Timing is Everything

Maine Vacation, Day 2 continued

After our tour of the fort, we still had a ways to go before we reached our destination of Bar Harbor. Bar Harbor is located on Mount Desert Island along with Acadia National Park and it's crown jewel, Cadillac Mountain. Upon recommendation from a couple that we had met at the observatory and fort, we set our sights on Cadillac Mountain in hopes of seeing it before dark and more importantly before it rained.

When we got there, the wind was picking up and the fog was just starting to roll in. Despite this, we still had good views. As always, the pictures don't do them justice, but hopefully you can get the idea of how pretty it was with the pictures below.

Cadillac Mountain is a glaciated, granite monolith with lots of good rocks to climb on.

Cadillac Mountain

Cadillac Mountain

I'm checking out the cruise ship below as the fog rolls in. Soon after this, we decided it was time to go. Good timing because that was about the time that three tour buses rolled up.

Next we visited nearby Jordan Pond at a lower elevation. Luckily, it wasn't too foggy there yet.

Jordan Pond was formed by glaciers.

The Jordan Pond House, a restaurant at the pond, is famous for its tea and popovers. The wait was too long for us to have some, so instead, we watched this squirrel enjoy some spilled jam.
He was trying to remain protected by a chair he was under,
but had to stretch all of the way out to get his treat.

Our next destination was Bar Harbor. One way or another, we were determined to make it there before nightfall. And we did. Bar Harbor has housed the rich during the summer off and on over the years. Now it has become a popular tourist destination not only because of the nearby outdoor activities, but because of its shops and scenic B and B's, many of which were former homes of the rich.

The center of downtown Bar Harbor is full of shops. I'm not much of a shopper,
so we just strolled by most of them and didn't buy anything.

Instead of perusing the shops, we spent most of our time on the shore path along the ocean.

We saw a schooner.

And a cruise ship.
The same one we saw from the top of Cadillac Mountain. 

Many of the old houses and buildings from the past have been made into bed and breakfasts and hotels. This is the Bar Harbor Inn along the shore path that was started as a reading room in 1887

After our walk along the shore path, the wind had really kicked up and it had started to mist. We decided to find our hotel before the real rains came a tumbling down. Road work made getting to our motel much harder than it should have been but we made it--just as it started to rain hard.

Our room had a lobster towel waiting for us.  The room wasn't fancy, but nice. This motel was the sister motel of a more expensive hotel. We have seen this before. The staff is trained to work in both places and sometimes the cheaper places get some of the extra touches that the fancier place gets. 

It was cold and rainy outside and it was a nice to be warm and comfortable after a fun day. It was all good until I figured out that I had accidentally deleted all of the pictures on the camera. I may have mentioned that one or two times before. But all's well that ends well.

And there was light

Maine Vacation, Day 2

When we last spoke, I was lamenting over the fact that I had accidentally deleted all of the pictures on my camera from the beginning of our Maine vacation. Well after a lot of teeth gnashing, googling, and a late night trip to a Walmart in the next town, most of them were recovered. Yea! So I can now tell you about our trip to Maine with some pictures.

Wednesday morning we headed north with the destination of Bar Harbor about three hours away. We had no time table, so we stopped wherever and whenever we wanted. We stopped to watch a flock of wild turkeys. We stopped to buy snacks. We stopped to admire leaves. And we stopped at a "must see" tourist trap, I mean attraction, Perry's Nut House.

Perry's Nut House has been around forever (1927) and is one of those places that people stop by mostly for nostalgic reasons. That and the homemade fudge. One of my friends remembers stopping here every year as a kid on the way to visit her grandmother and said we had to stop. The store was full of candy and trinkets. Every interesting bumper sticker you've ever seen could be found here. Every toy that your kid just had to have, but fell apart as soon as you got out the door could be found here. However, it was definitely worth the stop for the chocolate covered peanuts we got.

It was hard, but we made it out of here with only a small bag of chocolate covered peanuts.

After our fun browsing at Perry's nut house, we continued north to the Penobscot Bridge and Observatory. This bridge spans the Penobscot River and has a 420' observatory in one of the bridge pylons. It has an amazing view of the area, that is, if you are not afraid of heights, which I am. And Ward isn't. So we both went to the top of the tower and I clung to the inner wall waiting for the next elevator down while Ward was enjoying the 360 degree view of the area. When I got to the bottom, I walked around examining rocks and plants while bracing myself against the wind from a front that was moving in. Ward came down later all excited about the views and engineering of the bridge. I guess you might say, a good time was had by all. Sort of.

The bridge is a cable suspension bridge and the elevator for the observatory
is located in the base of the near pylon.

This is one of the pictures Ward took from the tower. He is looking straight down on the bridge.
To help you gain perspective, the white dots at the end of the bridge are cars.

Next to the bridge is Fort Knox historic site. The fort was named was named after Major General Henry Knox the same general that Fort Knox, of gold fame in Kentucky, was named after. The fort was built in the mid 1800's was made mostly from granite. Granite does not easily break down and this is the most intact fort I have visited.

They were getting ready for a fright night at the fort and were decorating for it.
These pumpkins were not frightening, but some of the other things we saw were.

The walls were in as good of shape as they were when the fort was built. The granite was cut from a nearby area and was transported down the river to the fort.

Across the river from the fort was the picturesque town of Bucksport. The town of Bucksport was burned down at one point by the British when they had control of the river during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.  Because of this, a  fort was planned for the area in 1825 but it was 1853 before it was totally completed. While there were troops stationed there during the Civil War and Spanish-American War, the area has not been threatened again since the fort was built.

Note: 
We got home yesterday from the trip. It was a great trip and we had a good time. I hope to continue posting about our trip as we took it. 

However, reentry home has been hard. One of my cats is sick, but recovering, Another one is looking bad. I hope that we can turn him around.  I have a funeral to attend for my cousin in another state and both Ward and I have to work this weekend. Other than that, there's the normal stuff of paying bills and laundry. But such is life.

In the meantime, I have been trying to catch up on your blogs. I am reading, but not commenting much yet. But I will. Soon. Until then you probably know me well enough that you can imagine what I would say.

Oh, No!!!

Maine Vacation, Day 2

I’m on vacation in Maine and had great day until I figured out I accidentally deleted all of  the pictures from my camera. Trying lots of things but it’s not looking good. :( 

Until next time...

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Maine Vacation, Day 1

Actually, at this point, I've already left. This morning, Ward and I flew to Maine for a some much needed R and R. We are visiting with my sister and family as well as meeting with friends and being tourists.

The trip was uneventful but it was painfully obvious as we made our way through the airport that Ward and I are older than Millennials. For example, our jeans didn't have any huge gaping holes and our coffee came from home instead of from Starbucks. We also had paper boarding passes and crossword puzzles. Oh, well. Potato, Potaato

Today we are with my sister and tomorrow we will take off for Bar Harbor. I'm not sure if I will be able to post again for a few days, but I'll try.

Until next time...

Every where I turned at my sister's house, I was greeted by
their bumper crop of butternut squash.
 I think they harvested a total of 85 from a few vines.

I like to visit libraries whenever I travel.
This is a display at the local library of care owls which are based on Finnish folk tradition. 

And a Good Time Was Had By One and All

Every year my father-in-law, Leo, hosts a pig roast and last weekend was his 15th year of sponsoring this event. In the beginning, he did most of the work with support from his kids, but now at 85, his kids do most of the work with support from their father. Everyone pitched in to make the picnic a success where truly a good time was had by one and all.

Below are a few pictures from the day.

Leo had a nice yard for the event with a good combination of trees and grassy areas.

However, with the trees came several exposed roots which we tried to mark
especially since there were guests there with limited mobility.

The weather was great that day, but there had been a lot of rain the week before which resulted in soggy ground. Some of the chairs sunk several inches into the ground resulting in some near catastrophes before we figured out that cardboard under the legs would prevent the problem.

There were festive touches here and there such as these pig lights that Miss Landers gave to Leo.

and the paper mache pig made by my sister-in-law.

Ward does the pig roasting and carving every year. Other guests bring sides or a dessert.

There were guests of all ages such as this little boy, who could not take his eyes off of the carving,
to many in the over 80 crowd.

One of the highlights in recent years has been the family and friends band. This year there was an added bonus of a gospel singer, one of Leo's friends.

Several years ago, Leo decided he was going to join the family band by playing bongos. This year his musical persona donned a grey beard while playing. You're never quite sure what Leo has in store, but his new look definitely contributed to the good time that was had by one and all.