Down East and the Maritimes: Day Four

We puttered around downtown Bar Harbor for a couple of hours on an overcast and drizzly day on Sunday.

Sailing vessels at Bar Harbor

Lobster boats at Bar Harbor

Monday was a different story! We got there bright and early so we could hog glob find one of the few free, all-day-if-you-want parking spots on West Street. (That's the street that runs right along the harbor front.) Although we got there around 7:45 AM we were still over a quarter mile from the trolley depot. We were early enough to go get a cuppa and sit on one of the benches overlooking the harbor before making our way to the depot.

Four-master at Bar Harbor--in the sun!

Our tour departed at 10 AM sharp and we had a marvelously entertaining and informative tour of Mt. Desert Island that included stops at the top of Cadillac Mountain, the Wild Gardens of Acadia and Thunder Hole. We only stopped for 15 minutes at each, but it was enough to give you a taste.

Dorr and Cadillac Mountains from the Loop Road

The Atlantic from atop Cadillac Mountain

Bar Island and the Porcupine islands from the Loop Road

Thunder Hole

While Terry and I have been to two of those places many, many years ago, this was our first stop at the Gardens where we were enthralled. EVERY. SINGLE. THING. is labeled and identified for you.(We went back in the afternoon to take a more leisurely look around.)


Tomorrow we will be going up to the top of Cadillac Mountain to see the first rays of the sun strike the US. That sunrise takes place at 4:59 AM but to find parking at the top we were told we should plan on being there no later than 4:15 with 4:00 being even better.

We're b-a-c-k....

A l-o-n-g weekend!

Terry and I drove up to Yarmouth, Maine on Thursday after feeding the cats and taking out the garbage. We tried to stay on the back roads and did a pretty good job of it after we got past Albany, NY. Riding through the countryside on state highways and old US Highways as we crossed Vermont and New Hampshire was far more enjoyable than speeding along at 70+ miles on the interstate with tons of other idiots drivers.

Even the interstate we took to get from Binghamton, NY to Albany (I-88) wasn't that bad as its direction of travel--northeast-southwest--is not a common one for most folks. And it too has an alternate: old New York Route 7 parallels it for nearly the entire length. Before the interstate, that must have been a lovely ride.

Back to our destination: Yarmouth, Maine. An old town along US Highway 1 that is now bursting at the seams along Interstate 295 just south of the quintessential old town bursting at the seams: Freeport, aka home of L.L. Bean.

We got to the motel around 4:30 PM after 10 1/2 hours and 475 miles on the road. Made a few phone calls to see if Terry's sister and her husband (Lucille and Doug) had arrived yet from Missouri (they had) and if they were interested in dinner (they were but were up the coast a ways). We met at the Muddy Rudder and had a lovely meal.

Friday we explored a little. Terry and I went up the road tohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif the Maine Audubon Society's Mast Landing Bird Sanctuary. We walked the trails a bit and got bit quite often. Tall moist grass, damp woods, an old mill stream still sluggishly flowing surrounded by bays, rivers and sounds...yeah: Mosquito Heaven! And we didn't see anything spectacular either.

Audubon Society Mast Landing Bird Sanctuary

Oh well, back to Freeport and some shopping. I got a nice pair of Rockport shoes at Famous Brands outlet and a nice short sleeved shirt at the L.L. Bean outlet before we met up with the parents of the groom (Terry's cousin Joe and his wife Pat) for lunch.

We separated after lunch and Terry and I went into the main L.L. Bean store. Yowsers! Joe had offered to hold my wallet but that wasn't necessary. I passed on the shotguns, rifles and all the fly fishing gear. (I LIKED all that stuff, but a man's got to know his limitations. I've got gear I don't use now. In part, because I don't know I've got it!) We did pick up a house warming gift for our son, Rick and his wife, Sandy, who got the keys to their first house on Wednesday. And L.L. Bean will ship it for free.

Eventually we escaped from Freeport and drove south on Route 1 to the Delorme Map Store. Here, I would have been better off if Joe held my wallet and credit cards. I dropped about $300 on a new GPS unit, a topo map subscription for the same, and power charging options pack. (I kept telling myself the Garmin I'm currently using is broken--and it is! I wouldn't lie. The screw that holds the battery pack is broken so the batteries can work their way loose and stop powering the unit. Plus it's almost 10 years old. Bloody thing is ancient in terms of technology. It was time to get a new one. Hopefully, it won't get me lost in the woods.)

Finally, it was time for the rehearsal dinner to be held at the Royal River Grillhouse in Yarmouth. Good food lots of old and new friends and relatives.

Terry speaks with Elizabeth

The Bachelder's Stephan, Julia, Elizabeth (the bride) and Deborah Strachan

Flower girl Madeline and her Mom, Jacqueline Messinger

The dinner was held on the waters of the Royal River so, of course there were boats to look at...and drool over. I kept reminding myself, that, while I could probably afford to purchase a decent sized boat, it's the after purchase costs that would literally sink me. Boat: a hole in the water into which one pours money, time and energy.

Nice boat.

Slightly nicer boat. I could learn to like living on the water in this one.

One I could get to like if all I wanted to do was sail about.

There were bigger boats--and lots of them--both sail and motor--in the harbor and in the yard. Many of them were for sale but I left the checkbook at home.
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
The Wind in the Willows

More to come.