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Downeast Digest: Day 6

Monday, October 10

This was supposed to be the day we flew back home . . . but more on that later.

We got the car packed up (yes, it was still raining) and made a brief visit to the Stanwood Museum and Bird Sanctuary in Ellsworth. It was closed, but we could still walk through. The Sanctuary is 130 acres, with walking paths throughout. They had several cages of injured raptors, including a few sleepy owls who blinked at us. Rosie thought that one of them looked like Old Mr. Brown, from The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, so she told him some riddles.

Then we drove to the town of Blue Hill, which had lots of interesting shops and was a nice New England village. We visited a few of the shops, and ate lunch at a nice restaurant called The Pantry. We spent a little time at the dock in Blue Hill, feeding the gulls some of our leftover bread and crackers, and also stopped at an interesting cemetery with some very old graves in the town of East Blue Hill.

We saw the tiniest post office I've ever seen in East Blue Hill. This was a really cute little town.

Then, we headed to Bangor, cruised Stephen King's house for a final time (he still hasn't come out and invited us in for tea!) and stupidly turned in our rental car BEFORE we checked to see if our flight was on schedule. It wasn't, and had been cancelled. We were rebooked on a 2:30 pm flight the following day.

So off to the Holiday Inn we went. Fortunately, they had a shuttle service to pick us up, and to also take us to Seadog Brewery for dinner. So Rosie got one extra day of bouncing on parallel double beds, a treat she only gets to enjoy when we are on vacation.

Footnote: the next day's flight went as scheduled, and we're home and rested now.

Downeast Digest: Days 4 & 5

Saturday, October 8 and Sunday, October 9

The last two days have been some pretty extreme weather–the most solid, nonstop downpour I've ever seen. But like Ulysses Everett McGill, we're adventurers, so out we go. We spent both days driving the park, seeing Southwest Harbor, Northeast Harbor, and the "quiet side" of Mt. Desert Island.

Saturday we stopped at an antique shop in a cute little town, Somesville, where I picked up a few books and Steve bought an antique printer's advertiser's block for a drugstore called Hays Drugstore. We ate lunch at a funny little restaurant called Downeast House of Dogs, which had like a blue million different types of hotdogs. I had an Italian dog, Steve had a Texas dog, and Rosie went for a plain old corndog. Then we headed into Bar Harbor to walk around a bit. We wound things up early because of the rain, and stayed in our motel and ordered a pizza.

Sunday we headed out to Bar Harbor again, and took a detour into the park on our way there. Steve wanted to eat at a place called 2 Cats for brunch, and we had a really long wait (over an hour) to get a seat. This was the day we were supposed to go on our puffin and whale watching trip, but the sea was too rough and the trip was cancelled. After fortifying ourselves with a hearty meal, we went back into the park.

We saw some deer and the rivers of water pouring over the hills were beautiful. There were a few flooded out areas that we couldn't pass through. But we decided that if there was ever a good time to see Thunder Hole, today was the day. We bundled up and the wind and rain whipped us, but the ocean did not disappoint. Boy, was it thundering and spewing today!

We drove on to Northeast Harbor, and the rain lessened a bit. There were lots of lobster boats out. On our way there, we stopped at Otter Point, and a seal popped up out of the water briefly. Rosie was the first to spot him, but he only made the one appearance.

We stopped for a few photos in various spots, then headed back to Ellsworth. It's dark here by 6 pm, so sightseeing ends early. On the way back, we detoured at a couple of antique shops so Rosie and I could browse. Then back to the motel to rest and freshen up. We ate a light dinner at The Mex in Ellsworth, then came back to the Twilite. Steve downloaded and edited photos, I read, and Rosie got to watch Monsters Inc on the Disney Channel. It was almost like being home.

Downeast Digest: Day 3

Friday, October 7, 2005

Rosie and I slept like stones last night, but Steve was a little restless. We all got going about 8 am, had a light breakfast at the motel, and met a funny old guy who kept feeding hotdogs to the motel dog, Molly.

We headed north on Coastal 1, going north to the Schoodic Peninsula. It was another very foggy day. We first stopped at a little pullover, Long Cove. The tide was way out and we saw a man come walking in from pretty far out, carrying a bucket. It was full of the biggest worms I have ever seen, bloodworms. He said they come from out in the ocean and he sells them for bait.

Then we went on, entering Acadia Park for a while. We stopped off at Frazer Point and walked out onto a pier-not a soul around but us. Then, with the tide still out, we went down to the rocky shore and looked for seashells. We started turning over rocks and found a few crabs underneath, one fairly good sized. I picked him up so Steve could take a photo.

It was so foggy that we couldn't see the Mark Island Lighthouse, darn it. We did see a couple of cormorants spreading their wings shortly past the island though. We drove along the coast but the visibility was very poor.

Our nest stop was Bartlett Main Estate Winery, where we met a couple from Texas who were wine tasting too. The wines here were very good, many made from blueberries. We ordered 6 bottles that will be shipped to us. This winery is Maine's first, but it's not too old, having been established in 1983. The people from Texas recommended a restaurant in Millbridge called 44 degrees North, so we headed there on our way to the West Quoddy Head lighthouse.

Millbridge was a neat little town, with lots of lobster fishermen evidently. We saw many houses with lobster traps piled up outside. The old houses here are very well kept for the most part, but we noticed that they are usually painted only one or two colors, usually white, I suppose to make it easier to paint and touch up. The winters here and the moist air probably wreak havoc on paint jobs so they probably keep the colors simple.

The restaurant was great. Steve had a haddock burger and I had some very spicy chili and beer battered onion rings, perfect for a dampish, cool day.

We headed further north on Coastal 1 to get to West Quoddy Head. It gets dark here about 6 pm and it was 2 pm by the time we finished lunch. The drive was pretty nice but with all the fog the ocean views were limited. We did see several inlets where lobster boats were floating, dotting the water.

By the time we reached West Quoddy Head, the fog was as thick as pea soup. We had fun walking around the lighthouse and Steve disappeared for a while. Rosie and I thought he was trying to sneak into the lighthouse, but he turned up soon and showed us how he'd climbed out onto a rocky bluff to take pictures of the lighthouse. It's a good thing he didn't fall since he had the car keys! The lighthouse was really neat but I thought it would be taller. They don't let you go up in it, but it has a light in it and there's a foghorn that sounds too. I was glad to see it in the fog since that's sort of the whole point to a lighthouse anyway.

We made a quick stop at a little gift shop to pick up a few items and Rosie got a stuffed Puffin that sounds like a cow when you squeeze it. We figured that we'd better head back as we had 60 miles to go to get back to Ellsworth and it was getting later and foggier. On the way back we got a glimpse of another lighthouse called The Sparkplug.

We made good time and got back to Ellsworth at 6 pm, ate at a restaurant called Helen's, and stopped at an LL Bean outlet. We brought slices of pie back to have later at the motel, and battened down the hatches about 9 pm as a storm is predicted for tonight. Hopefully, we'll be able to go back to Acadia and to Bar Harbor tomorrow to see another lighthouse.

Downeast Digest: Day 2

Thursday, October 6, 2005

Got up and going around 7:30 am. They have a continental breakfast here, with fresh bread and muffins. Yum! Rosie nibbled like a bird and picked up "magic pebbles" in the driveway while we ate. People from everywhere here–including a group of young Amish folks from Berne, Indiana. Caught a fleeting glimpse of Sadie, the resident Maine Coon cat.

Off to Acadia National Park! Shortly in, we stopped by a small marshy area where Steve took photos and we explored. I found an area that is one solid patch of lupines. Too bad we are here to late to see them in bloom. I'll bet they are gorgeous. We drove further in but the fog was too thick to see much of the coastline, although we did pull over a few times.

We stopped at the Gorham Mountain trail and got into hiking mode. This is about a 2-mile hike, not too rugged but mostly rock all the way. Rosie kept pretending to be a cat, and when we got to an area where we had to climb, she'd yell, "Paws and claws time!" The trail was marked by rock cairns and spots of blue paint. Since the fog was heavy, we didn't get to enjoy the normally 360-degree vista from the top, but we did see some other neat things. The squirrels here are tiny, about the size of a chipmunk. And the mountain is covered with wild blueberry bushes. If we'd been here in the summer we could have grazed all along the trail. At the top, a fellow hiker took a photo of all three of us.

Downward, downward! The stupid hiking boots I got are killing my feet! When we finally made it back down, the fog had cleared a bit and we walked across the road to look at the coastline. It's so wild and rocky. Huge chunk and bluffs of granite as far as you can see. We walked about 1/4 mile to an area called Thunder Hole, which is a hollow area in the rocks. When the tide goes out it empties and when the water rushes back in, the air is forced out and makes an explosive burping, spewing and belching out of water. There were lots of people there because everyone likes to see burping, spewing and belching, especially Rosie Brown.

We've worked up an appetite by now, so we decided to drive into Bar Harbor for lunch. Bar Harbor's a touristy town but with a decent selection of restaurants. We ate at the Parkside Restaurant. I had broccoli cheddar soup and a bacon cheeseburger. Steve had a buffalo wrap and Rosie had fish and chips. Afterwards we walked around to a few shops including one called "Bark Harbor" with lots of dog items. Naturally Rosie wanted to get something there and boohooed when I wouldn't let her buy yet another stuffed animal. Mean Mommy!

We headed back to the park, and decided to drive up to Cadillac Mountain. This was my kind of mountain! Once we reached the top, which was a short drive, it was fairly flat and had a nice paved trail all the way around, perfect for someone with acrophobia. It's very rocky, and Rosie insisted that we play Mommy and Baby Mountain Goat. I had to do some leaping from stone to stone and had to say "Mahhhh" in a loud voice occasionally, so I tried to do this when no one was around. We could see two big cruise ships docked offshore from the top of the mountain. The clouds were actually sweeping right past us, which was really neat. You could see them coming at you and then suddenly you’d be engulfed by them and wouldn’t be able to see around you for a few seconds. I’d grab Rosie, point and yell, “Cloud!” when we saw one coming, and we’d hang onto each other and giggle like idiots while it went around us.

After this, of course we’d worked up an appetite again, so we cruised back down toward Jordan Pond. We stopped and Jordan Pond House and took tea on the lawn at promptly 4 pm–jolly good! Rosie had a popover alamode, I had popovers with chocolate sauce and tea, and Steve had popovers with strawberry jam and coffee. Then we took a walk around the pond, which is a huge lake by Indiana standards. The path is gravel for a bit, and then becomes a slightly elevated boardwalk for a pretty long distance. The boardwalk is made of two and sometimes three roughly hewn pine logs. Of course, this was great fun for a 6-year-old to walk on and a challenge when an oncoming hiker needed to pass.

We headed back to our car, and our motel, about 5:30 pm, just as dark was falling. Rosie ate another of her beloved grilled cheese sandwiches at Jordan Pond House before we left.

In bed and asleep by 9 pm. The moutain air is pretty rejuvenating.

Downeast Digest: Day 1

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

We were up and at 'em early and were on the road, driving (as Steve demanded) by 8:01 am–1 minute later than target time. However, the Kia decided to make some funny sounds and burps, so we had to turn back at the furniture corner of State and Main and go home. We quickly threw our luggage into the Mazda and off we went with no further hitches.

Arrived at Cincinnati Airport around 10 am, ate an early lunch at Mickey D's (those little pumpkin pies are GOOD!), and then before we knew it, we were the first to board our plane at 11:45 am. Rosie got the window seat, and the flight was quick and uneventful. We landed in Bangor at 1:55 pm and picked up our car, some type of Chevy.

We spent some time driving around downtown Bangor, whose streets are badly marked and have lots of missing street signs. But it's smaller than New Albany, so it wasn't difficult to navigate. The architecture of many of the houses is fantastic. We went through the historic residential district as well as the business section (and there weren't any boarded up windows!)

Our first stop was Betts Bookstore, which specializes in all things Stephen King. I bought a copy of Pet Sematary since I'd gotten rid of my original one and wanted to reread it. Rosie liked the bookstore dog, Sammy, and outside we saw our first Maine kitty cat, a gray and white one.

Next stop: Stephen King's house on West Broadway. Yes, we gawked and hung around the front gates taking pictures, but he didn't come out, darn it. It's an impressive house, but not overly so. His section of town is comparable to our Mansion Row in New Albany.

Then on to Mount Hope Cemetery, along the Penobscot River. This was where one of the scenes in Pet Sematary was filmed. We saw graves from as far back as the 1830s. We walked around the little lake and observed all kinds of neat mushrooms growing, not at all like any I've seen in Indiana. It's a hilly cemetery and was the 2nd "garden cemetery" in the US. It's also Maine's oldest cemetery. Rosie had fun running up and down the hills, pretending to be some kind of animal.

Then our final stop, Seadog Brewery, for dinner. Steve and I had the pot roast with potatoes and veggies. Rosie had grilled cheese and Parrot Punch. I had a delicious homemade rootbeer and Steve tried the Hazelnut Porter, which he said was excellent. We took an after-dinner walk along the Penobscot, with seagulls circling overhead.

The fog started rolling in as we made our way toward Ellsworth and the Twilite Motel. Our room is comfy, and they have cats here, a big plus in Rosie's eyes. We turned in early after checking email. I read a couple chapters of Pet Sematary and then drifted off to sleep.