Good-bye Acadia, See You Next Year

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Today is Wendy and Dan's fourth wedding anniversary.  We wish them both a very happy day!

Our time goes by so fast, it's hard to believe it's already time to head home.  We got up about 7:30 to 45* temps and clear and sunny skies...a spectacular day!  We were on the road by 10:00 and the temp was already up to 60*.

Generally, we do a short hike or bike ride before heading home but today we decided to leave early and take our time checking out some of the sights we have driven by for years.

First up...the town of Ellsworth.

It has a nice Main Street with lots of small shops.  We stopped and took a nice walk up and down the street.  We stopped in a couple of antique shops because I always think it will be fun.  After half and hour or so, I realize it's all old stuff that I don't collect and I'm not going to buy so I get bored and we leave.  Eventually I'm going to figure out I don't enjoy antique shops...duh!

Even the town hall was nice to look at...

We left Ellsworth around 11:15 and drove to Bucksport, where we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts for coffee and donuts and instead of taking a left and heading over the Penobscot Narrows Bridge, we went straight and drove to the end of town (a short trip).  It did provide some great views of the bridge and Ft. Knox across the river.  You can read about our visit to the bridge here.

Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Ft. Knox

We were excited to get gas in Searsport for only $2.25!  Then we stopped at the Treasures & Trash Barn.  Oh brother...this place is loaded with Americana from top to bottom, in the front, along the side...everywhere!  How does anyone keep track of all this stuff?

We wandered around for half an hour, visited with the owner and were amazed to see things that we grew up with waiting for someone to fall in love with them and take them home.  The owner actually sorts through everything and puts it all away when the season ends, mid October.  Nothing is on a computer, it's all in his head.  He was really interesting to talk with.

Next stop, Moose Point State Park, a really nice place.

 Clearly there is not much beach at high tide but lucky for us, the tide was out!

Panorama

We had lunch at a picnic table near the beach and just enjoyed the great weather and the great view.  I nearly left my iPad on the bench but luckily Bill reminded me to grab it.  That would have sucked!

Next stop was another state park we had been wanting to check out - Lake St. George State Park.  It was also a nice area but not as nice as the one on the ocean.  It was beginning to get late and we still had quite a drive to get home so we only stayed long enough to take a couple of pictures.  The water was nice and clean and must have been fairly warm because a woman went swimming while we were there.

We stopped at L.L.Bean's in Freeport and dropped off our bikes for maintenance, then drove to the Backstreet Grill in Sanford for dinner.  Finally got home at 7:00.  It was a long day but it was nice to enjoy a relaxing drive home stopping to "smell the roses".  

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

Acadia Mtn. and Sommes Sound

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

52* and cloudy when we got up at 7:30.  The four of us agreed to hike Acadia Mountain, on the "quiet" side of the island. 

Bill and I have never climbed this peak but Wendy and Dan highly recommended it, so we were looking forward to something new. 

The climb isn't very long; however, there were several steep, rocky sections to conquer.

The summit is only 681 feet and the hike took 2.5 hours round trip.  

Although it was cloudy, the view of Sommes Sound was awesome.

From here, we traveled a little farther to the second summit, which provided even better views of the Sound.  Acadia Mountain was originally called Robinson Mountain but was renamed under the leadership of George B. Dorr, the first park superintendent in the early 1900's.

Even though the temperature only reached the mid 60's, we still worked up a sweat. 

We sat for awhile and enjoyed the view.  Wendy spotted a couple of bald eagles, which was pretty cool.  We will have to climb this again on a sunny day, the view would really be spectacular.

Oddly, the hike down was just as steep as the hike up!  Bill and I aren't any faster going down either but Wendy and Dan are very good sports.

We drove a short distance to Eagle Lake, where we sat on a dock near the water's edge and had lunch.

panorama view

From here we could pick up the Beech Cliffs Ladder Trail, which we talked about hiking but decided against it.  Wendy and Dan wanted to do some shopping, which was okay with us.  One hike a day is about our limit anyway.

We dropped them off at Edgewater and grabbed our books for some reading at Sand Pond.  It was windy and cool so we didn't last long there but found another place along the rocks where we read and napped for an hour or so.  We went to JPH for our usual but were disappointed in the popovers once again.  

We went into town and bought a couple of riding/hiking books for Wendy and Dan's anniversary (tomorrow).  Bar Harbor isn't very big and guess who we ran into...  Well, not technically but we did come across one another and they gave us a couple of dog treats shaped like squirrels they had purchased for Titan!  

Did some packing when we got back to our cottage because we have to head home tomorrow ;o(  

 

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

A Hiking and Biking Day in Acadia

Monday, September 21, 2015

Cool when we woke up this morning (48*) but clear and sunny!  The four of us left Edgewater around 9:30 and drove into Bar Harbor to walk over the sand bar to Bar Island.  In all the years we have been going to Bar Harbor, this is one of the places we have never visited.  The island can only be reached twice a day, one and a half hours either side of low tide and we never seemed to time it right.  

It's a very quick walk, taking about ten minutes to cross the sand bar and reach the island, then another 15-20 minutes to reach the summit.  We were rewarded with nice views of Bar Harbor and Cadillac Mountain from a different perspective. 

Photo bomb!

Bar Island summit...or not

After returning and looking again at the map, I think we may have missed the summit completely, stopping where everyone else stopped, assuming it was the summit.  Good grief...

We wandered along the water's edge on our way back.

Wendy checked out the water temperature, while Bill played lifeguard...

Brrr, looks warmer than it is

The water was crystal clear.

  

There are lots of rock cairns built along the shore.

Photo by Wendy

If you look closely near the left edge of the photo, you can see the cruise ship docked for the day.

There's lots of life in the tide pools and Dan found one of them.

We arrived back at the car around 11:30, the temp was up to 70*.  

From there, we drove to the North lot at Jordan Pond House and rode the Jordan Pond/Bubble Pond Loop.  This beautiful pair of horses passed us on the carriage road.

We left at 12:25 and arrived at Bubble Pond at 1:10 where we stopped for lunch. It was such a gorgeous day!

There's just a hint of what's to come up on the hill.

We were back at the car and ready for popovers by 2:40; Dan said it was 9.27 miles, uphill both ways!!!

We sat outside today and the popovers were much better than yesterday, thankfully.

We returned to the cottage and enjoyed the remaining sun.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

Hiking Cadillac Mountain

Sunday, September 20, 2015

There was a nice sunrise around 6:30 but it was overcast by the time we got up at 7:45.  

Wendy stopped over with our eggs from Keepin' It Local and our snack bars from Kim's Kitchen.  We decided to hike the Cadillac Mtn. North Ridge Trail after Wendy and Dan went for a bike ride.  We all met at the Hull's Cove Visitor's Center at 11:00.  

We left the Park Look Road at 11:16.

 

Wendy and Dan look so much more relaxed than we do.  For some reason, we remind me of the American Gothic painting...

We did stop several places along the way to take photos, because that's what we do.

Up we go...

Looking toward Bar Harbor and the Porcupine Islands.  It's turning out to be a nice day.

Taking a break and catching our breath.  Wendy and Dan are such good sports to hike with us, we are a lot slower than they are; however, we are a lot faster than we used to be thanks to our workouts at The Brickhouse Gym!

HA...I edited Wendy's thumb out but it's still there for some reason.  

We reached the summit at 12:34, found a spot out of the wind and had our lunch.

The View at Lunch

Wendy was totally disgusted that there was a gift shop and bathroom facilities on the summit of Cadillac Mountain ;o(  Although I could see her point, I did not hesitate to use the bathroom.  Then, to add insult to injury, we purchased coffees and a HUGE chocolate chip cookie in the gift shop.  We enjoyed our snacks while searching for the summit marker, which after all the times we have been on the summit, we have never looked for...

And the winner is...

DAN!

We took pictures at the summit before heading back to the car.

Two old farts on the summit of Cadillac Mtn. and we didn't use the car.

Turned out to be a perfect day but quite windy on the summit.

We even took a #BrickhouseStrong photo and shared it to Facebook for all the gym peeps.

#BrickhouseStrong

We were back at the car by 3:15, plenty of time to head to the Jordan Pond House for popovers and tea/coffee/chai. 

The outside seating was closed because of the wind so we were seated inside, along the corridor.  It was very noisy, the service was okay but the popovers were overcooked and the serving of butter and jam was very skimpy.   The price has increased to $10.50.

Bill and Dan bought t-shirts in the gift shop before we headed back to our cottages.

We met again at Little A's for pizza and to watch the football games, although the Patriots weren't playing.  We have eaten there before and really enjoyed the pizza; however, tonight's was not the best.  

Overall, a great outside day but a disappointment in the food department.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)