Tornado Watch...I Hate This!

I do not like being in the red target area! EEEK! 

We are behind the C in Port Charlotte ;o(

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

The Sunshine State

 is not always sunny ;o)

However, it's snowing at home, so all is well.

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;o)

In The Weather Box

This happened right on top of us last night.  

Bill said it was quite a storm!  Tessa and I slept right through it.

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;o)

Bonus Day in November

We've enjoyed several awesome weather days in the last couple of weeks and today was another one.  Beautiful blue skies and a temperature in the low 70's!  We donned our shorts and headed into Portland to walk around the Back Cove.

This stately tree sits up on the hill, watching over the cove.  It must have been spectacular when it's leaves were in full color.

Our only complaint was the wind, blowing at 19 mph. However, the sun was shining and we were getting some exercise, so it was all good!

We had lunch at The Miss Maine Diner, then headed home.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

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)  

Thunderstorms Predicted

Wendy and Dan enjoyed a relaxing morning, not leaving the house till after noon.  Bill and I took Titan for a walk, brought him home and left to run errands.  We went to Mercer's for coffee, Beef Country for filets and twice stuffed potatoes, Lowes and Publix.  We got home around 2:00 and ate lunch.

Wendy and Dan went to Hurricane Charley's, where Dan loves the sushi, then they "broke" into the pool.

"Just another shitty day in Florida!"

They got back to the house around 4:00.  We had iced coffees - thanks Dan - and sat around waiting for the predicted thunderstorms to pass.  We gave Titan his medication and he pretty quickly fell asleep.  It's so much easier on him with his new medication, otherwise he is a freakin' wreck during storms.  He was sleeping peacefully and the storms, which weren't severe (thankfully) had passed, so at 6:30 we headed to The Celtic Ray for dinner.  Found a nice corner table upstairs, enjoyed a great meal and got home about 8:00.

I fed Titan and Bill played with him, even actually getting two of his nails cut, which he doesn't tolerate very well.  We played Racko till after 10:00.  I was ahead when we decided to call it a night and continue tomorrow.

Bill and I are heading home in one month.  Where has the winter gone?

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

Eagle Lake, Shore Path and Bar Island

Tuesday, September 19

Wendy and Dan headed out for a bike to hike to hammock adventure.  They rode their bikes from the Jordan Pond House, to Deer Brook Trail, hiked up the trail to Sargent Mtn. Pond, set up their hammocks near the pond and spent some quiet time together.  Looks like fun!

photo by Wendy

We drove to Eagle Lake and rode our bikes around the loop.  Not the nicest day...

A picture's worth a thousand words

We stopped a couple of times to takes pictures but it took maybe an hour and that included me walking part of the way up a looooooong hill because my knees and thighs were killing me!

It's usually really pretty but not so much today, unless you're a fan of fog, which some people are...

I thought these super tiny pinecones were cute and the spider web was pretty awesome, which admittedly I would not have seen and enjoyed if not for the fog/mist/rain.

These yellow flowers were everywhere, so we asked one of the rangers what they were and the answer...ragweed!  Apparently there are several varieties...who knew?

And these lovelies are New England asters.

We watched these three ducks forage along the edge of the lake for quite awhile.  I thought they might be loons, which they weren't and it was pretty hard to tell what they looked like because of the low light, so they remain unidentified floating objects.

Three UFO's

We drove to the Jordan Pond House gift shop where Bill bought a nice, lightweight, hooded t-shirt and I bought a postcard for Lori.  We ate our lunch in the car in the parking lot...boring ;o(  

From there into town, where we parked near the road to Bar Island because it was super busy.  We walked along the Shore Path and discovered a new park area, called Grant Park.  On a nicer day, we would sit and enjoy a cup of coffee; maybe next year.

You can't tell but there is a very large cruise ship out there! 

Walking back to the car, we took the short "hike" over the Bar Island since it was low tide and you can only get there 1 1/2 hours either side of low tide.  You can learn a little more about Bar Island here, including which town has jurisdiction over the island, which might surprise you.

We came home and read for awhile (well, I might have taken a nap) and after dinner we went next door to play dominoes with Wendy and Dan...Wendy was the big winner!

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)

Today is Brought to You by the Letter A

Today started out very foggy with a temperature of 61* and it was HUMID!!!

We left the cottage around 10:25 with our bikes to ride the "bike ride of the week" in the Acadia Weekly newspaper, The Little Harbor Brook Loop, aka Amphitheater Loop.  It leaves from the gatehouse on Rt. 198 in Northeast Harbor and is reported to take one hour.

Because I have apparently lost my ability to read a map, we took a wrong turn at the very first intersection, #18.  Instead of going right, we went left, which led us up a very long and very steep hill, where we came across #13...we were supposed to be at #19!  OMG.  We had to make a big loop, connecting with #12, then back to #19, then around the correct loop.  The only good thing about our mistake was the extra bridges we came across.

The Hadlock Brook Bridge, built in 1926...

and Hadlock Brook...

The obligatory "selfie"...

View from the Hemlock Bridge, built in 1924.

It's been so dry, I'm surprised there is any water in these streams.

The Waterfall Bridge...

I mentioned it was foggy.

Probably a nice view on a clear day.

The Amphitheater Bridge, built in 1931, was on the section of the ride that we did correctly.  This bridge is incredible, curved in a manor that reminds one of an amphitheater and the stonework is amazing.

We crossed the Little Harbor Brook Bridge and the Little Harbor Brook.

We managed to turn a one hour ride into two.

The parking area for this ride is next to one of the two gatehouses that were built in the park.  

From there we went to the Northeast Harbor marina and ate our lunch.  We were pleasantly surprised that the fog had lifted and the sun came out.

We could actually see Cadillac Mountain in the background. 

From here, we drove a short distance to the Asticou Gardens, which we haven't been to in several years.  It's a beautiful, calming, relaxing area incorporating water, plantings, lawns, sand garden and many quiet areas to sit and enjoy the solitude.

Even a couple of resident ducks taking a nap.

The last time we were here was earlier in the year and the azaleas and rhododendrons were blooming.  Not sure what the identity of this particular rhododendron is, but it could be the Yakushima variety, which has a suede-like brown coating on the underside of the leaves.

Whatever it is, it's very pretty and soft.

There were still some nice plants in bloom.

Campanula...aka Bellflower

no idea ;o(

Toad Lily

These were calling our names, so we sat...

We smelled a very sweet fragrance from here but could never identify where it was coming from.

There was just a hint of color in the woods, as well as around the pond.

Even one of the gates was appealing.

We spent about an hour in the gardens, which were quite busy, as was most everything in and around the park.  To complete our day, we had popovers and tea at the Asticou Inn, almost across the street from the gardens.

Normally, there would be a great view of Northeast Harbor, but the fog settled back in, obscuring everything, except the pool.

It started to clear slightly by the time we left.  If you look closely, you can just start to make out some of the boats in the harbor.

We drove back into Bar Harbor on our way home to pick up a couple of items at Hannaford. OMG!!!  I could NOT deal with that crowd every day, all season.  I would go insane.

Sat on our deck for awhile when we got back to the cottage, then had dinner.  Wendy and Dan came by and we made plans for tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)