind the Scenes on Fort Gorges

If you missed the story I wrote for Oru Kayak "All In The Name of Breakfast" I suggest you give it a read.  

Our post-sunrise launch. It was amazing to have the beach to ourselves.

We paused here and listened for the horns coming from invisible lobster boats from deep within the fog. It was almost eerie how we could see so little, but hear so much.   

Just after we arrived on Fort Gorges we welcomed a massive cruise ship into the harbor.

Kaleigh made us some Hikers Brew coffee while I sipped on Untapped Maple syrup and added some granola to our homemade yogurt and fresh picked strawberries.  Had we been a bit more ambitious I would have been all about some eggs and bacon on the island.

We decided to try our hands at being Amazons and attempted to protect the island in our fresh Sensi Graves swim suits.  Kaleigh's off at Officer Candidate School to actually get ripped and I'm just out paddling as much as I can and doing lots of impromptu pushups - explaining to my friends around that if Kaleigh's doing 100 a day I may as well at least try to do 10.

Good golly I miss her.

Get out there and enjoy the last bits of sweet summer sunshine, get a creemee or two and jump in the ocean, lake or stream as many times between now and the first snowfall.

Breakfast: Grandy Oats Grain Free Coconola | Coffee: Hikers Brew | Maple Syrup: Untapped Maple Swimsuits: Sensi Graves | Shoes: Chaco Footwear | Shades: Sunski