Massachusetts Meander

We have been taking a slow and wandering path through New England, but if we stopped so I could take a picture of every beautiful white church, we would still be here when the snow falls. This is a United Methodist church in Townsend, MA. 

We left the Maine coast on a rainy morning and gave New Hampshire a fairly quick drive through. 

We passed through Concord, so we gave the capital a look. 

We seem to be staying one night in each "travel" state. Our night in MA was in a quiet woodsy park called Pearl Hill. I wonder if someone found a pearl there...

I really enjoy these old woods they feel "soft" in some way. I see how Thoreau, Frost, Hawthorne, etc were inspired by their world. 

How do you like this lichen?

I have been on a quest for a good still pond picture. I have a collection but none I am really pleased with. Here are couple:

I suppose if the trees were further in their color change it might help. I will keep trying. 

One of the joys of our journey is coming across "neat" things that you didn't even know exist. In Shelburne Falls there is a Bridge of Flowers- it is an abandoned trolley bridge that started growing trees and weeds. A number of years ago citizens started planting flowers. Now it is absolutely beautiful all volunteer and donations. 

While on the bridge you forget you are over water. 

This is the view from the parallel car bridge. 

And vice versa. 

We traveled east across the north edge of Massachusetts then turned south. We passed through the famous Berkshire area. There are all kinds of famous places we did not stop and see. We did enjoy just seeing the variety of buildings and landscape. 

One more pond for the road. 

jb

Miscellaneous Maine Memories

This post is about a few of the odds and ends from our time in Maine that did not make it into yesterday's post. 

The  Androscoggin River - we traveled several miles along this on our first day in Maine on hwy 2. 

This clock is on Main Street in Bar Harbor or "Baa Haa-baa"

We were camped in the very well named Blackwoods campground. The forest was dense and dark, the solar panels didn't do us much good. We built a fire one evening, which it may surprise you to know it is the first campfire the two of us have had in several years. 

Time for the lighthouse summary. We saw some across the water on islands but got fairly close to these four. 

Bass Harbor - on Mt Desert Isle

Cape Elizabeth

Pemaquid Point - this is the lighthouse on the Maine quarter. 

Portland Head Light - my favorite. It was recommended to me by a lady from So. Carolina who I chatted with in a Facebook quilting group. 

This beautiful bridge crosses the Penobscot Narrows. The old bridge has been removed it was dangerously deteriorated. They built the new one in just 3 years from 2003 to 2006. There is an observation tower at the top of the west support. We did not take the tour, but I bet it has a fantastic view. 

We shopped at Trader Joe's in Portland today. It was our first TJ's since Lincoln NE. It was nice to stock up on some of our favorite treats and staples ( more treats than staples!)

Signs

Maybe it is a "sign" that I use too many non-flush toilets in my life, but every time we passed this sign, I found it kinda funny. 

We had our final Maine lobster roll at this place by the Cape Elizabeth Light. 

This will be our final night in Maine. Now we are trying to decide what to do next. Both of us are a little tired of "touristing" - we will head generally south and a bit west. We will try to avoid toll roads, freeways and big cities. It might be nice to find a Habitat project to drop in and help for a day or two. Who knows I am sure something interesting will come along, it usually does. 

Mainely Acadia

A view from top of Mt Cadilac, the tallest mountain on the eastern seaboard north of somewhere in South America. 

Our time in Acadia NP on Mt Desert Island (MDI for short) was spent in a little bit of many different experiences. The only activty I had too much of was driving/riding around the island getting from one something to another. 

We ate well...

Dan's lobster. 

My pork chop. 

Farmer's market in South Harbor. We got some veggies, fresh bread, sweet cider and a bag of Paula's Red apples plus an apple scone & two chocolate peanut butter cookies. 

We went sea kayaking one afternoon. It was fun to go out on the water, we crossed a small strait and went around the end to a beach on Bartlett Isle. Bartlett is a private island owned by David Roosevelt. I don't have any pictures for this blog of the kayak trip because I left my phone behind. 

These wonderful wood walkways are on several park trails. They are solid and old, although I couldn't find a park employee who knew just how old. This path was around Jordan Pond which leads back to Jordan Pond House. JPH is famous for popovers and tea. 

We hiked a bit up and down the side of Mt Dorr. 

I love the rustic granite steps.

We road our bikes on the carriage trails that are open to horses, bicycles and walkers. Our route was around Eagle Lake. 

There is a network of these carriage roads separate from the busses and cars. One of the Roosevelts designed them and paid for their construction. The bridges are especially beautiful. 

A couple times we settled on the rocks above the ocean to read and sew. 

Stitching with a view:-)

This is the Bass Harbor Lighthouse, the only one on MDI. Here is another view:

Our kayak guide told us the best lobster was to be found at Thurston's Lobster Pound in Bernard. 

Here are a batch of "chicks" waiting to be weighed & boiled. At first I was trying to figure out why the lobster places were called "pounds". I thought maybe it was like dog pounds where dogs are kept after they are caught and lobsters are in lobster pounds where they go after they are caught. Ahh No, no quite. Lobster pounds are where the lobsters are sold by the pound and there are different size groups. At Thuston's they are called "chicks" for the little guys up to about 1.39lbs; the "halves" are 1.4lbs to 1.79lbs and the "selects" are over 1.8lbs. Then the lobsters are further broken down between soft shell and hard shell. The price per pound goes up for the larger lobsters. It was all kind of complicated so I just tried a lobster roll. 

It was a pile of cooled lobster meat on a toasted bun with lettuce. I confess I added a bit of mayo to make it suit my taste. Here are a couple more sights in Bernard. 

Our weather was on the cool side so I only got my feet wet at Sand Beach

Rustic sign posts in a couple styles. 

So dear reader if you have percivered in reading this blog post as my topics have wandered every which way, you will have a sense of our time in Acadia. Disorganized and varied...We wandered this way and that; I am not sure how better to describe it. 

So I wonder as I wander could life be any better? 

A Visit with Vermont

Over and over again I find the most joy in the unexpected. My knowledge of geography is mediocre at best. I had never noticed that Vermont is sandwiched by water on both the east and west borders. So our entrance and exit of Vermont were over water. This photo is from our ride on the Ticondaroga Ferry. It crosses Lake Champlain at a relatively narrow point at the southern end of the lake. 

Our first little discovery was a cider and donut store just up the road from the ferry. The cider is delicious, from the first press of the season. We took a hilly drive with many 90 degree turns to the foot of the Green Mountains. It was a hot steamy day. 

At first I just cooled my feet in the water of Dunmore Lake where we camped. It felt so good we left the cameras at the camper and went for a refreshing swim. It was such a perfect day in the water, I noticed a group of 4 men standing waist deep and talking for more than an hour. I didn't notice many bugs and the lake was great. 

Saturday morning started partly cloudy and somewhat warm. We drove north towards Waterbury of Ben & Jerry fame. 

On the way we came upon a Saturday market in Waitsvlle in the Mad River Valley. We stocked up on fresh produce and restocked the freezer with some meat. 

There was a nice mix of gifts, food and music. There seemed to be many loyal customers at each booth and we took their advice to heart. A couple had traveled from Montreal just for the pickled green tomatoes; a gentleman claimed the multigrain bread was the best anywhere; & the yak burger customer had almost filled his frequent buyer card so he could earn a free yak leather wallet. 

I didn't take a picture of our yak burger that came with roasted garlic, grilled tomato, fresh mozzarella and home made bun. It was consumed before I got a chance. The Vermont Yak company has a Facebook page and I bet you can find an image there. They told me Yak are not raised in the NW, although there are some in Montana and Colorado.

 We drove on from the fair to Waterbury. 

The tour comes with a sample and a bit of information. We learned why some of our favorite flavors have changed or gone to the "graveyard". The company has changed to all GMO free ingredients--so Hershey was not able/willing to make GMO free Heath Bars, hence Coffee Heath Bar Crunch is now Coffee and Toffee Crunch. They retired a flavor that had Kalua because they singled handed lay drove up the price of Kalua beyond profitability. By the time we came out of our tour it was raining too hard to go up the hill to the flavor graveyard. 

We headed east to Montpelier and gave the capital a rainy drive by. The population of Montpelier is under and 8000 and is the only state capital without a McDonalds. That is the sort of claim to fame that fits this pretty little state. The eastern border of Vermont is the Connectiut River. 

We crossed the Connecticut over the Mt Orne Bridge. It is 266 ft long and the sign says the vehicle clearance is 12'6" high. We are 12'2" so we should have been good to go, but

On the New Hampshire end we heard a bang on the roof... The bar hanging down has 11'6" printed on it! What the heck! Oh well just a noise no damage to the rig. 

The Connecticut River looking back to Vermont from New Hampshire. 

Here is our simple dinner of fair faire. We will give New Hampshire a quick drive through today and be in Maine by tonight. jb

On the brink of autumn...