Post by Grubb. Taking the last hike of the day (Sunday…I think…whatever…) we went out the back door of the inn where we’re staying and headed up into the woods. It was late afternoon and no one was on the trail. Just us and the trees and the mossy stones. The root-gnarled path took some…
Lovely inns
Post by Ella. In Boothbay Harbor our accommodation was at Howard House Lodge, conveniently located right off Route 27 on the outskirts of Boothbay. The Lodge is small, about 25 rooms. The room was spacious with a balcony overlooking a wooded area. And super quiet. On our first night, we were the only guests. The…
High-stepping the mountain stone
Post by Grubb. Sunday morning we got up early and headed over to the ocean edge of Acadia National Park to climb the peak of Gorham Mountain. All 525 feet! Welcome to a world where mountains are the size of what I’ve been accustomed to experiencing as hills in New Mexico. So at the start…
Cadillac Mountain views
Post by Ella. Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, a German man of dubious character, was granted a tract of land in Maine in 1688. The land now contains Bar Harbor and Cadillac Mountain (originally called Green Mountain but later renamed after Antoine in 1918). There are spectacular views from the summit of Cadillac Mountain. With…
Bah humbug, Bah Hahba
Post by Ella. What is the magic that attracts people to Bar Harbor? You got me. I’m sure the mansions, tucked away somewhere are, well, big. But seriously? Two main streets packed with Knick-knack shoppers, perilous street crossing because drivers are frustrated at having to stop every two feet for pedestrians, parking takes 20 minutes…
On Jordan Pond
Post by Grubb. Scale changes when you enter a new dimension. When the Acadia Visitor Center shuttle bus dropped us off at foot of the Jordan Pond trail I realized my proportional world was in for a readjustment. First there was the mob clotting the throughway by the hot dog stand that led to the…
A little context
Post by Ella. Yesterday’s (Saturday) agenda.
Way down below…an eagle?
Post by Grubb. The Penobscot River was not to be missed since we were going to cross it on the way to Northeast Harbor. The bridge that crosses this expansive river is stayed by a spray of cables streaming down from two giant columns, one of which has the tallest bridge observatory in the world….
Nor’easter lobster pound
Post by Ella. I had no idea what a lobster pound was but you see signs all over the place. It’s akin to an animal pound but for lobsters. It’s where lobsters go to die. You can buy live lobsters, or not so live lobsters. When the host of our accommodation in Northeast Harbor (the…
In the fog, a lighthouse
Post by Grubb. Cautiously measuring my stride over the slippery granite blocks of Maine’s Rockland breakwater only confirmed that in my new dimension I was looking through a glass darkly. When, late this morning we arrived at Rockland’s jutting shoreline, the resort hotel purported to be looming over the waters of the bay was lost…
Up the coast: today’s route
Post by Ella. Today, we moved north. From Boothbay Harbor to Northeast Harbor (yep, a million harbors in Maine) with stops at Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse (walked almost a mile in the fog across the breakwater (preview pic below), Camden for coffee, and the Fort Knox Observation Tower (360° views). Okay there’s a preview of the…
Footbridge to the Gilded Age
Post by Grubb. I like to think that when we moseyed across the footbridge over the inlet of Boothbay Harbor I was actually stepping back in parallel time. On the hotel side of the bay the large shingled resorts and lobster restaurants have, according to the plaques, been converted from Gilded Age mansions. Apparently, this…
Dahlias from another dimension
Post by Grubb. Okay, even if I am in a different dimension, you’re sharing it with me, so I guess it’s alright to keep on blogging. I have to admit that it’s awfully exciting to think I’m reporting back from a parallel universe no matter how slight the difference. Yesterday (Thursday in both dimensions), we…
Stepping into another dimension
Post by Grubb. That’s right, it happened while we were walking along a trail in the Boothbay Botanical Gardens (which, given its size and woodsy paths, should be called a Botanical Forest). The rock to my right had an opening that, according to a kindly lady in a golf cart, was designed by an artist…
When in Maine, see the trolls
Post by Ella. In Copenhagen just a few months ago, we found 7 gentle giants. Woodland trolls created by Thomas Dambo (who labels himself a “recycle art activist”), each tucked into a different parkland niche outside of Copenhagen. Made of wood, these woodland creatures were enthralling. Here are the first two stanzas of a poem…