We’ve Mastered The Art of “Dumb Luck!”

Officially @ Acadia National Park

Day 61        August 9

When your day starts out at a microbrewery, that is a great day. This day was a great day! Remember, when I say, “starting out” the day, I mean noon, ‘cause that’s just about the time we’re hittin’ our stride for the day.

The day started with no set plan. We commenced our wandering about Acadia National Park and the surrounding environs. I’m still not sure, without consulting a map, when we were actually inside of, or outside of Acadia, and it didn’t really matter.

When we saw the signs for the Atlantic Brewing Company, and Mainely Meat, right next to each other, we knew it was gonna be a spectacular day! Ends up that the two businesses are right there on one property, making for a one-stop lunch stop.

Lunch time!

Lunch @ Mainely Meat & the Atlantic Brewing Company

I liked my beer so much, that I went for a little swim in it.

We had a great lunch…fantastic pulled pork, and killer baked beans, along with a couple local brews. And then we hit the brewery shop for some take-out beers with which to restock our fridge.

So many beers to choose from!

Fully fueled, our next stop was Beech Mountain, where we picked one of several hiking trails, and just went for it…no map, no info, no clue…as usual. We happened to pick a fairly steep and extremely rocky path to the top. I was worried about the dogs being able to keep up, when, clearly, I should have been worried about me keeping up!

Starting our Beech Mountain hike.

Following the boys up Beech Mountain

After dragging all four of our butts to the top, we were richly rewarded with the most awesome of views!

@ the top of Beech Mountain

With our little bendable friends @ the top of Beech Mountain

@ the top of Beech Mountain

@ the water tower @ top of Beech Mountain

We soaked in the beauty, rested in the shade for a while, rehydrated, and then took a different way back down. This worked out great, as the path wasn’t as rocky or as steep, plus, we got to see completely different views. We certainly picked a fabulous hike!

The view on the way back down Beech Mountain

The view on the way back down Beech Mountain

The view on the way back down Beech Mountain

Enough hiking for one day. We hopped back in the Space Shuttle, and headed in some such direction as seemed interesting at the time. Not really sure how we picked our route. We ended up at Bass Harbor, in the town of Bernard. Bass Harbor seemed to be one big lobster fishing harbor. I’ve never seen so many lobster pots in my life!!

Bass Harbor

Bass Harbor

Bass Harbor

As luck would have it, Bass Harbor also had a lighthouse, the Bass Harbor Head Light. Somehow, all of our “winging it” had totally paid off today!

Bass Harbor Head Light

Bass Harbor Head Light

We completed the day by making another trip up Cadillac Mountain to view the sunset. This time we had no rain and no hail…just pure sun, turning into darkness.

Me, looking pretty dang serious, working on an Instagram @ Cadillac Mountain.

Sunset on Cadillac Mountain

Watching the sunset on Cadillac Mountain. It’s a spectator sport!

Sunset on Cadillac Mountain

Portrait of Dax @ sunset on Cadillac Mountain

Sunset on Cadillac Mountain

Fiona. Waiting to go down the mountain after watching the spectacular sunset on Cadillac Mountain.

And later that evening, the appropriate beer for the appropriate daily activities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cannibalism & Bad Hair Days

Thunder Hole. Acadia National Park, Maine

Day 60    August 8

I tried to get a haircut today. It didn’t quite happen.

In the morning, we drove into Bar Harbor to look around. I spotted a trendy looking hair boutique downtown, and, as luck would have it, they could squeeze me in at noon. I was very excited to get my rat’s nest worked on!

Bar Harbor, Maine. Great sky!

At noon, I showed up as directed. But after a very lengthy conversation with the stylist about what miracle she’d be doing for me, she no longer had time to perform said miracle. Apparently, if you’re gonna talk and look at pictures for 45 minutes, you should do it prior to your hour-long appointment.

I left my appointment looking exactly like I did when I walked into my appointment.

And, back to Acadia we went to immerse ourselves in nature.

Acadia National Park, Maine

Thunder Hole

Thunder Hole

Acadia National Park, Maine

Acadia National Park, Maine

Acadia National Park, Maine

Acadia National Park, Maine

Acadia National Park, Maine

Acadia National Park, Maine

Acadia National Park, Maine

Acadia National Park, Maine

Acadia National Park, Maine

Eager to get some exercise, we hopped on our bikes and headed out on one of the beautiful carriage roads in the park.

@ one of the carriage roads

Away we go. Doin’ the carriage roads.

Wait for me!

We rode for quite a while, but when we decided we should head back, we couldn’t figure out exactly how to get back.

We shoulda paid attention to the signs!

Wheeeeee!!!!!!!

ugh…uphill

We took a couple of wrong turns, and had to double back on the trail a couple of times, before finding the branch of the road that we’d come in on.

We agreed that we were very unprepared hikers and bikers, and there was a pretty good chance that, if we had kids, we’d get lost somewhere and have to eat our kids to survive.

End of the day. Back at our campground.

Home Sweet Home!

We arrived safely home on October 10th.

123 days on the road

17,245 miles driven

7 rides on ferry boats = about 17 hours = unknown amount of miles

33 US states

6 Canadian provinces

Already planning another trip!!!

Hail-A-Palooza….We Got Hailed Upon Once Again

Jordan Pond. Acadia National Park, Maine

Day 59    August 7

This was our first day in Acadia National Park! My first thought was to take the free public bus into the park. My second thought was to just drive in so that we’d have the doggies with us all day.

Trixie in the space shuttle. How could you possibly leave this critter all day?

The doggie plan won. Having the dogs with us gives us much more flexibility as to how long we can stay out and about. We can take them on hikes with us, feed them dinner on time, and accommodate their needs should the weather change drastically during the day.

Mark threatened to buy this for me at the Acadia NP gift shop

The park was busy all day, and we did have a couple issues with parking. As in, we couldn’t park at a couple of places. We could have, had the inconsiderate folks driving cars, not taken the RV’s Only parking spots. WTF is with that?

We had a spectacular day in Acadia. Of course, it wouldn’t have been quite as interesting without some weird weather. Late in the afternoon, we found ourselves in another downpour, followed by a brief hail storm. I can’t even remember now, whether this was the 2nd or 3rd time this summer that we’d been hailed upon.

Northeast Harbor

Northeast Harbor

Northeast Harbor

When the short-lived storm cleared up, we went to the restaurant at Jordan Pond for some of their famous popovers. Turns out that popovers weren’t anything like we thought they’d be, but they were delicious things!

Jordan Pond

Relaxing at Jordan Pond

Jordan Pond

Popovers, jam, and tea

The timing was right, and after having popovers, we drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain to watch the sunset. Unbelievable….it had started storming out again, and we were met with a deluge of rain and lightening and thunder. We waited it out, comfortably, in the Space Shuttle. And when the storm finally did subside, we had a look around at the glorious views.

@ the top of Cadillac Mountain

@ the top of Cadillac Mountain

@ the top of Cadillac Mountain

@ the top of Cadillac Mountain

@ the top of Cadillac Mountain

@ the top of Cadillac Mountain

@ the top of Cadillac Mountain

By time we returned to the campground, the rain had completely stopped, and we took the dogs out for one last walk before bed time. And we bought some blueberries. Huh?

So, yes, there was a family with two kids, camping in the space across from us. The kids had been out picking wild blueberries, and had set up a blueberry stand. They were selling the berries for one cent per berry, and so we stopped and bought 25 cents worth.

The boy counted out the berries one by one, and we ate them one by one. This food handling probably wouldn’t pass a health department inspection, but, we took a chance anyways. We did draw the line when he tried to pass one off on us that we clearly had seen him drop on the ground.

Apparently we were the kids’ only customer that evening. That’s us…doing our part to help the economy!

I Fought The Law, And The Law Won

Day 58   August 6   Part 2 

On this evening, I received an email from the Portland, Oregon police. After I had reported to them that one of my blog readers had emailed me that he had found my stolen bike in Portland, they had spoken to him and then gone to check it out.

The bike in question was locked up in plain view, in a busy waterfront location. The front tire was missing, presumably taken off by the current “owner” so that nobody could steal it and ride off with it. The irony.

The cop on the case took a few photos of the bike, and attached them to the email. This was un-freakin-believable……this was MY bike!!

My bike had been customized over the last few years with certain high-end components. This was not a combination that you just purchase off-the-rack at a bike shop. This was, without a doubt, MY bike!

Now the sucky news. The cops could not legally cut the lock to retrieve my bike, without proof that the bike was mine.

Since I’d be traveling for another couple months, I didn’t have any way to check my files at home to see if I had recorded the serial number. I called Trek, and I called the shop where I’d purchased the original bike, and neither of them had a record of my serial number. (and, now that I’m home, I checked my files, and did not record the serial number. dumb)

No serial number, no bikey coming back to me.

There you have it. Some a-hole stole my bike, and probably sold it to someone who has no idea it was stolen and no idea how valuable it is. If they knew these things, they most definitely would NOT leave it outside.

So many lessons to be learned here. Such a bummer. A suck-fest. On the other hand, I think I’m over my hatred of Portland, Oregon. I think I’m ready to go back there someday.

Dogs, A Lobster Shack, and A Brewery!! Woohooo!!

Dax, hanging out @ Marshall Wharf Brewing Company. Belfast, Maine

Day 58   August 6    Part 1

On our way north we couldn’t help but notice how so many of the houses had such beautiful garages and barns. Often they were nicer than the houses themselves. I wondered if they were all man-caves.

Made a short stop in Lincolnville to load up on caffeine at Green Tea Coffee. They roast their own coffee, and their selection of loose teas rivaled any big city tea shop I’ve ever seen. And, they had two very cute doggies hanging out inside the shop.

Green Tea Coffee

Coffee shop mascot

Hyped on caffeine, we continued north, and accidentally stumbled upon Camden State Park, and Mt Battie. Except for that it was a bit foggy, we were treated to some pretty freakin’ nice views. Dax and Trixie liked it up there, and were nice enough to pose for a bunch of portraits.

Observation tower @ Mt Battie

The view of Mark taking in the View from Mt Battie

View from Mt Battie

View from Mt Battie

Trixie looking quite regal @ Mt Battie

Dax, looking quite regal @ Mt Battie

Mark & Dax @ Mt Battie

Mark & Dax @ Mt Battie

And then, onward, to Belfast we went. Belfast was a cool little city-town. It was hip enough that I thought maybe I could find a decent hairstylist to cut my hair. My two month-old hair cut was starting to look scraggly.

Belfast

Belfast

Belfast

Well, hairstylist shopping was a bust, but what we did find was a little lobster shack, and a brewery. First stop was the food truck. Lobster rolls. I’d had better, but they were decent, and hit the spot.

Lobster shack

Waiting for our lobster rolls

Second stop, was the brewery. Marshall Wharf Brewing Company. We’d intended to take a great big walk around the waterfront area, but one of the first things we saw was the brewery, and that’s as far as we got.

Score!!!

@ Marshall Wharf Brewing Company

@ Marshall Wharf Brewing Company

Dax, hanging out @ Marshall Wharf Brewing Company

Dax, hanging out @ Marshall Wharf Brewing Company

Life was sweet….hanging out on the patio of the brewery, sipping beers, talking to people. All of a sudden, the wind picked up and the sky started getting dark. Uh-oh!! We chugged our beers, and high-tailed it back to the Space Shuttle!!

It started sprinkling on us when we were about a block away from Fiona. And then we heard thunder. And I swear, 15 seconds after we all climbed inside Fiona, the skies just opened up and it poured rain.

It was too dastardly to drive, so we just sat there for 20 minutes, until the storm subsided just as quickly as it had come on. With just a lite drizzle coming down, we continued our drive to Bar Harbor, where we checked into our campground for the night.

On the way to Bar Harbor

Tucked in @ Bar Harbor Campground

@ Bar Harbor Campground

Eating With Chopsticks While Driving….Is it Legal????

There we are. The blue dot. Ugh. Amazing lack of good internet capabilities. Looks like we’re in outer space, at night.

Day 57 August 5

Trixie and Dax were due for a couple of their routine shots, and we wanted to get those taken care of before we went back into Canada. We’d called the Freeport Veterinary Clinic the day before, explained our travel situation, and got an appointment for this morning.

This turned out to be a really nice clinic, with a great vet and staff. Trixie and Dax seemed to enjoy meeting these new people and getting some special attention. And now, no worries about going back to Canada!

Awesome peeps helping pets!

Our only worry now, was the crazy driver next to us as we drove out of town. This was a first on my “Can’t believe I saw a person doing such and such while driving” list. OK, this guy was driving while eating, with chopsticks, from a Chinese food take-out container. Scary at first, and then total excitement and wonderment about how the heck he could do that while driving! Talent comes in many forms!

We were headed towards Rockland, where we were hoping to have dinner at a restaurant called Primo. This was another recommendation from Gary and Jane. We were super disappointed to find out that Primo is closed on Tuesdays. Bummer, but then, look at the money we probably saved by not being able to eat out. Silver linings come in many forms!

Once in Rockland, we stopped to visit the Farnsworth Museum of Art to see the Wyeth exhibits, and the other artsy stuff. Nice museum.

Rockland

Getting some culture @ the Farnsworth Museum of Art

Getting some culture @ the Farnsworth Museum of Art

The RV Park we ended up at for the night was interesting. Nice location and woodsy setting, with a killer coastline view from one of the walking paths. They also had a gigantic movie screen with huge booming speakers, set up in a field near our campsite.

Cute cottages for rent at the RV park.

Coastline view from the RV park.

At around 5:00 pm, they had a movie playing, with the sound turned up to about 12. Even Spinal Tap’s amps only went up to 11. This was freakin’ loud. Annoying things come in many forms!

At least the movie was over by 7:00 pm, and we had a good night’s sleep after all.

Me, Jaymes, and The Cops…A Freaky Coincidency Event!!

Day 56    August 4     Part 2

The world wide web is a weird and freaky place to be hanging out. Bad shit happens here. And good shit happens too. And today, the good and the bad came together.

Back on June 21st, Summer Solstice, which should have been a joyous day, but turned out not to be, my super nice Trek road bike was stolen. I’m still holding a grudge against Portland, Oregon for that tragedy.

Fast forward to yesterday, August 3, which at this point in my way behind posting, wasn’t yesterday at all, but was more than two months ago. But in keeping with this chronological journal, it was yesterday.

Yesterday I received an email from someone named Jaymes. I don’t know Jaymes, but, he apparently reads my blog. (Hi Jaymes…if you’re still out there reading) Jaymes wrote that he found my stolen bike, and that I should call him as soon as possible.

I, of course, figured this was a scam to get money from me, and I immediately called the Portland police. The Portland police told me that they’d call Jaymes and check this all out for me.

Today, August 4th, I received a call back from the police. They talked to Jaymes, and said that he sounded legit. Jaymes told them where my bike supposedly was, and the cops said they’d go check it out.

Just like a fine suspense novel, I’d have to wait another couple days to hear back from the police. I was excited, but also skeptical that this could possibly be my bike!

Fun in Maine!! Lighthouses and Ice Cream!

Nubble Light House, looking very moody in the fog!

Day 56    August 4     part 1

Today we’d be leaving Kittery Point, Maine, and continuing our journey north.

After breakfast, Gary and Jane gave us a bunch of travel and campground suggestions for Maine, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island….places they had enjoyed on their travels in their Airstream….info that proved quite handy in the coming weeks.

I know that I mentioned the hospitality that our friends had shown us, but really, words can’t tell you how amazing they both were to us. And I hope that we can someday return the favor. In these short days, they had truly become friends!

The hospitality of their neighbors was also outstanding. From their neighbor that lent us the kayaks the day before, to their next door neighbor, Polly, who stopped by this morning to give us a bounty of blueberries and snap peas from her garden, Kittery Point was obviously a very special place.

We could have easily just hung out here indefinitely, but we knew we had to get back on the road. Of course, before we left, we had to take a few more photos with the very fun welcome sign that had greeted us a couple days ago. And then, off we went.

Gary, Jane, the pups, Fiona, nd the awesome sign that G&J had made for us.

Mark, the pups, Fiona, and the awesome sign that Gary and Jane had made for us

Up the coast of Maine, we meandered, stopping for ice-cream, and stopping to take photos along the way.

A little town in Maine

Nubble Light House, looking very moody in the fog!

 

Once again, time for ice cream!

We only made it a short distance, and stopped for the night at Recompence Shore Campground, a campground that Gary and Jane had recommended.

@ Recompence Shore Campground

@ Recompence Shore Campground

@ Recompence Shore Campground

Dinner this night was a pretty fabulous meal. We had fresh lettuce and squash from Jane’s garden, and leftover lobster from our lobster feast. We were living like Kings and Queens!

Real Time Update

After four amazing days at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, we are homeward bound! Currently in Phoenix, AZ!!!