Cloudy, Cool and Windy

We slept late today 9:00 - it's Bill's fault, he's usually the early riser.  Not as nice today, 47* and windy.  

We took our time and din't leave the cottage till 12:15.  It had "warmed" up to 54*.

We knew today was going to be cloudy and cooler and had planned to ride our bikes but it's a lot cooler than we expected so instead, we drove into Bar Harbor and figured we would just wander around.  A lot of the businesses are closed on Tuesday and I suspect some are closed for good, thanks to the damn pandemic.  

It started spitting rain around 1:15 so we walked back down toward the pier and decided to have lunch at the Sunrise Cafe, which serves breakfast and lunch.  We ate outside on the dock.  It wasn't perfect, still cool and windy but it was outside.

We left at 2:00 and drove to Thunder Hole, thinking it would be an even better show today but we were disappointed.  The wind was blowing from the wrong direction, or the tide was too high, but whatever the reason, there wasn't a whole lot going on...except for the one idiot that always goes where they don't really belong.

He was standing out on the edge but I didn't get my camera out fast enough to catch him there.  

We did walk over to the left where the show was much better.

We left around 3:10 and drove back to Seawall where we parked on the side of the road and watched the waves through the window.

We sat and watched until 4:35, drove to the campground to turn around and spotted this deer snacking next to the road.

It didn't seem to mind sharing with the crows.  Must have been the right time of night as we drove back to the cottage because we spotted several more in the fields, including a couple of young males.

Not a great day but it could have been a lot worse if it actually rained all day.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

Today is Brought to You by the Color Blue

Cool this morning when I got up at 7:45...41* but bright and sunny!

Beautiful morning at Edgewater No. 6

It was only 30* at home so I suspect the remaining gazillion cherry tomatoes were probably frozen ;o(  

We left the cottage at 10:25 (56*) and headed toward Echo Lake to climb the Beech Cliff Ladder Trail.  We did this trail in 2013 and enjoyed it, although I was really nervous, based on the trail guide description.  They kind of overdid the "caution" factor.  

We arrived at Echo Lake around 10:50.  It was surprisingly fairly quiet.  It's one of the few lakes in Acadia where you can swim, although I think it might have been too chilly for that today, at least for me.

Left the trailhead at 11:03

Choices...choices...

We chose to see the overlook, which doesn't go anywhere except to the Beech Cliffs and nice views.

Echo Lake Beach

Echo Lake

It's beginning to look like fall...

This is even mentioned in the trail guide

and they aren't kidding!

It literally grows sideways.

Then we came to the first of four ladders.

I totally prefer ladders to iron rungs.

The summit isn't much farther.  We reached it only 45 minutes after starting.  When we climbed this in 2013, it took us 40 minutes so we haven't slowed down too much.  Bill pointed out...not even one minute a year!  Yay Us ;o)

We walked around the Beech Cliff Loop, only .4 of a mile but the views are awesome.  This is looking out toward the ocean but I can't figure out which islands these are.

Echo Lake Beach

Echo Lake and Somes Sound in the background

Panorama

This little red squirrel was super cute, munching away.  I took a video but, alas, can't figure out how to get it into the blog.  That's a project for another time...

Back to the summit and heading down, via the Canada Cliffs Trail.

We stopped here for lunch; it was the only place with a view.

Most of this trail was restored in the past few years.  I liked the way it goes through this tree.

We were back to the car at 1:40, 58*.  It sounds cold but it felt warm, thanks to the sun.

We left there and drove to Seawall to watch the waves, created by Hurricane Teddy, which is thankfully staying out to sea, although it may bring some rain tomorrow.  We stopped at a Circle K and bought bottled iced coffees, which we drank as we sat in our chairs at the edge of the water.

We probably stayed for half an hour but started to get chilly, so we packed up and headed to Thunder Hole, just to check things out.  It was definitely the best Thunder Hole visit - EVER!  The waves were crashing, the thunder was crashing and people that wanted to be as close as possible were getting soaked.  

The bottom section of the walk is closed for good reason.

We are working on a picture for the Christmas card and figure, we might as well be wearing a mask, since that pretty much sums up 2020.

Not sure this will make the cut.

It was a lovely day, filled with bright blue skies and big blue waters.

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)