USA

Tues, Jun 10: There's just something about Maine..............

We drove to Ogunquit in the afternoon and got there shortly before dinner. We checked in to the Dunes and they upgraded us to a nicer room since it was the off season. I think we will be staying there again. We could hear the ocean from our room (again). After parking the car by the police station (a public lot), we walked the Marginal Way to the Oarweed, where we've eaten before. In fact, we had the same server - I remembered her because the last time we were there was an animated group of older women there and it was an interesting night at the Oarweed. After dinner we ambled around a bit in town. I noticed that there was an absence of young people. That has become more apparent to me in Ogunquit. We're getting to know the place better. I still love it there- just not to LIVE there.......

Wed, Jun 11: We slept in a bit and enjoyed the beach in Ogunquit before heading out to Bar Harbor (about a 4 hour drive).


We booked a room at the Belle Isle Motel for $45 a night. It was surely a money-saving thing to do, but it was "no frills" there. I asked for the quietest room and it was indeed quiet back there, and the place was clean so we had no complaints. It was around 3PM when we arrived, so we wanted to do a short, but challenging hike. We scurried over to Acadia National Park, got a park pass for $10 and made our way to Gorham Mountain Trail.

It was nice - there was no one around. I did not have my A-game on this day, but made my way up the steady incline.

Here we are on the trail.

We made our way past Sand Beach

At night, we headed into Bar Harbor for dinner. Bar Harbor is one of my favorite towns. It has an outdoorsy, progressive, artsy and vacation-y feel to it. I get a sense of well-being every time we're there.

On the way there, we saw a woman hitch hiking, so we picked her up (having hitchhiked, we knew her experience). She was a colorful character who worked at a natural food store in town and was traveling between Vermont and Bar Harbor and was originally from PA. She appeared to be in her early 20s. She asked us where we were going and I mentioned a vegetarian cafe I heard about in town and she knew of it immediately - said her friend works there - it's called Eden. So we went to Eden for a light dinner and it was amazing. It's a totally vegan place, so they need to be very creative with the food. If you're open to it, it is a really good meal. Steve loved it so much he insisted we go back for another dinner before going home. I was admiring the watercolors on the wall and evidently it's a local artist who has a gallery next door! I felt so at home at this pleasant little place.

Our server had an interesting tattoo that sparked a conversation and she recommended Rodick street in town as being a very cool little street. So that's where we were off to next! We popped into a tattoo shop there and Steve talked to the guy about getting another tattoo on Saturday, but we changed our minds. So next, we were walking down Rodick Street and noticed a crowd at the Lumpoc in their Bocce Garden Bar - that's right it is an outdoor garden bar with a bocce court! A bunch of guys were setting up a screen and talking about world premiering their video. The crowd looks like late 20s/ early 30s and I wondered if it was a private party as we stood on the street. I decided to jump right in on life instead of observing it and urged Steve to come in! So he did and the bartender said these guys were a local band with a strong following. They showed some avant garde homemade music videos - one was about a meatball, filmed right there on the bocce court I was now standing on, and the other was about a defunct go-kart track in town.

These guys were so entertaining. It was serendipity that we stumbled upon them on Rodick Street. For a fleeting moment I felt like a local in this neat little oasis of a town in the middle of northern New England.

Here's a photo from the green in town.

Thurs, Jun 12: [/u] Today we had a hearty breakfast at a little place down the road from us and headed back to the park. Steve said it was Beehive Trail Day. I was a bit apprehensive about this trail. It is a fairly short trail - about a mile straight up on cliff edges, using rungs to hold on to for dear life. I wondered if I could do it. A couple was leaving and I inquired about the difficulty level, feeling unsure of myself. They said it was more mental than physical. That actually brought me peace of mind. So we were off........

We had to carefully place our hands and feet on the rocks and rungs to get up the trail.

There was absolutely no looking down. In fact, Steve had to pass his heavy backpack off to me (I was behind him in the climb), as the weight was impairing his ability to make it up the cliff. I took some photos of the journey up, but eventually had to concentrate on what I was doing.

It was so rewarding to make it to the top! Notice the sweat clinging my shirt to my back.

Here we are enjoying the view.

After the Beehive, we hiked down to "the bowl" a freshwater lake, where Steve jumped in to cool off.

I was talking to a couple from Washington DC in the meantime. They were about to do the Beehive Trail themselves.

We decided to have lunch by the water - actually that's where I wanted to have our lunch. I just love being near water. We sat on a rock and had lunch.

We unpacked the sandwiches and fruit we bought from the local Hannaford. I got a delicious "Rustica" sandwich of hummus and raw vegetables on ciabatta bread. It was so good that I convinced Steve to get one the next day for our picnic lunch. I found a shady spot next to a rock and Steve sunned himself - we are both getting some nice color at this point!

We also did the trail around Jordan Pond, which is about 3 miles. We rewarded ourselves with blueberry smoothies and some brie at the Jordan Pond House (in the park) afterward. On the way back to the motel, we stopped in this cool mini golf place called "Pirate's Cove' 1/4 mile from our motel and played an 18-hole round. It was THE coolest mini golf place ever! It had huge fountains, a cool course, and reggae music playing from speakers at every hole. It was actually a very close game, but Steve came out victorious. So much for letting the girl win!; )

We showered and headed into town for dinner. I read about this cool place in town. It's a movie theater/pizza place/bar. Each seat has a table in front of it, and you know your pizza is done when your number lights up on the Bingo board on the wall! Our movie (Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull) wasn't due to start until 8:30 and I am afraid we didn't hold out! We ended up having dinner outside at Rupunini's and we rewarded ourselves after a long day's hike with a pitcher of red Sangria and some seafood.

After dinner, we headed back to the cinema. While on line, we noticed a flier for the Slacks' video premier the night before. They ARE a local phenomena! We settled in and saw the new Indy movie. It did not disappoint!

Fri, Jun 13: This morning, we tried breakfast at another place we thought might be cheaper - the Log Cabin - but alas it was not! We wanted to fill up, since we'd have the hardest day of hiking ahead of us. We decided to do the Cadillac Mountain Summit. This is the first place where the sun rises in the morning in the USA (we have yet to discipline ourselves to get up for sunrise!) It was a long and arduous ascent, but it was fairly gentle ascent. I was just pretty tired at this point. It was a cool trip up and we met others at the summit (there's a car park up there and a paved walkway around-so you don't have to hike up the mountain, you can drive it). We were tired and sweaty at the cool and windy summit. Visitors had more layers on than I did (imagine that!). A man with his family asked us to take their photo and then asked us if we were hikers. I wasn't sure how to respond. I said "Yes, sort of". Then he asked us about the cairns he was looking at going back down the mountain - he wasn't sure what they were. After we explained them, I then FINALLY, felt like a hiker after all! Here we are at the summit (the timer on the camera and the mini telescoping tripod are THE coolest things to have).

We decided that Cadillac Mountain would be the place for our picnic lunch on this day.

So now it was time to make our way down the mountain and it was not for the feint of heart! It was very rocky and we were walking along cliff edges. I was concentrating so hard on where I was putting my feet - was the rock I was about to step on stable? - I wondered with every 10th step....... I was a steady decline and we thanked our lucky stars we didn't come up this way.

We slowly made our way into the forest on the Gorge Trail. We ran into a family from rural PA there. The husband joked that his wife was a Jersey Girl. She said she grew up in Clifton! I said I went to School 11 and she said she hailed from School 8! I heard the kids ask "How many schools ARE there?" and the dad said "Too many to name!" I thought that was funny. So here's one for Team Clifton Girls! So now we're in the woods and we encounter a small snake. Here is her photo. I tried to take her photo, but it's unclear since my legs were quivering after the hike. Steve took the camera and discovered his legs were also quivering! Here's the best we could do!

The mosquitoes found us when we stopped for the snake and the rest of the hike was a hasty trek through a dried up river bed on river rocks seeking to outrun the seeming swarm of mosquitoes. We made it into a clearing, relatively unscathed, but we were pretty fatigued. We FINALLY made it back to the car and freshened up at the motel. So back into Bar Harbor we went. We sat on the green for awhile, listening to some local play music and watching the sun set over the Harbor. We went back to the Eden Cafe and the same server was there and she remembered us! We had another great meal there. Afterward, we went for ice cream at this neat little place. I got pop tarts-n-cream and Steve got chocolate jalapeno.

Sat, June 14: [u] Today we decided on light hiking and sightseeing, since we were so tired! We did the easy Ship Harbor Trail out to the ocean and did some tide pooling there.

Here are some scenes from the trail.




Our next stop would be the Abbe Museum in the park which has artifacts from the Wabenaki Indians. We also wandered around some gardens there. Here's a pitcher plant.

Next we checked out the Atlantic Brewery which is a small microbrewery in Bar Harbor. We did a beer tasting and did a brewery tour. I knew Steve would love that. There was a resident cat there named Hops. She looked like my old cat, Mama. That was a highlight for me!

For dinner, we went to Gringo's, a burrito bar on Rodick Street and we made our way over to Cadillac Mountain to watch the sun set and the moon rise, as we had the 1st time we came up to Acadia National Park. The low laying clouds obscured our view, but it didn't take away from the charm of the place - people all sitting and admiring the feat of mother nature each night.

Back at the Belle Isle Motel, we pre-packed, and began loading the car in anticipation of leaving early the next morning.

Sun, Jun 15: We checked out and left at 7:30am, making our way back home. We finally rolled in at about 5:30 PM. This was an especially nice trip to Maine. Maine is a special place. Plus it's so EASY to travel within the US. There are a number of logistics you don't need to worry about when you stay in the US. Anyway, we were pretty tired when we got home, but amped about doing some running. We' ve been jogging every other day in an effort to be healthier. We're also on a diet of sorts - just trying to stay away from anything fried and eat more salad. So far so good. Inspired by Maine!