Project Complete

Well, it's not rocket science; however, I have completed the project Wendy gave me earlier today...attach the strings to the tags.  

All Done!

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

This is Becoming a Habit

Technically, I don't think it's really Indian Summer because we have not had a hard frost.  However, the weather has been sunny and clear with above normal temperatures for the past couple of days.  After spending the morning volunteering with the shelter clinic staff at a rabies clinic, we loaded up the bikes and headed to our new favorite spot, Bug Light Park.  

It was nearly 80* with not a single cloud in the sky when we left Wainwright Park around 2:00.  I had vowed not to take any pictures since this was the third time in a month we made the same ride, but the trees are turning color and they were beautiful.

The trees were a lot prettier in person

Plus, every time we have taken this ride, I have spotted something that makes me go...hmmmmm

 

Two pair of sneakers hanging from the electrical wires.  Hmmmmm...

It only takes us about 30 minutes to get to the park.  It's such an easy ride with a spectacular payoff.

I love the pano feature on my phone.

There was a nice breeze today, which accounts for these two really cool kites.

 

We stayed for nearly an hour.  Wonder if we'll make another visit this year ;) or we'll have to wait for warm weather again next year ;(

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

A Little Bike, A Little Hike

We started today with a bike ride.  We decided on a route that would allow Wendy and Dan to do some hiking without needing to get in the car and drive somewhere else.  We started at the Jordan Pond House and headed along the pond toward Eagle Lake.  The trail rises fairly steeply causing Bill and I to stop regularly.  I felt bad for Wendy and Dan because they were nice enough to stop with us so it takes them a lot longer to reach the destination.

Jordan Pond and the South Bubble

The morning had started out foggy but it cleared off nicely by the time we got started.  It was truly a spectacular day!  The color of the lake is unbelievable.

We stopped several times along the way to catch our breath and take pictures.

These water plants were green on the top and red on the bottom.

After peddling for approximately 50 minutes, we stopped at the end of Eagle Lake and had snacks.

One of the many beautiful bridges in Acadia

We continued in a clockwise direction around Eagle Lake.  Traveling in this direction is much easier than going counter clockwise; Bill & I learned that the hard way.  We still had to pedal a fairly long uphill section before reaching the trail head for Connor's Nubble and the Bubbles.  We hiked up the steep and rocky .1 mile trail to the top of the nubble where we took more photos, ate lunch and enjoyed the view.  I didn't remember the trail being quick so rocky!  It was made more difficult because Bill and I were carrying our bike bags and water bottles so we had no free hands.  The "kids" helped us by taking the bags and attaching them to their backpacks.  Poor planning on our part.

It's my bike bag, not my purse.

I totally forgot about the panoramic capability of my phone.

Eagle lake with Cadillac Mtn in the background

We returned to the carriage road and went our separate ways.  Wendy and Dan crossed the road and hiked to the Bubbles.  Bill and I rode back to the JPH where we sat in the sun for a little while before treating ourselves (again) to popovers and tea.

We stopped at the store on our way home and picked up crab cakes and potato salad for dinner.  Wendy and Dan invited us to join them so we ate together in Cottage No. 8, a nice ending to a really nice day.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

Dorr Mountain

For the first time, we are in Bar Harbor the same time Wendy & Dan are here.  It didn't happen by chance, we purposely planned it so we could do some hiking together.  Soooo, today is the day.  

We agreed to climb the Kurt Diederich's Climb up Dorr Mtn.  This mountain is named after one of the men responsible for the preservation of much of this area.  We picked the trail up at the Sieur de Monts Nature Center on the East side of the park by taking the Wild Garden Path toward The Tarn.  According to Wikipedia..."A tarn ... is a mountain lake or pool, formed in a cirque excavated by a glacier".

The Tarn actually looks very "marshy" from this angle but when we looked down on it, the appearance was more "watery".

We crossed this awesome granite block bridge at the end of The Tarn

took a photos of "the boys" next to one of the many trail heads we came across

before we finally started climbing.

This climb has lots of granite steps covering half a mile and was originally built in 1913.  

 

 

Nice views of Bar Harbor and the three cruise ships there for the day.  Three cruise ships means...it's good to be on the mountain and not in town!

More pictures of us...

 

Throw back Thursday (although its only Sunday) to the last time Bill and I hiked this trail...September, 2004.  We were so much younger then ;o)

 

Although the leaves are just beginning to turn color, there is some color around.

After two hours, we reached the summit.

Cadillac Mtn in the background

We sat out of the wind, had a snack and took more pictures before heading back down.  (I will edit this when I get the pictures from Wendy.)  
Another TBT from 2004.

We took the North Ridge Trail down, at the suggestion of the Ranger in the Visitor's Center, which was very rocky and kind of sucked.  It had rained earlier in the morning and many of the rocks were wet and slippery.  I know this for a fact because, although Wendy indicated that it was slippery, I took one step, my feet went quickly and completely out from under me and I landed flat on my hip/butt before sliding down the rest of the, thankfully, small rock.  Shortly after that, Bill slipped and was able to catch himself by grabbing some tree branches before coming to a stop.  Luckily, he didn't fall.  I think we were all relieved when we reached the bottom.

We followed the Hemlock Road for a short distance

to the intersection of the Jesup Trail, a beautiful boardwalk trail, back to the nature center.

Bill and I commented that this is possibly one of the only handicap/wheelchair accessible trails in the park.

We arrived back at the car at 2:15 and were surprised at how overcast and foggy it had become.  We drove to the Jordan Pond House where we enjoyed popovers and tea, served by a very unhappy/unpleasant waitress.

Wendy and Dan met us in Bar Harbor where we watched the end of the Broncos game (sorry Payton, you lose) and treated them to dinner to celebrate their THIRD anniversary; nothing special, pizza and burgers.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

The Bubbles and Jordan Pond Trail

T0day dawned cool and windy with high thin clouds.  We headed out around 10 (not bad for us) and it was 59* and really windy!!!  Thought we would take it a little easy today because tomorrow we will be hiking with Wendy & Dan and we didn't want to wear ourselves out.  After some discussion, we decided on The Bubbles.

This is a pretty easy trail, taking us only 30 minutes to reach the North Bubble summit.

Seriously?  How many times will I take a picture with my hand in it?

Jordan Pond was filled with whitecaps today.

 It was incredibly windy, very difficult to keep standing.

There is blue sky in the background but I have on three layers of clothes, including long underwear.

From here we hiked down for 15 minutes, then headed back up to the South Bubble.

This trail was even easier than the other one but it still took 15 minutes to reach the top.  The North Bubble is visible in the background.  We found a place out of the wind, had a snack and soaked up a little sun before we headed down.

It was all downhill from here, taking us 25 minutes to reach the car.

We drove to an overlook on the road up Cadillac Mtn. and ate lunch.  It was so windy that it blew our park pass off the rear view window and it nearly went out the other window.  Yikes.

We drove back to the Jordan Pond House and walked around Jordan Pond before having our annual popovers and tea.

Rock bridge at end of Jordan Pond

Stretching out and soaking up some sun

New wooden bridges at other end of the pond

Wendy and Dan moved into Cottage No. 8 this afternoon; we played SkipBo after dinner.  Bill and Wendy each won a game.

Thanks for stopping by.
;o)