Friday

The last day on a vacation is like the last spoon of ice-cream: you want to savor the flavor, but you’re not if it’s hot. Okay, that made no sense at all. I guess what I’m trying to say is “parting is such sweet sorrow,” but that wouldn’t be very original. Still, the last day of a week-long vacation always seems time warp to just three days. And now, even that last day is over.

A memorial to Joseph H. Curtis, a landscape architect who lived a Thuya lodge.

The first thing I did today was go out in the kayaks with Nate and Lani. It was so calm that the water was like a mirror. The only wind was from the wings of the mesquites that were determined to devour me. But it was super pretty and I was amazed how the falling tide moved us all out toward the Atlantic. Little schools of fish were dodging some predator down there and putting on a show for us.

In my preparations for the last day’s adventures, I carefully packed my camera gear and left it behind. We started off with Jordan’s this morning and blueberry pancakes — those were good, then shopping. Everyone ducked into the Morning Glory Bakery, but it was too hot in there for me. Later on, I think I drove around the block three times waiting for the ladies to leave the Alpaca & Sheepskin shop. I wanted to visit all the art galleries in town, but I satisfied myself with 15 minutes in the Alone Moose Fine Crafts gallery. The fellow running the store was a water color artist. I could have stayed all day. These was an interesting diversity of work and subject there. It was nice to spend a little time walking around Bar Harbor again.

A great place to stop on your way up to Thuya Gardens.

The view of Northeast Harbor from the steps up to Thuya Gardents.

Straw, sticks, bricks? Doesn’t matter little pigs if you’ll just build that house at the top of a big enough hill. All the huffing and puffing will be out of that old wolf.

Next we went to Thuya Gardens near Northeast Harbor and checked out the lodge and gardens. We parked in a little lot on Highway 3 and walked up. A beautiful, enchanting, landscape on an incline that will take the wind out of the old and out of shape. More on this later. There are great benches all the way up where you can rest and take in the view of the harbor and the activity of the boats and town. At the top is the lodge and a very patient and friendly lady who can tell you all about Curtis, his work and his house, the libraries, clock, and garden which was added after his passing. Loved it. The gardens were beautiful and restful, every kind of flower imaginable. And you’ll have to imagine them, because I left my camera at Ella’s.

We learned that Joseph H. Curtis built the steps up the granite cliffs and summered in the lodge at the top until he died at the age of 80. He walked down this path every day to eat dinner at the Asticou Inn and then back up to the lodge. I’m not even 60 yet and it took the wind out of me. That’s okay, I’m inspired to get in better shape. We also learned that their is a paved road up to the lodge and a parking lot by the gardens. We had driven past it twice and never seen it inspire of the sign. Nate walked back down the path with me because he was afraid I’d fall and then we drove the car up the little one-lane road to pick the others up. Good place to visit.

The view from Jordan Pond House.

The group split up at this point. The Walkers and Townleys took the ferry to Great Cranberry Island while my family had tea and popovers at Jordan Pond House. Hey, that climb to Thuya Garden just about popped me over. Time for a break. Then we were ready to call it a day and rest up a bit for the long drive tomorrow. Tsegaye, Nate and I had the foosball and ping-pong tournaments in the basement and then I went for a little walk to photograph the local flora. For dinner, Nate, Darrel and I went to Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound to satisfy Nate’s hunger for one last Maine lobster. That was a full day, over in the blink of an eye. Just like ice-cream.

The Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound.

Nathaniel getting to the last lobster of the trip.

Thursday

Time is running out. How does that happen? The Walkers and Townleys left to catch the sunrise and eat blueberry pancakes. You’ll have to ask them how that went, I slept in. Rumor has it they also went on a 200-mile hike and rock climbing adventure. I couldn’t tell you. But I got up eventually and tried to catch up a little on this blog so my daughter could see the pictures. Apparently, she doesn’t leave comments.

Whale skull at the College of the Atlantic campus.

Jerry, Teresa, and Linda onboard the Starfish Enterprise.

Our naturalist, Acadia Park Ranger Eleanor.

Seals taking a morning nap away from the sharks.

The classic Maine photo, a lobster boat with gulls waiting for the stinky bait.

Diver Ed going for a swim.

We learned about how sea cucumbers use “anal gasping” to breath. Yeah, that’s right: they breath through their butt.

A lobster attacking Diver Ed, fortunately his dive buddy came to the rescue.

Todays adventure: Diver Ed’s Dive-In Theatre from the Starfish Enterprise. What a deal. We choose a ride that included Eleanor, a Park Ranger from Acadia National Park. She educated us on a variety of things as we were going from place to place. On the way out we saw seals resting on a little island. We saw a gull harassing a bald eagle. We saw dolphins following the boat. We went by all of the Porkupine Islands and learned their names (if you Burn(t) Sheep too Long they go Bald). Diver Ed took an HD camera down with him to about 60 feet and showed us the life of the sea floor. We saw sea stars, sea cucumbers, scallops, lobsters, crabs, plankton, feeding barnacles, and a jillion things I don’t remember. His wife, Captain Evil, narrates while Ed is diving. I can tell you, this is good stuff. Family fun, educational, entertaining, you gotta go on this if you are ever up here.

The campus of the College of the Atlantic is very beautiful. The buildings are old and the grounds are well gardened. There is a natural history museum you can check out while waiting for the tour group to depart.

After Diver Ed’s trip, we rode to Southwest Harbour and had dinner at XYZ, a Mexican restaurant. Go figure. Then we came back to Ella’s and crashed. I’m going to bed now, goodnight. More pictures below…

This is the mouth of an anemone.

Everybody eats the barnacle, but here it’s the barnacle’s turn to feast.

Just a fish. Don’t remember what they said about this little guy. Sorry. You know what would be cool? If someone posted a comment and told me what it was!

The scallop is the only bivalve clam (forgot what they called this family of critters) that can swim around (sort of) to escape danger.

They aren’t starfish. Fish have spines. They are sea stars. Got it?

Diver Ed back onboard, escaping from his wet suit.

The sea star can’t be aged since it regenerates so much of its body.

Can you determine the gender of a crab. Washington Monument tail or Capitol Building tail? Didn’t know they had tails? Me either.

Cute and crabby, boys, cute and crabby.

When they molt, it’s good to have a rock to hide under. We learned a lot about how they are regulated and how they used to be “trash” fish until the cod were gone.

One of the wonders of weathering on one of the Porcupine Islands.

Looks like fun, doesn’t it?

Tuesday – Wednesday

Sailing is calling you in Bar Harbor.

A lobster fisherman at work.

Off shore at Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge.

Lighthouse at Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge.

Awkward out of water, the puffin has to really work at flying.

The puffin looks a bit like a flying penguin.

I admire folks who can relax on vacation — those who don’t feel compelled to try to do everything there is to do in the area they visit. I’m not one of those people, but I did have the passing thought that one of the real reasons I came to Maine was to be in Maine. Time passes so fast it’s important to spend a little of it just being here, realizing where you are, soaking in the surroundings, and letting some of the tension dissipate. That’s the theory anyway.

Having said that, let’s see… what have we been doing?

Tuesday we went on a big catamaran jet boat to with about 150 other people to see puffins and whales. Super cool. We all went together and left the dock at Bar Harbor about 8:30 A.M. Someone said we went out about 25 miles. On the way we stopped an Petit Manan Island where there is a lighthouse, fog horn (every 15 seconds, 24/7), and a research station. There was a scientist/teacher (Leah) from the College of the Atlantic on board who spoke on a PA system and at this stop she hooked us up to a radio conversation with a researcher we could see on the Island. We saw a ton of birds (maybe more) nesting, flying and swimming. The puffin looks a bit like a flying penguin. This was all good, but we were eager to see a whale.

Thanks, Don, for the telephoto lens as this was at least a mile away.

Our guide said this could be a communication activity or a way to clean the skin of barnacles.

Splash! She also said each fin weighed roughly the same as her Honda Accord.

Both whales slapping fins.

The tail signaling a feeding dive.

The tour made it pretty clear that whales are on their own schedule and they could be planning something else today. The only guarantee was the offer of a raincheck if we didn’t see any. They took us to a spot where the are underwater mountains providing structure because they had seen whales here recently and it is a good place for the whales to feed. Sure enough, as we approached the spot we saw a whale breaching about a mile away. When we got closer, we had 30 to 45 minutes of excellent time up close a personal with two humpback whales. Our naturalist/educator knew them by name and told us so much that I’ll never remember. We got to smell whale breath. I don’t recommend it, but she said it was a good thing because it confirmed their success at feeding. This was a great experience.

Afterward, we separated by gender and some shopped while others ate. After regrouping, we sat on the grass under a tree and looked at big sailboats and yachts moored in Bar Harbor. There was a new yacht available that sleeps ten, can make 3700 miles without refueling and was for hire for an around the world cruise. Maybe next year. We bought barbecue on the way home. Good day.

Dolphins playing with us while boating in the Union River Bay.

Lani and Tsegaye amongst the dolphins.

This was almost as cool as the whales.

So close I could not frame in time.

Livin’ the dream.

Darrel Walker (photo by Tsegaye)

The old man (photo by Tsegaye)

Jerry Townley (photo by Tsegaye)

Wednesday: our rental of Ella’s include the use of a little (really little) row boat and two one-person kayaks. Tsegaye has been chomping at the bit since we got here for Lani to take him kayaking. We’ve either been busy or the bay was too rough to do that until Wednesday morning. It was funny the night before when he said he was tired of “if, probably, and maybe” and just wanted to go. Wednesday morning was beautiful: clear and calm. So there was nothing for it but to drag the boats out (low tide, of course) and have a go at it. Lani and Tsegaye were already gone before I got the row boat launched (with help). For a row boat, this thing sure was wobbly. But out I go with big hat, orange life jacked, camera bag, water bottle, and all the required dork supplies. Isn’t it great about row boats, the way you can see where you’ve been but not where your going? After nearly colliding with some big rocks and a moored sailboat, I’m just about to catchup with Lani and Tsegaye when a dolphin blows about five feet from me. Kind of freaked out, but it was so cool. There were two of them and they were just playing with me. Lani and Tsegaye had been sitting still watching them for the longest. They’d come up every few minutes to breath, just like the whales on Tuesday, and then come up for a breath. Then they were gone.

Acadia Carriage Road Stables.

The team of Belgians that pulled our “carriage”.

A look at another group on the Carriage Roads.

One of the bridges the Rockefeller had build on the Carriage Roads.

The triple arch ridge seen from above.

Jordan Stream was the coolest place I’ve ever been.

The “controversial” cobble stone bridge (1917).

Under the cobblestone bridge.

Looking upstream under the cobblestone bridge.

The Gatehouse on the Carriage Road.

Granite cliffs where drilling and blasting cleared the way for the Carriage Road.

If your vehicle can turn on a dime, this carriage can turn on a line of credit.

After the boating, Nate and I had a round of mini-golf then we all split up again for the next excursion. Linda and I went on a carriage ride (more like a buckboard ride on the carriage roads) while the rest of our crew rented bicycles and likewise took the carriage roads. In the process, Nate was collided with by a boy on a bike. He was hit in the leg hard enough that it blew out the renegade bikers tire. His leg still looks swollen and bruised this morning. The other boy likely had a broken hand. Otherwise, they all seemed to have had a good time. Tsegaye rode tandem, with Darrel and Jerry taking turns at the helm. Linda and I had an interesting old guy with a thick Bar Harbor accent telling all about John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and the carriage roads as he steered a team of Belgians down the Bridges Tour. Very informative and dusty. I hope Linda enjoyed the ride as much as I did. The highlight for me was walking down to Jordan Stream and looking around below the cobblestone bridge. Wow. I was back in the Hobbit on my way to Rivendell.

When we met back at Ella’s, we were all pretty beat, but the Walkers and Townleys are determined to see the sun rise on Cadillac Mountain in the morning, leaving at 4:00 A.M. Much as I’d love to join them, I think it’s time to apply my theory of just being here.

Monday

Morning beer. This picture was banned from Facebook.

We stared our day with a long beach excursion. Didn’t go that far, just a long study of the beach. You have to look close to see the good stuff. Jerry and I debated the height of the tide, I don’t know – just looked up the chart. Nate and Tsegaye go in the water a little.

Nate didn’t want to wear the bib. Turns out he didn’t need it.

The Irish Pub in Bar Harbor was our lunch destination today. Nathaniel had lobster and I have to say I’ve never seen the meat leave the shell with such ease. Very little mess, but it left him still hungry and cleaning up a few sandwiches. So of our group had come to Bar Harbor and Mt. Cadillac on Sunday afternoon and reported on the lack of crowds and the leisurely pace. That seems to have changed for Monday. The place was hoppin’ and parking was scarce.

We split up for the next planned adventure, bicycling on the carriage roads. Linda and I opted for the carriage ride. Both failed. Too late for any decent bicycle time and you have to have reservations for the carriages. I spent the rest of the day trying to make that reservation and did not succeed. I did, however, reserve a trip with Diver Ed and the Dive-In Theatre boat trip for Thursday. We leave at 1:30 P.M. The bike ride is postponed until Wednesday. We all have tickets for a whale-watching boat trip on Tuesday.

So Linda and I drove the park Loop Road and up to Cadillac Mountain. That was a nice view, lots of geology and weathering lessons. Then we met up with the rest of the group who had gone to Sand Beach. Nate and Tsegaye were still kind of blue from the cold water. Tsegaye still had sand in his hair after two showers. I haven’t had the heart to look at the back seat of the car yet.

Sorry, Thunder fans. We were too late for the tip-off.

At Thunder Hole our timing was off once again. You want to be here at 3/4 high tide on the rising tide. We were an hour late, but it is still pretty neat. Some people watch their kids, some don’t. As I was walking back to the car I saw a whale’s tail not far out. As I was debating whether anyone would believe me or not, it came up again. We saw it several times before we left.

After this we split up again and our family came back to Ella’s to cook the spaghetti supper while everyone else went to see Martha Stewart. Actually, they drove to Seal Harbor and finished circling the island. We went to bed early to get ready for the Tuesday morning boat trip.

At Ella’s

We arrived at Ella’s at about 4:00 P.M. and unpacked. Small shopping trip at the local grocery for essentials. Besides walking down to the water, I don’t remember doing much else.

Sunday was a day of rest. We took a couple of walks down the road and on the beach. The real adventure was when Nate and I walked down the road about a quarter mile and then cut thru someone’s yard so we could come back on the beach. At high tide, beach walking here can be difficult. We climbed over and thru fallen trees and jumped boulders. Once back at Ella’s, we sat on the beach watching little critters for an hour. Below Ella’s is a marsh that drains into Union River Bay. That tiny stream is very entertaining. Nate saw a jellyfish foundering at the beach and tossed it into a deep place in the stream. We watch crabs move in and a school of little fish trying to make a break for the Bay.

Our friends we for their first tour of Acadia in the evening, but we soaked up a little more quiet. We didn’t go anywhere until dinner. I’ve been wanting Lobster since first thinking about coming to Maine. It was good, but I’m ready for fish or steak now.

Footnote: I don’t know what penuche fudge is, but apparently it ain’t peanut butter.

Week One of our Big Trip to Maine

Friday, June 29

After doing a little more preprinting on the storage building project, packing, visiting Mom, we finally left about 3:30 p.m. and made it all the way to Ft. Smith, Arkansas. Nice room at the Comfort Inn.

Saturday, June 30

Drove to Memphis, Tennessee, and at us some ribs at the Rendezvous Ribs, but still struggling to spell Rendezvous correctly the first time. Nathaniel swears they have the best ribs on Earth. My vote went to Shady Acre fruit stand in Hattiesburg, Mississippi — but since the Shady Acre burned and they didn’t build it back, I guess my vote is a moot point. We meet Sarah, Mike and family on their way back from Florida and stayed at a Courtyard Marriott. Not nearly as nice a room as we had in Ft. Smith.

Interesting side trip: due to a traffic situation on the Interstate, we took a detour on Hwy 141 (Lancaster Highway) through Gordonsville just minutes before their Independency Day parade started. They decided to have it a few days early. Sorry we couldn’t stay for the festivities. We followed this curvy, beautiful, tree covered road all the way to the Center Hill Dam. Talk about a motorcycle road.

This has to be one of the best, little-known bike roads ever.

Sunday, July 1

Spent all morning at the Memphis Zoo with Sarah, Mike a family. Big draw for the trip way the giant pandas. A little disappointed with those lazy bears. Well, don’t criticize your neighbor for having a speck in his eye when you have a log in your own, right? After saying goodbye to Sarah and gang we made it “all the way” to Knoxville. We are thinking of visiting the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.

Monday, July 2

I’ve never seen a more impressive garden anywhere.

It was a pretty long walk through the gardens from the House to the Bass Pond, but Tsegaye went with me.

Drove to Asheville and spent all morning on the Biltmore Estate. It is a huge and beautiful place. Over 8,000 acres. Best architecture available, gardens that haven’t been seen since Eden. Maybe it’s just me, but there is more to this story than they tell you about in the tour. Now I want to learn more about the ruthlessness of the businessmen that made all this possible. The estate, to me, is a testament of excess and greed turned into a theme park. Yeah, what do I know? I’m a nobody. But still, it seems to me if you have that much (the words “that much” have no meaning until you have seen this place) to spend on your “getaway” home, perhaps you could have been paying all those people who worked for you a bit little more. Maybe considered being a little more generous, benevolent, or charitable? Don’t get me wrong, it was a really nice place. I loved walking for miles in the gardens. Very impressive architecture. Just seems wrong. Sorry. Yes, I know about the YMCA, the University, the races, and contributions to medicine. I guess I’m just troubled that so many of us queue up and pay to see this place. What are we thinking?

A really mature wisteria at Biltmore.

Model releases available for the Vanderbilt family, if requested.

Tsegaye contemplating the trappings of wealth.

Pretty nice place to sit in the shade.

Spent the night in Asheville at a Holiday Inn. Swam with the boys until I was afraid my head was burning.

Interesting side track: stopped off for a break in Hartford, Tennessee, and mailed a letter at the local post office. That’s where I saw this moth.

This is the moth from the Hartford Post Office.

Tuesday, July 3

Folk Art Center out of Asheville, NC, on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Left Asheville fairly early and took a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This was a wonder of the New Deal: 469 miles, 26 tunnels, 151 bridges, maximum speed limit of 45, and a motorcycle dream road trip. I loved the trees — many of which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. Just out of Asheville, we stopped at the Folk Art Center. Photography is prohibited there, so you’ll have to take my word that they have some incredible things that everyone but my two boys would love to see: quilts, furniture, ceramics, looms and fabrics, photographs, and art. There was no admission charge. Good stuff. We drove for 2 or 3 hours and then had to get back on track by going back to Interstate 26 via Burnsville and Hwy 19. Glad we took the time to see this wonderful road.

Visitor Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

One of the scenic overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We made a decent push up through Tennessee and Virginia on Interstate 81 to spend the night north of Roanoke at Hollins, Virginia. They were having the first day of the Salem Fair as we passed through a good deal of traffic. This whole area was hit by tremendous storms last Friday and still has a lot of electrical outages. Had a wonderful dinner at the Hollywood’s Restaurant and Bakery at Hollins. I guess the question is, will we make it to Maine by Saturday?

Wednesday, July 4

The theme for the next two days is: get closer to Maine. We may not have time for any more diversions. Well, except for one — we want to visit the Mystery Hill (America’s Stonehenge) in New Hampshire. It was one of those things along the way we discovered searching the Internet before leaving home. Shrouded in controversy, it could be as cool as the rune stone in Heavener, Oklahoma.

I decided that I needed to change the oil in the car today. It is about to roll over 6K miles, so after a quick breakfast I dash out to find a Dodge dealership in order to document the maintenance on the car’s record. That’s responsible, right? Driving all over Hollins, Roanoke, and Salem, I realize that this is Independence Day. Nobody is going to be changing my oil today. They are all cooking hotdogs and buying fireworks. So we load up and start down the road. About 10 or 11 A.M. I took a turnoff to get something to drink and found an open tire store that did oil changes. Took about an hour and was right next-door to a Dodge dealer (who was closed). One less thing to worry about.

I think we made it to Harrisburn, Pennsylvania, but to be honest I don’t remember. I’ll have to look for a receipt or something to tell you where we stopped. But I do know that it was a Residence Inn by Marriott. This was the nicest hotel I’ve stayed in. The pool was super. We swam that evening and the next morning. It was really nice.

Thursday, July 5

A scenic turnout after crossing the Hudson River over to New York.

Got off to a late start due to the comfort of the rooms and the greatness of the pool. After buying gas and getting drinks at Sonic, it was back to the road again. Lunchtime found us wondering around Fishkill, New York, and we ate at a the Red Line Diner. We bought some pastries for a little snack down the road. I really wanted to find a post office to mail mom’s postcard, so we wandered around downtown Fishkill so I could hunt it down. Busy little place, liked hearing the conversations and accents as I stood in line waiting to purchase my stamps. We finally stopped to eat the pastries at a tourist information center in Connecticut. I was sitting at a picnic table talking to Sarah on the phone when I heard what I took to be a steam whistle blow three times. Moments later, KABOOM! Turns out those were warning whistles before a dynamite blast. Guess there was road work or a quarry nearby — very nearby. When we could drive no more, we stayed at another Residence Inn, this time in Westford, Massachusetts. In the morning, we are going to either give our seal of approval to Mystery Hill or pronounce it a fraud. Or at the very least, we will leave them our entry fee.

Friday, July 6

A couple of observations while driving through New England: there are no billboards and no litter. If anyone ever happens to read this (which I doubt) and happens to be from Oklahoma, you would be amazed what a difference this makes. It’s so beautiful. Driving is so much more pleasant.

Another remarkable difference – apparently, there is some force compelling nearly every man who owns land in Oklahoma to get a bulldozer and screw his whole place up. You know, pile all the trees up and really set the forces of erosion in motion. They don’t do that here. It seems they don’t minded having trees around.

The gift shop at “America’s Stonehenge”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: we got off to a late start but still arrived at Mystery Hill before 11:00 A.M. The woods at the site were amazing, but the archeological evidence was tampered by quarrying, “restoration”, and commercializing. The owners got a little sidetracked with alpacas. If you want to believe Europeans, Celts, Norsemen, or Martians visited North America long before Columbus, the Heavener, Oklahoma, evidence at the rune stone is as compelling. Or at least, less messed up.

The main site at Mystery Hill.

Note the clearing of the trees to mark equinox and solstice directions.

Astronomical directions sign.

We were about ready to continue north when a sign advertising homemade ice-cream at The Flying Cow turned us off the trail in Hampstead, New Hampshire. But before we could sample the cones, we stopped in at The English Muffin next door for some haddock, hamburger, eggs and bacon. Quite a mix, and it was tasty, but the best part of lunch was spending time with the customers and staff who all knew one another well. Hampstead seemed like a nice community. Since we got a little turned around leaving town, we also got to see the lake that is in the center of town.

Tsegaye, Linda, and Nate at the English Muffin.

The visitor’s information center at the Maine border was most helpful. We picked up about ten pounds of information and made note of the tribute by the front door honoring the Federal Highway workers who were killed in the Murrow Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City.

We bought some chocolate and pondered the moose.

We went to the Len Libby chocolate store at Scarborough and saw the moose but not the Fair, drove through Portland and saw the wharf area, and eventually would up spending the night in Freeport. Tomorrow we are just a hop, skip, and jump to our Maine vacation.

Freeport wharf and Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster Company