Eagle Lake, Connor's Nubble and Bubble Pond

Got up around 8:00 to a clear and sunny morning!  WooHoo!!! It's about time.  Sat on the deck and enjoyed my coffee, watching a big fog bank along the opposite shore.  

Left the cottage around 10:30, 63* and sunny ;o)  Parked on the road near Eagle Lake and headed out for a nice, easy bike ride.  Well...easy except for the long, uphill ride along the edge of the lake.  But!  My notes indicate that the last time we rode this hill, I had to stop and walk up because I could not pedal uphill any more and this time...I rode the entire length of the hill.  I guess those hours at the Brickhouse are paying off. 

We rode to the trailhead of Connor's Nubble, locked our bikes and hiked to the summit, all of 588'.

Look at that blue sky!

We stayed up there for 25 minutes soaking up the sun.  It's such an easy climb with such great views.  However...Do Not climb wearing bifocal sunglasses and carrying a water bottle. There are a couple of places where both hands come in handy.

Eagle Lake from Connor's Nubble

Looking across Eagle Lake to Cadillac Mtn from Connor's Nubble

Mount Katahdin in the distance?

Looking the other direction

Going down was a lot easier!  We hopped back on our bikes and rode to Bubble Pond for lunch.  We had the only picnic table to ourselves, along with the view.

The wind was blowing 16 mph right off the water but it was still warm.  It was windy enough to create white caps.

The parking lot at Bubble Pond is no longer available to use so if you don't walk around the corner, you would never see this awesome bridge.

We rode back along the other side of Eagle Pond to our car, arriving at 1:56.

From there we drove maybe 10 minutes to the Asticou Inn for our fix of popovers and tea.  It was amazing how foggy it was there and we watched the fog roll in and out while having our treat.

We drove home through Bar Harbor and Bill waited in the car while I bought an "I (heart) BHM" car magnet.  Profits from the sale benefit a local non profit.

Got back to the cottage around 4:00 and sat down by the shore reading till 5:00.  

Bill grilled burgers which we ate with some green beans that Dave gave us and some broccoli.

Packed most of my stuff and the groceries, except for the food in the fridge.  We both agreed it was a good week although it went by too fast.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)  

It's All About Plan B

Got up early in order to get a parking space so we could hike the Cadillac North Ridge Trail.  Apparently, you need to get up at the crack of dawn in order to park in the park!  I liked the "good ole days" better when Acadia wasn't so darn crowded.  

We left the cottage before 9:00, which is unheard of for us!  It was 68*, mostly cloudy and breezy.  Got to the parking area, all eleven spaces, by 9:06 and didn't someone pull into the only available space two seconds before us. ;o(  Pulled over a little beyond where we wanted to park and didn't that same damn car go past us.  Apparently, they pulled in to see the view, of which there isn't one, and pulled right back out again.  GRRRRRR  

We drove out of the park and back around, hoping to catch an open spot, only to have the same damn thing happen again.  One space open and a car pulls into it Right.In.Front.Of.US!!!  Apparently we were not meant to hike that trail today.

Sooooo, we drove to the parking area at Sand Beach and decided to hike The Beehive.  Not my favorite hike, makes me very anxious.

We hit the trailhead at 9:50

It seemed there were a number of new iron rungs and handholds but I was still super anxious.

There are a number of great views of Sand Beach but the light wasn't the best for taking pictures ;o(  and I'm too technologically challenged to figure out how to adjust it on my phone, which just totally makes me mad.

We reached the summit in about 50 minutes, not too far off our previous times of around 45 minutes.  

Took our summit photo, which for some reason, was not easy and it didn't come out very well. (sigh) 

(I'll insert the photo here when I ever figure out how to get it out of my Airdrop!)

There are some nice views of the Porcupine Islands from the summit.

There's a little color.

From the summit, we headed down the other side and toward The Bowl, a pond among the mountains.

I found this rock in the path.

We have had lunch at The Bowl several times and were surprised to see "our" rock was free from other hikers, so we sat and ate our lunch.  It was still cloudy and breezy, but fairly warm, around 68*.  Not bad but I prefer a sunny day.

Did I say "breezy"?  Well, "someone" didn't stow their plastic lids appropriately and one of them blew into the water.  Thankfully, the wind was blowing toward us.  

That does not belong in there.

Since I thought the "someone" involved was me, I took off my boots and socks and went in after it.

The water was cool but not freezing, quite nice actually.

Only after I climbed back out, did I learn that the "someone" was NOT me, but was, however, Bill.

(more photos to insert...)

We headed back to the car around 11:53 and got to the car about 12:30.  We used the restroom and walked to Thunder Hole, stopping at the gift shop for a cold beverage.  Bill spotted this cool mushroom.  I had to take two pictures because the first one had my finger in it.  Good grief!

Not much happening at Thunder Hole but we sat on the rocks for awhile and enjoyed the view.  The ocean was pretty calm today.

Back to the car and off to The Asticou Inn for popovers and tea.

Nice view of Northeast Harbor and the gardens at the Inn.

The sun actually came out for a short time.  WooHoo!!!

We arrived back at the cottage about 3:30 and had plenty of time to sit in the adirondack chairs and read.  The sun stayed in Northeast Harbor. We stayed outside till about 5:00.  

I came in and took a shower.  Bill grilled steak tips for dinner.  We watched a segment of the History of Country Music on Maine Public TV.  

A pretty decent day for a Plan B.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

Penobscot Mtn., Sargent Mtn. Pond and Fog...Lots of Fog

Up at 8:00 and ready to go by 10:00, actually we were in the car with Wendy and Dan and leaving three minutes early!  We decided to hike Penobscot Mountain, then to Sargent Mountain Pond and Sargent Mountain.

We left from the tail marker at 10:47.

There was a lot of fog, restricting the awesome views described in the guidebook but these berries provided some color.

We reached the Penobscot Mtn. summit at 12:00, took pictures and ate lunch.

It appears that at some point, some scumbag stole part of the summit marker. Grrr!

Nothing to see here...

To be honest, I was pretty creeped out by the fog and was anxious that it would get thicker until we couldn't see the cairns and we would get lost.  However, I was the only one concerned.  

Onward toward Sargent Mtn. pond...

From here we planned to climb to the summit of Sargent Mtn. but we missed the trail and ended up at Deer Brook Trail, which was the way we planned to head down.  Rather than turn back, we headed back to the car.

When we came to the carriage road, Dan took the road toward the Jordan Pond House and the three of us continued down to Jordan Pond, where we walked along the pond and met up with Dan where the trail meets the road.

Looking toward the Bubbles

Still pretty foggy...

Back at the car, it felt so good to take off our hiking boots!  We drove to the Asticou Inn for more popovers.  It was chilly on the deck but our awesome waiter, Wes, brought everyone a blanket, a nice warm Land's End blanket.  We were his only table and he was super attentive and personable.  We each ordered coffee, along with a cup of artichoke soup because it came with 2 popovers and was only an additional $2!  We all thought it was a pretty sweet deal.  The soup was very hot and very good, as were the popovers.  Wes was rewarded with a generous tip.

We came back to our cottages, Wendy & Dan headed next door to take a nap, then go into town.  I made notes in my guidebooks about our hike, Bill did some reading.  The "kids" stopped in to say good night when they got home.  

Not a very good weather day, which always puts me in a bad mood, but overall not a bad day. 

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

Back to Bar Harbor...WooHoo!!!

Sunday, September 17

We left the house by 9:00, had breakfast at McDonalds, stopped at Wendy and Dan's to pick up a table from their "forgotten" list, ate lunch in Belfast and arrived at the Asticou Inn in Northeast Harbor a little after 2:00, where we met W & D for popovers and beverages.  We drove most of the way in the fog but it was 64* on the deck and sunny!  We had a good view of the harbor and could see the fog in the distance.

The waiter was kind enough to take a group photo for us.  Everyone looks good in this one, except me...

I look better in this one, but it's not as good of Wendy.

Interesting that the guys look good in both of them.  

The popovers were large and wonderful.  In fact, we had to wait about 20 minutes to get an order fresh out of the oven!  I think mine looked like a walrus.

The price was $10 for two popovers and tea or coffee, about the same as last year.

The kids headed into town, Bill and I headed to the Edgewater Motel and Cottages, our home away from home.  We unpacked, then sat in chairs down by the water until about 5:30, when we got chilly.

We brought filets to celebrate Wendy and Dan's sixth wedding anniversary.  They provided portobello mushrooms and brussels sprouts.  We also brought some pears that the guys grilled for dessert.  

We played a game of Racko, which I barely won.  Hooray for me!  I'm not a very good winner but I'm a terrible loser!

 We came "home" around 9:00 and watched a documentary about Vietnam by Ken Burns.  I took a shower.

We plan to hike Penobscot Mtn. with Wendy and Dan tomorrow, weather permitting.  Hurricane Jose is working it's way up the east coast and although it doesn't appear it will make landfall along the coast, it will screw up the weather.  We should get to see some great surf, tho!

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)