The Lake Is Always Greener On The Other Side

And as we leave Maine, I wanted to do a shout out to a place where I spent almost every day while I was in Maine. Thank you C-Ray's for indulging me with many, many lobster rolls. 

Outdoor dining at it's finest

I also need to shout out to one of my camping neighbors who gifted me with a can of Rose wine. What will they think of next? Wine in a can! Of course I tried sipping it straight out of the can but that was just wrong. I had to pour it into a glass. Once I got past the horror of it all, it was pretty ok wine.

After leaving Maine, I started moving lickety split cross country. Places to go, people to see. I spent one night at Green Lakes State Park which is just south of Buffalo, New York. Green Lakes State Park's claim to fame is.....Green Lakes. There are two glacial lakes that are 'meromictic lakes which means that there is no fall or spring mixing of surface and bottom waters. Such lakes have a high potential for evidence of ancient plant and animal life.' (Green Lakes website). Because of my limited time, I only hiked around Round Lake and totally missed the lake called Green Lake. I love it when the water is so still that you can see the reflection of the trees in the water and it is hard to tell what is shoreline and what is water.

Of course we do have to end with a pet photo.  For some reason, Jogger loves to sit in the shower.  Doesn't matter if the shower is on or if it is off.  Many times I have had to remove him, dripping wet, out of the shower so I can get in there.  He loves it in there.

A Little Bit of Flowery Display

Thuya Gardens is close to Northeast Harbor. It was formally established and built from 1956 to 1961. I went there not expecting to see much in the way of blooms because it was getting to be very late in September. I was wrong. The dahlias were in bloom plus many others that I did not know.  Following are just pictures of flowers to try to chase away the weather doom and gloom that has descended again on the citizens of my home state Minnesota.

One of the gates into the gardens

This sign was the cause of great disappointment on my part.  

I had planned all sorts of shenanigans and general tomfoolery.

Those yellow flowers were a lot taller than me

To get to Thuya Gardens you have to ascend a narrow, curvy, one lane road with a drop off on one side and a hill on the other. If you meet a car, one of you has to back up until you find a wide spot in the road. When I saw a car leaving just before me, I quick got behind them because I figured if we met anybody on the road, the car meeting us would back up because two is bigger than one.  The plan worked.

Good Job Mr. Rockefeller

Acadia National Park was created in part by land and other donations by John D. Rockefeller Jr. Between 1919 and 1931, Rockefeller, who was opposed to the introduction of automobiles on the island, personally oversaw the construction of a network of carriage roads which were closed to those new fangle automobiles. These roads contained sixteen granite bridges and two gatehouses. I took a Ranger led walk to hear about the carriage roads and see two of these bridges.

The bridges were specifically designed to blend into the landscape in an organic manner, and are sited so that they may be used as viewing platforms for the scenery and so that they may themselves be viewed. (Wikipedia). Each bridge is different and somewhere on the bridge is a date stone telling us when the bridge was built.

Hard to see but there is a small waterfall in the background that Rockefeller specifically wanted to frame with the bridge

Some weird mushrooms on the hike

I should probably look up the names of these mushrooms  

After my Ranger walk I headed over to the Asticou Inn in Northeast Harbor. This is one of the other premier places on the island where you can get popovers. I feel a little funny just ordering popovers, so I also ordered Lobster Stew because, well, just because. The popovers not only came with butter and strawberry jam as spreads, but for an added charge you could get blueberry jam or chocolate, or cinnamon butter or one other spread that I don't remember beyond it had something to do with lemon.

I wasn't shy and I ordered all of the spreads. 

I think my Lobster Stew was mostly butter and milk but it was yummy

My outside dining view of the harbor

Another Lovely Day

Halfway around the Park Loop Road stands Jordan Pond House on the shores of Jordan Pond. Jordan Pond is a mountain lake with clear water that has visibility normally down to 44 feet. You are not allowed to go into the water because it is the water supply for the town of Seal Harbor. They say that the lake was formed by the Wisconsin Ice Sheet during the last glacial period. Question: What is the Wisconsin Ice Sheet doing in Maine? Asking for a friend. Anyways, on the west side of the lake is Penobscot Mountain and on the east is Pemetic Mountain. On the north side of the lake are The Bubbles, two mounds that are evidently not big enough to be classified as Mountains. 

A view of The Bubbles on the north side of the lake

The plan is to hike the Jordan Pond Trail which is 3.6 miles long around the lake. The east side of the lake is a lovely flat trail, shaded and right next to the lake.

One little tree not afraid to make the jump into fall

The west side of the lake involves a little bit of rock scrambling and walking the plank. Excuse me, they call it a boardwalk which I guess it is. It was great fun when you met somebody coming the other way. Can we say 'up close and personal'?

The Boardwalk

While the hike around the lake was lovely, the real draw for me was the Jordan Pond House. This has been in use as a restaurant almost continuously since 1870, almost a century and half ago. The restaurant became a regular location for high society events. All the fancy ladies would leave their 'cottages' and come to the Jordan Pond House for popovers and sipping their tea on the front lawn as they took in the view. Have I mentioned how popovers rank up there as one of my most favorite foods? Miko and I (yes, they are dog friendly here) sat on the front lawn enjoying the view as I scarfed down several popovers. 

Sipping tea on the front lawn

We also drove up to the top of Cadillac Mountain. This peak is 1,530 feet tall and is the tallest peak within 25 miles of the shoreline of the North American continent. There must be a taller mountain that is 26 miles from the shoreline. It is also supposed to be the first place in the U.S. to see the sunrise. I just have to take their word for it because sunrises are not something in my repertoire. I'm sure that on a clear day the views are amazing but it was very hazy when we were up there. 

Cool sailboat

And It Goes Boom

I had bought the Car Trip Audio CD at the Acadia Visitor Center, popped in the truck and started doing the Park Loop Road. I was really glad I had bought it, at least in the beginning before I got bored with it. The CD would have you stopping at every pull out and scenic view. It explained what you were seeing and then you would move on to the next scenic view. One of the scenic views had us stopping at a place where there was a series of switch backs down to the rocks where we could watch the waves. As this was my first ocean encounter as the tide was coming in, I found it rather exciting. I must admit though, stopping at every single pull out got a little bit old and while the narrator was full of interesting facts, sometimes he did go on a bit long. Side note: I only followed the CD for about half of the Park Loop Road and ended up giving the CD to some fellow campers who had just rolled into town.

Secret shoreline courtesy of the Audio CD

One of the trails I wanted to hike was called Ocean Path which ran between the Ocean and the Park Loop Road. Quite the inventive name, isn't it? It starts at Sand Beach and runs a 1 ½ miles down to Otter Point. Most of Acadia's shoreline is granite. Sand Beach is rather unique in that amid all of this granite, this beach is comprised of sand made from shell fragments that were created by thousands of years of pounding surf.

Sand Beach

About a mile down the path is Thunder Hole. Thunder Hole got it's name because of the loud sound that the waves sometimes make when the waves are coming in as high tide starts rising. The sound is quite deep and sounds like far off thunder. It is made as the waves rush in and create pressure so that the air that is trapped sort of booms. Conditions have to be right for you to hear the sound. I heard many stories of people who tried several times to get there and hear the sound and failed in their quest. The ranger told me that I had the best chance to hear this sound about an hour and a half before high tide. I checked the weather and there were high surf warnings. I figured that if I timed it right, the high surf would help and chances would be good. Chances were not only good, but perfect. Before I even got to Thunder Hole I could hear it booming.  I lead a charmed life.

This is where the sound originates.  Notice the walkway.  For some reason they had it closed off

And Boom!!! Glad I'm not on the walkway now

The Start Of The Great Acadia Adventure

Finally after years of trying to get there, I made it to Acadia National Park.  Granted, I probably could have made it there a lot earlier if I had developed the life skill of focusing and staying the path. I guess I'm a perhaps a little bit distractable. I start off with good intentions and then I see a bright shiny object that catches my attention and I'm off in a new direction. It doesn't matter though – I am in Acadia.

My first step was to check into the Ranger station to get my Junior Ranger book. They tried to talk me into doing the Senior Ranger program but I stayed the course and insisted that I needed to do the Junior Ranger program. I don't know why they were suggesting the Senior Ranger program for me.  Did they think I was not Junior Ranger material?  Ha, I laugh in their faces.  I also picked up some necessities such as the high/low tide schedule and a list of the Ranger led programs. I also picked up some tips on which trails I should do and also when I should do them.

Our first set of trails was the Wonderland Trail and the Ship Harbor Trail, two very short, easy, flat trails that took us through a pine forest to the shore. One of the wonderful things about Acadia is that they allow dogs on the trails. This is so unusual for National Parks. Miko and I were thrilled to be out hiking together again. 

It was low tide

I stayed at Hadley's Point Campground which was only a few miles from the park's entrance. It was also only a quarter mile from the ocean. Miko and I would walk down to watch the sunset. We didn't catch too many super sunsets as either there were no clouds (which really make a sunset) or the sky was completely covered with clouds which blocked the sunset. Luck of the draw I guess.