Breakfast on Spruce Mountain

 This morning I enjoyed a hard-boiled egg on the top of one of the little-used gems of the Camden Hills: Spruce Mountain. It's a very nice snowshoe with great views on a clear day. The woods were very quiet and I had a template to follow:

 I really like old stone walls in the middle of the woods:

 and wondering what this hill looked like 100 years ago. The top was windy, but the view was spectacular. Be sure to click on the pic:

 Looking across at Ragged Mountain:

 A peek at the ocean:

It felt great to get some winter air in my lungs. Life is good.
~MET

An Amazing Museum

 The National Education Association was invited to tour the new National African American Museum of History and Culture at a private after hours event. The museum is outstanding and exceptionally well put together. To do it justice I would need about 10,000 pictures, so I've included my favorites. Click on them to make them larger. We had a reception that included food, drink, and a local HS orchestra.

 The museum is divided into two major parts. There are two floors dedicated to the struggle and a couple of floors that celebrate black life in America. The first part actually begins before slavery in Africa. Here are some of my favorite pics:

 Thomas Jefferson's rough draft for the Declaration of Independence that actually makes reference to slavery. It was later taken out:

 The museum does not treat any person or subject with any bias. Harriet Tubman's shawl:

 Slave cabin that was moved to DC and put back together:

 Mary Elliot, one of the curators, walked around with me for a while and explained a lot of detail about what I was seeing:

 One of the Little Rock 9:

 The pen used by LBJ to sign the Voting Rights Act:

 There are a few interactive display - this one is made to look like a sit-in lunch counter:

 You can research while answering questions about how you would react to different hardships:

 I stood in front of this door for a while:

 It's not a jail cell, it's the front door of an apartment in one of the projects in Newark in the 1980s. The most moving display in the museum is behind this wall:

 You can't take pictures of it - it's Emmet Till's funeral. There is an actual open casket, and images and audio of the ceremony. It was difficult to be in the room. Again - there is SO MUCH to see and read. After the first two floors you can choose to "decompress" here:

 After taking a few moments I headed up to the culture displays. There is a ton of stuff about the military, music, TV, movies, etc. Here's a small sample. The Jeffersons:

 Chubby Checker's car:

 1968 Olympics:

 Jackie:

 Jim Brown:

 Curley:

 Jackie again:

 Hank Aaron and Curt Flood:

 Bill:

 College basketball fans will understand this one:

I'll visit again for sure. This is a great example of my tax dollars being well spent. Life is good.
~MET

Hiking in MY Park

 I took a long hike through the woods of central Maine in my namesake park (click on the pictures to make them bigger):

 I had never heard of it, but its is yet another hidden gem with miles of trails.  https://www.facebook.com/ThurstonPark/?fref=ts     It was also the first time I used this new toy:

 It's a little device that turns your trekking pole into a selfie stick for your phone. Again - there are miles of trails:

 I did the main loop today, which with the snow took a couple of hours. I did get off to a slow start because part of the trail had been flooded  by beavers:

 After surveying for several minutes I went on the ice to the right, which turned out to be safe. Much of the trail is wide and multi-safe:

 But there are lots of small side trails to explore. I saw a big doe, but couldn't get a picture as she bounded off. I did get what she left behind:

 One side trail takes you to this marker which was placed here in 1838:

 It's the spot where three towns come together. In this picture there are parts of me in China, Albion, and Palermo:

 There is also a lot of history on this trail network. I missed the side trail for the Thurston cellar hole (I''l be back many times), but I did get to this one:

It's a fantastic place to take a walk, and I'll visit many times I'm sure. There is still much to explore and it felt great to be outside. Life is good.
~MET