Justin's house

Today was the ground breaking for Justin's House, a beach house which will be a resting place for families dealing with a child's devastating illness. The house will be in our neighborhood, just across the street from us. The entire community has been involved in fund raisers for this project, including a group of contractors, Contractors For A Cause, who are donating their time. Today was Justin's birthday. He was a college student when he died after battling brain cancer.

Corn maze Sunday

Pumpkin farms now feature corn mazes. This one was in The Plains, VA about 45 minutes from the Ashleys so it was a pleasant ride into the mountains to get there. If we got lost in this corn maze, we would be wandering for 2 1/2 miles unless the corn cop saw our waving flag and came to our rescue. Will was taking no chances and led us out with no problem. He especially enjoyed the mud on the trail, the big tires filled with dried corn to play in and the silly turkeys who ran away from him. A fun morning!

Night shot

We helped create this night shot of the National Museum of the American Indian, part of the Smithsonian in DC. We signed on as volunteers (815 of us!) who held flashlights and electronic flashes used to illuminate the museum as part of RIT's (Jim's alma mater) 25th Big Shot. Only problem was that it was in a driving rain we were doing this. After the Big Shot was taken, we attended a lovely reception inside the museum, meeting up with other RIT students and alumnae, some who had traveled from Rochester to participate! Awesome!

http://www.rit.edu/cias/bigshot/ see this website for more info.

Empty beach

Today was as warm and muggy as an August beach day, yet walking there today I saw the sights of autumn. Here and there were some people sitting on the beach with books and snacks and there were people enjoying the opportunity to fish on an almost empty beach.

"How may I help you?"

Well it was inevitable that one of us would get a PT job. Jim is working at our local UPS store owned by John, our neighbor. He has worked every day since we returned from Maine, learning the ropes, but once trained he will be working just 2 days a week, except at holiday time. He loves it! I am having fun on my own gardening, shopping and walking the boardwalk as I have the car. He can walk or ride his bike.....guess I'll drive him during bad weather.

Summer's end

The empty lifeguard stand parked off the beach signifies the end of the 2009 summer. Parking meters have been removed and dogs are again allowed to accompany their people on the boardwalk. The crowds have dwindled to small groups sitting on the beach. Many restaurants have closed, but some of our favorites will remain open in the next months, and a few of these offer great meal bargains! Lucky for us!

Day 8/ Homeward bound through Connecticut

Traveling from Vermont this morning we found the sun again and it stayed with us all day. We snacked on Macintosh apples picked yesterday and apple cider pressed yesterday bought at a small stand at one of yesterday's stops. So the hotel fridge (Stamford, CT Marriott) is full of PF Chang's leftovers, cider and the Needham's candy I finally found for our native Mainiac friends. Home tomorrow.

Day 7/ Vermont

We drove for 6+ hours today through clouds and sprinkling rain and a poor section of Maine and a better section of NH to get to Montpelier, VT. and Betsy's B and B where we are staying tonight. Jim is happy to have access to a TV room and FOOTBALL...if there is any on tonight. The B and B is a vintage Victorian home situated on State Street and close to Vermont College and downtown. The Italian Restaurant where we had a garlicky dinner was excellent.

Pictured here is the State House where a crowd of people were demonstrating when we arrived......think it was about health care.

We wanted to show you the stacks of wood we have seen all along our travels this week. New England has some serious winters here and I guess that it is imperative that the wood is ready for the first frost.

Day 6/ Acadia

Finally saw crashing (sorta) waves at Schoodic Point, our destination for today. We spent the day here, climbing on rocks and following trails into wooded areas. Very few people are visiting this peninsula today which was added onto the Park when finally donated by the sisters who owned it.

Winter Harbor Light is out on Mark Island, seen from the shoreline of Schoodic Peninsula. Although the flag is flying, it is not a manned light house. That's a lobster boat in the foreground, whose captain is collecting his traps.

I am pointing to a "cairn," a means of pointing the way along a trail. One is not supposed to add to the cairn or disturb it as it has its own trail language. On our short hike today to the top of Schoodic Head we followed these cairns to an excellent place to view the islands in Frenchman's Bay.

Day 5 Acadia

Celebrating our 43rd anniversary today. Had breakfast at a local log cabin restaurant and our waitress told us where to buy local wine, beer and root beer. Back to the park, we hiked around the rocks at Otter Cliffs. Mostly, the rocks are made of pink granite and the sun picks up the color so well.

This afternoon we hiked around Jordan Pond (about 3+ miles). The cool temps made the walk very comfortable. Good thing for our whirlpool tub as we are feeling the stress in our legs of hiking over so many rocks as well as this sometimes strenuous boardwalk. We were imagining the construction of such a path in the early 1900s.

Some of the boulders we saw on our hike were huge as we rolled them out of our way.......

Jim eating lobster tonight at The Portside Inn in Bar Harbor. Of course, all lobster we have eaten this week has been delicious.

And yet another beautiful sunset atop Cadillac Mtn. Tonight's was especially pretty b/c of the clouds. Then temps dropped to the low 50s!

Day 4 Acadia

What a marvelous lobster boat tour we had. Got up close and personal with baby seals who were very friendly and nosy, a bald eagle, Egg Rock Light House (pictured here) and lobsters in their traps. Ate lobster rolls for lunch.

Here is Captain John telling us about the anatomy of a lobster. Every 9/11 he donates all of his day's proceeds to the local Fire Dept. Quite a local celebrity, he has been on many of the area TV shows plus Good Morning America.

Bar Harbor is a lovely and busy port. We shopped here this afternoon and found lots of bargains. Not too many crowds today as there were no cruise ships in port.

Beautiful sunset atop Cadillac Mountain. Lots of other photographers pulled out their tripods for this event. Then it got very chilly!

Day 3 Acadia

This is Elman and his horses Reuben and Rustis and the buckboard he built which we rode in for an hour to the top of Day Mtn just catching the early sunset at 6:45 pm. It was a carriage ride on one of the carriage roads built by John D. Rockefeller in the 1930s for the purpose of allowing a leisurely trip through the park without motor cars which are still not allowed on these roads.

Earlier we hiked to Thunder Hole (seen at the right of the picture) which at high tide is supposed to have a tremendous sound and huge splashing waves. Today it was very peaceful even at high tide.

Next was a climb by car to the top of Cadillac Mtn, the highest peak in the coastal eastern US at about 1600 feet. Beautiful views of the many islands surrounding Acadia, the ocean....even a cruise ship! The top of the mountain is dome-shaped and very barren, making it easy to walk around and look at all the vistas. This is where sunrise is seen first in the US....maybe we will make it back early on another morning.

Day 2 Acadia

We started the day at this pretty bridge outside Somesville. It was across the street from a quaint little library. Took A LOT of pictures today....less traffic and fewer people on our travels today as we toured the quiet side of Mt. Desert Island.

Picture 2: We have a certain fascination with lobster pots and have taken many pictures of them. These are on a dock where lobsters were being unloaded from the boats in Bernard.

We hiked down rocks to get this picture of the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. It is a private residence so we did not go through it. The other light houses near here are out in the water so we can only see them from a distance or on a boat. Note the clouds which cleared, giving us another bright and sunny , but cool day.

We saw these water falls from the car and stopped to take a picture....also in Somesville. This little stream empties into Somes Sound, the only fjord in the continental US. We have found ourselves in Somesville 3 times now, probably b/c it has a good bakery!!!

Picture 3:

Day 1 Acadia National Park

We rode through most of Acadia National Park today and stopped for lunch at Jordan Pond where we ate lobster chowdah and warm popovers. Behind us are the Bubbles, twin hills north of Jordan Pond which is a very clear body of water. The sky was as blue as we have ever seen it and the weather was cool enough for jackets. We hiked the nature trail behind the restaurant.

Bean shopping

Left Scott and April's for Maine today and stopped in Freeport, ME to shop L.L. Bean. What a quaint town full of shops, outlets and restaurants! Lots of places to sit and rest and eat ice cream, too. Then on to Ellsworth where we are staying for the week in order to see Acadia National Park.

Lily and friend

We have stopped in Westwood , MA on our way to Maine to visit with Scott, April and Lily. Here is Lily eating breakfast with her food companion Bella keeping watch for dropped eggs. The Johnson home is beautiful and we have arisen to a beautiful fresh and cool morning. On to Freeport and L.L. Bean!

Windy day

With a wind out of the east, Jim got his picture of all the bandstand flags flying in the same direction. Besides the American flag, a county, state and Bethany Beach flag are flown. Still too windy to sit on the beach without getting sand-blasted! But what cloud formations we saw today!

Me and the beach

Now this is my idea of the perfect beach.....lots of sand, sun, surf and a lifeguard watching out for it all.....and me! Today is a beautiful breezy day at the beach. Not too many people, but lots of good air. :-)