Maine {50 States of Yoga}

Me and my beautiful mother sporting tie-dyes!  Now you know where I get it from!

Maine was an amazing state and awful... all at the same time!  But the best part was having my mother along for the trip!

I love to shop... or more specifically.. I love to shop BARGAINS!  My Mom definitely gave this gift to me, so it is no surprise that we began our day trip from her home in New Hampshire at a thrift store and the Christmas Tree Shop! At the thrift store I found a great piece of yarn art - woven wall hanging - for $1.00!  Seriously... I was very excited.  I saw a few other things too, that I liked, but I knew I had a whole week ahead of me visiting family and would quickly run out of room in my suitcase.. so I took it easy.  Once we got closer to our destination, we also went shopping at the Christmas Tree Shop.  If you have ever been, you can appreciate my excitement!  We don't have them in CA, so when I visit family in New England, I try to get a trip in!

Yarn Wall Hanging from thrift store on my bedroom wall

We stopped for lunch at a roadside seafood restaurant with live lobsters and outdoor seating.  It is a typical place for the Eastern seaboard, filled with fresh seafood and fishermens' charm.  I had a pound of steamers and a shrimp cocktail.  My mom had a crab salad sandwich.

I had to see the Atlantic Ocean while we were in Maine.  We drove to the coast and walked along the shale.  I like to collect rocks from different places and usually take smaller rocks, palm-sized at most.  But I found a foot-long piece of shale and had to take it with me!  It now resides on my meditation altar in our backyard.

Atlantic Ocean in Maine

And this is where my trip turns sour.  

The sour part wasn't the yoga studio.. but what happened to me just a few minutes into the yoga class.  My Maine Class was at Kusum Institute in Scarborough.  Their studios are beautiful and so are their spirits!  As you know, my Mom was along on the journey with me, but unable to take the yoga class.  We planned for her to sit in the car, with the A/C running, while I took my class.  But my lovely instructor invited my Mom in and set her up in an unused studio.  How sweet!?!

As I settled into our Yin Yoga class, I started to feel extra hot, extra weak, extra sweaty.  Something wasn't right.  I got about 10 minutes into class and realized I had food poisoning.  I spent the rest of the class between the bathroom and lying on the ground in front of my mother in the spare studio, in fetal position.  It was awful.  Fortunately, I started to feel a little better and was able to drive us home that night.  Unfortunately, I missed most of my Maine yoga class!  I half considered trying to get back up there before I flew home {I was on my first state, of 6 states, in a week long trip - it was possible.}  But after I had made it through most of my week elsewhere, I decided my Maine experience, although not optimal, was my experience.  And it would have to do.