In the entire history of my blog, I have never thought about and rewritten a post so many times. I didn't want to sound nonchalant about doing some stupid, dangerous things and at the same time, I didn't want to sound overly dramatic. Here is my attempt at balance, and my cautionary tale.

This past weekend, I hiked Mount Katahdin with my British friend Phil. He had always wanted to go but thought it was too dangerous to attempt alone. I said when he visited Maine again, we'd do it. 

He arrived on Thursday from London and Friday morning, we headed into the North Maine woods (Millinocket more specifically) and made camp. The next morning (3:30 am more specifically) we took down camp and headed into Baxter State Park.

The plan was to park at Roaring Brook Campground,  hike the Helon Taylor trail, take Knife's Edge to the summit of Katahdin, hike down Cathedral then Chimney Pond trail back to Roaring Brook. It is a long and difficult hike under normal circumstances. Attempting this in October is not something I plan to do again, mostly because I was really stupid about it.

Nothing like figuring travel logistics over email to drive connected people to save a few bucks.

My friends Lydia and Travis are getting married this weekend. About a month ago, ten of us who went to college with Lydia tried to figure out group hotel rooms through a series of emails over the course of about a week.

I had first seen my friend Bailey use Priceline to get us a cheap rental car in Vegas. I was impressed with her internet savyness and her ability to save us about 25% on the rental. When Bailey suggested we use the site for the hotel room, a few of us jumped on it.

Four of us formed a Priceline bidding team, each taking a turn to bid on a two star hotel in Ellsworth Maine (hint: there's one on Priceline so we knew it was the hotel the others were staying at). If you bid on something and Priceline doesn't accept it, you are locked out of bidding for a certain amount of time so having another person or two can be critical.

Why I'm Keeping My Old Car

In the middle of this winter, on a sad day, I looked down at my odometer which was at roughly 95,000 miles. I vowed to myself I would be in a really interesting place when it turned 100,000. That event should be happening sometime in the next month.

I have the quintessential Maine car: a 2002 Subaru Forrester. It has taken me up mountains and through snow storms.  It is an unassuming silver color, a great hider of dirt. And when you open the door, it smells slightly like a mixture of slightly stale coffee and my dog. It is not beautiful but certainly functional.

I would like to say I am not particularly attached to this car. I bought it after the car I actually loved plowed into a moose about four years ago. I still haven't forgotten what it's like to plow into 700 pounds of massive animal going 60 miles per hour. My car was of course totalled.

I was moving the week after the accident though and if I wasn't going to buy a car before I moved, it would take me awhile to get one after. The nearest car dealerships were over an hour from my new island home and as anyone who visits Maine knows, there is almost no mass transit here. In short, to be independent outside of Portlant, you need a car.

I've considered Cash for Clunkers (CARS as the acronym for the Car Allowance Refund Program). I've ultimately decided against it. Here's a few reasons why:

This weekend, I was in Québec City with Beth, a woman I tutor in French. Her husband and her were kind enough to offer me the trip.

Beth proceeded to pay for everything while on the trip (Tom stayed behind, probably to revel in bachelorhood and let us speak French all the time). As a result, this trip wasn't my usual eating-fruit-and-bread-two-meals-a-day, researching-the-heck-out-of-stuff-to-find-the-cheapest-options travel experience.

There are, however, a few relatively painless ways to save money on a trip to Québec City.

Stay at the hostel.
I know what you are thinking: sketchiness and bunk beds.

So remember how I recently accepted a part-time position as  a desk clerk at an inn a couple miles away from my house? When the change is made from my current job to this new job, I will be saving roughly 8 hours a week commuting and about $30 in gas a week.

1. Get on a ferry. Bring snacks with you and take a ferry out to a Maine island. A cheap way to get out on the water, most ferries will run you under $20 round trip (at least the ones I've taken). Plus, you can take something like a bird field guide with you and for under $5, give your own tour.

2. The LL Bean Summer Concert Series: A different reason to go to Freeport. The traditional Maine outdoor relater not only has outdoor sports demos but a free concert every weekend with big-ish acts. Last year, I saw Great Big Sea.