Good evening. IT ARE MOOSE!!! We saw our first moose with antlers today. It was a teenager (could tell since he was kind of little...if you can call something that weighs ~800lbs little). We were driving in Baxter State Park where you drive on a gravel road going no more than 20 miles/hr. We rounded a curve and there it was in the middle of the road. By the time we realized what we were seeing he took off into the trees...I couldn't even get my camera focused. But that's okay...we saw it! We had spent the last two evenings cruising the areas that are known to attract the moose without success. The views in this park have been fantastic. The leaves are just starting to turn colors. There is no electricity anywhere in the park...all camping is primitive...they do have cabins, but you have to bring in everything from your bedding to your food, and even your water. Obviously there are no showers, unless you go in the lakes and only pit toilets to use. We visited with my cousin Rob who lives in a cabin in the park. He has a wood furnace to keep warm by and a couple of solar panels to heat his water and some electricity. In the park there is very limited cell service, so for him to use his cell phone in the park he has to be in his cabin with the phone hooked up to a huge antenna. We almost felt like we were back in Alaska! We went for what was supposed to be a half mile walk each way to the area where Mark and I are in the picture. He said...it's pretty flat and an easy walk. So I figured...no problem...I can do a mile. Well...he neglected to tell me we would have to climb around rocks and tree limbs...and walk across some boards that looked to be no wider than a balance beam!!!! A mountain goat I'm not!!! But we perservered and the view was totally worth it. Thank goodness for Tylenol!

The Appalachian Trail that starts in Georgia (on Springer Mountain) ends ~2,100 miles later on Katadhin Mountain here in Baxter State Park. Tomorrow and Sunday they are having a 'Trails End" festival to celebrate the end of the hiking season. We have seen lots of wooly, loaded down hikers both in the park and in the town of Millinocket.

We will be here through Tuesday. My cousin Heather who lives over in Punta Gorda is coming up here with her two kids to visit with Rob (that's her brother). So we will visit with them on Monday. Tuesday, we will head for the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We should be in the peak leaf peeping season within 2 weeks.

Marks is getting the fire going, so time to roast marshmallows. More later.

Terry and Mark