Postcard from Pennsylvania- 1

16-18 September 2012

Lake Ariel, PA

This was a fortunate stop. Never been here before, of course, so I had no idea what we were getting into. I had the impression from the name that Clayton Park Recreational Area was a state park. That's not the case. This is a private campground on a huge piece of property in the Pocono mountains right on Lake Ariel. Just a short drive from the slightly (!) larger town of Mt. Cobb, PA.

When I booked I thought it was for 1 nite, but I was happy to learn I had actually booked for 2 nites. The 17th was a glorious, sunny day. We enjoyed the restful quiet of the park so much (we were nearly the only ones there during the day) that we added another day so we didn't have to be on the road in the expected heavy rain on the 18th.

And rain it did! Our rain gauge said we had 2.37" of the stuff but it felt like 10". Walking the dogs was a giant pain, but I managed to get out in slight lulls in the nearly steady downpour. Unfortunately the rain collected right where the drivers door of the truck was located. The rain had stopped, but the water was over the top of my boots. So I climbed in thru the passenger door and snaked (oozed?!) into the drivers seat and shifted the truck enough that I could connect and pull out at an angle. The ground is very solid so there was no real threat of getting stuck... just a problem getting into the truck.

Here are a few shots from the 17th.

All these rigs have a full side view of the lake. Wonder
how many years it took to get thru that waiting list!

The park continues in to the other side of the cove.

Great place to watch the sunset or just doze in the sun.

The season is changing fast now!

The tiny cove where owners launch their boat.

Off to Virginia tomorrow. More along the way...

Postcard from Massachusetts- 1

14-15 September

Sturbridge, MA

Friday AM we were on our way to Jellystone Park in Sturbridge, MA. Sturbridge is the home of Old Sturbridge Village. OSV is similar to Colonial Williamsburg in VA if that helps. Now that I've seen both, I think of Williamsburg as being a place for upper-middle class families, but OSV seems to have been home to middle class families in about 1834. They were farmers with much of their production consumed and some sold/traded. We hiked around the site till lunch, then I went back to the trailer an walked the dogs. Then it was back to OSV for some more looking around. It's was well worth the $22 ea for entry (Seniors price). If you're in the area you owe it to yourself to visit. I filled 2 memory cards and went thru 2 batteries... everywhere you look is a photo op!

Jellystone Park was less of a happy experience than the Jellystone Park in Sioux Falls: in Sturbridge it's sand & dirt, small spaces, terrible access roads. I was expecting better than the very rustic, but it was all of 5 minutes from OSV, so convenience made up for a lot. Sites are small and typical of much of what you find in the east where these campgrounds are very old.

Here's a few of the photos from the day. More later...

Entrance area to Old Sturbridge Village

Oxen in the field to demo plowing... or maybe fertilizing!

The reality of getting a drink of water or taking a bath!

A small house. Only wallpaper for insulation.

Basket making in her spare time. 10 hrs/day was devoted
to the main meal!

The docents were in costume but not in character
as I found in Williamsburg.

Found the silhouette fascinating.

The Quaker Meeting House.

More window stuff

Quaker Meeting House interior with its
2 floors of seating. The rows of seats
were inclined to allow those in the
back to see over those in front.

Small pastures for the sheep.

They were dying wool beside the barn. Took her 2 hours
of feeding wood to get the cauldron to boil!

Village center. Old Sturbrige Village, restored to ca. 1830,
was first opened to the public in 1946.

Postcard from Maine- 7

10-13 September 2012

Durham, ME

There was a lot of creaking and groaning as we pulled out of Trenton, ME. It worried me till I realized it was just my joints. Old age is not for wimps! Now we're back in Durham again for a last 4-day visit before we leave for points West.We had a really nice drive with partly cloudy skies. So we had frequent sunshine to light up the very green countryside.

Mileage was terrible, however, as we headed North to I-395 near Bangor, ME- on the order of about 8 mpg for the 35+ miles from Trentin to Bangor. Like many who live on the West coast and have lived or driven in the Rockies or the Sierra Nevadas, I tended to scoff at the piddly bumps on the Eastern landscape that are called mountains. Now that I've driven in these wannabe-hills, however, I've come to realize that whatever they may lack in elevation, these 'bumps' more than make up for in grade change. I can't imagine driving an RV through this area if it doesn't have the torque of a diesel engine! Owners I've talked to that drive gassers routinely get 4-5 mpg in these hills. So I guess 8 mpg from Trenton to Bangor was not unreasonable. From Bangor to Durham (near Yarmouth) the mileage crept up to 10 mpg overall after the last 105 miles.

We had a nice but brief visit with Brad & family. Stayed with Elin & Ingrid while mom & dad went to an open house at the school. Then we got together for pizza (Flat Bread Pizza in Portland) which was excellent. Especially since Brad brought it home with him... no driving!

Btw, if you should find yourself in Yarmouth and in need of a meal, be sure to stop at Bruce's Burritos. We really enjoyed what we had there!

Moose sighting!

And all this time I thought it was a conspiracy: Mainers claiming to have moose just to keep tourists coming back. But I'm here to tell yuh they do have moose. We found this guy at a rest stop of all places. He was reluctant to have his photo taken, but the Admiral sweet talked him into it!

The only moose we saw all summer.

Sony NEX-7 camera

Btw, I shoot with a Sony NEX-7 digital camera. Initially I had a few complaints, like the ^%$#!* Video button that is so easy to hit accidentally. And the mindless nature of the Menu system that has to be drilled thru to find what you want. I suppose there are reasons for taking the path they did, but it escapes me. It has taken 6 months, but both have been beaten into submission:

• I bought The Guard from Ric Luther for $20 shipped. It makes it very difficult to activate the Video button and that's just fine with me! I previously had hours of video of my feet!
• I bought Gary Friedman's NEX-7 e-book (supplied with both Kindle & PDF files) which suggests several menu customization changes that have made a world of difference! Very readable and he's a knowledgeable photo professional.

Now that I have my camera set up in a way that fits my approach to shooting, I at long last find the camera intuitive. And the images excellent... far better than I'm able to make use of! If you shoot with a DSLR and are tired of carrying all the bulk and weight, I'd suggest looking into the Sony NEX-series of mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras. With the right selection of lens a NEX can be carried in a jacket pocket. And, depending on the model, the camera features are right up there with many DSLRs.

Postcard from Maine- 6

4 September 2012

Trenton, ME
The temps dropped a few days ago. And for the last 2 nights the furnace cycled a couple times. Hmm... I think I remember something about this sort of thing.  What's going on? Could it be that fall is getting closer? Nah... plenty of time yet. Back in the high 70s tomorrow!

But it is getting close to the time we'll head West. I'll have to check the tires and the fluid levels. And I suppose I'd better lube the trailer's shackles and axle bearing since I have those fancy 'wet shackles' and the axles have Zerk fittings. And maybe wash the windows on the truck. Oh- and some fuel in the tank would be nice.

Now, where did I put the #^%$ truck keys?!

We've been here so long it's beginning to feel about that detached. Weeds are getting embarrassingly long under the rig. And the dogs have learned when to go to the door to wait for their favorite people to bark at. But what really got me thinking about this is the folks beside us just fired up their engine to make sure it still runs (it does; and diesel exhaust still stinks too). That and the fact our rent is about to run out after the 9th. And blueberry season is over.

So it looks like we'll be on our way about 10 September. We'll stop first at the KOA in Durham to visit our family in Yarmouth. Then while we're there we'll figure out the best way to get across the country without melting since it's still hitting mid-100° F in Oklahoma City!! Not that we particularly love OKC- it just happens to be real close to the shortest line you can draw between Maine and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Halleluiah

We finally had an awakening that we were killing ourselves with the local Maine ice cream. (Here's where you say: "Really? What was your first clue, Sherlock?!") About 3 weeks ago we got back on the wagon and have been eating what is for us proper meals. The one thing we indulged in last week was a lobster roll down the road at Hot Dog Heaven and it was an excellent treat. No ice cream and we immediately got back on track. What we're doing is pretty simple:

• nothing white but a cup of milk on the morning cereal
• no more than 4 oz. of lean meat or fish per day
• aim for 25-35 gr of fiber daily
• only whole grains (no processed flour or white rice; a small potato if it has the skin on)
• leafy green veggies as a salad before the entree
• limit sugar at any meal to no more than 25 gr
• lots of veggies (about the only way you can hit the fiber goal)
• about 15-120 min. after every meal, go for a 15-20 min. walk
• fruit or a yogurt for a snack

Certainly not the Atkins diet, and not quite a vegetarian diet. But a lot better way to eat than we've been doing by hitting local restaurants. We got this approach (in a lot more detail) from Karon Rzad, a Key West nutritionist I was sent to in late 2003. No calories to count since the calories take care of themselves if you meet these criteria.

Schedule

Schedules are evil. We learned that when we were cruising. You get in trouble following them cuz they make you drive longer or faster in a day than is safe; they can leave you in campground you don't particularly like to meet someone who may or may not show up; and worst case can leave you without a campground. Yeah, there's always a WalMart parking lot (unless they don't permit it in that location), but we try to keep that for emergencies.

But we have doctor/dentist appointments starting 18 October and we thought Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta didn't end till 16 October. That meant our usual RV park (Santa Fe Skies) would be booked. Thankfully we had the dates wrong: Balloon Fiesta ends 14 October and not 16 October, so they should be able to find space for us by then. We had wanted to be back in Benson by 1 October but that's just not going to happen.

Postcard from Maine- 5

20 August 2012

Trenton, ME

"OK dude... why the silence? You awake out there?" Yup, we're awake. Still hanging out in coastal Maine. The weather here beats pretty much the whole rest of the US this summer, so we're not anxious to move too soon to get back to the Southwest.

Which presents a dilemma. We managed to schedule doctor/dentist appointments in Santa Fe at the same time as the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. How smart is that?! Not very if past experience is any measure. Every RV park within 100 miles of ABQ will be booked for that week plus a few days before and after. Not sure how to deal with that... workin' on it.

Fat Farm

We've discovered a hidden treasure in Maine. They have a 'fat farm' here. Usually that means a place to go to lose some unwanted fat. In this case, though, the fat farm puts weight on you. The center of this conspiracy happens to be Gifford's ice cream. I can't believe Maine isn't the heart attack/stroke capital of the US! Great ice cream and all our favorite flavors, but without Dr. Oz looking over our shoulder we've gone nuts. I bet I've added at least 10 lbs. It's been a month since I've seen my shoes while I'm wearing them!

So you've been warned: if you come to Maine, be prepared to have some of the best ice cream available in the US. Just make sure you're prepared for the consequences! Our favorites are...

• Gifford's- Sold most places including Hannaford's and Shaw's supermarkets. We've tried blueberry, moose tracks, vanilla, and chocolate.
• Rich's of Maine- not easily found. We've tried vanilla and blueberry.
• Scoops- a tiny independent in the Ellsworth Harbor parking lot. They offer their own homemade ice cream and it's excellent. We've tried apricot-peach (wow!), and chocolate.

The B-List

It's expensive in this part of Maine whether you're eating out or cooking at home. It's tourist heaven and, since locals only have 4 months to earn most of their annual living, prices are higher than we find comfortable. So when we eat out we look for the least costly that's good enough to go back. So if you don't want to eat at the very best places, here's our B-List of a few which meet our very loose criteria. In no particular order...

• Hot Dog Heaven- About a 1/4 mile S of Timberland Acres RV Park on Bar Harbor Rd in Trenton. HDH is a one-man show with only occasional help at the counter (so it can be slow). John serves a great chili/cheese dog, his lobster and crab rolls are wonderful, and his fish chowder is excellent. And of course Gifford's for dessert. Order at the counter; no inside seating... just picnic tables. And his food is great! He closes Columbus Day, then spends his winter in Jamaica recovering from working 7 days per week.
• Pat's Pizza- On Bar Harbor Rd just before the turn to WalMart. Been around for decades. They have good pizza, good design-your-own hamburgers, and they have specials each nite. For instance, on our first visit they had lobster rolls for $10.95 which is the best price in town. And save room for carrot cake!
• Governor's Restaurant and Bakery- They're on High St. near Hannaford's. Breakfast anytime they're open. Everything is good but I really liked the Memphis Bacon/Cheeseburger and Celia liked the Southwest omelet. And try the fritter for dessert: a combo of apple fritter, chunky applesauce, caramel and Gifford's ice cream. The bakery was only OK except that the bread was excellent (they'll slice it for you if you want).
• Jordan's- Another walk-up place but it also has a dining room where you can take your food if you don't want to eat in the truck. They have hamburgers, dogs, lobster ($$) or crab ($) rolls. They brag about their onion rings, but I thought they were just so-so.
• Martha's Cafe (was Martha's Diner till Martha changed the name)- It's next to Shaw's Market on High St. She serves breakfast and lunch only, then closes at 2 PM. And bring cash... no CCs here. Everything we've tried has been good including the Rueben. If you like maple syrup on your pancakes, plan on smuggling your own cuz it costs a small fortune to buy hers!
• Union River Lobster Pot- In Ellsworth on (surprise!) the Union River, just over the bridge. This upper end place (white table cloths, waiters, casual dress) serves lobster serveral different ways plus clams, fish, etc. Not the kind of place we go very often, but what we had was good. You need reservations here.
• Ruth & Wimpy's- A lower-middle place in nearby Hancock (east of Ellsworth) with high end prices. The usual lobster/crab/fish offerings. I did a double take at the prices ($28 for a lobster in a diner-style restaurant?!) till I saw the section with 'baskets'. A lobster roll was no pricier than anywhere else. The home made blueberry pie was definitely blueberry, but nothing to write home about. The problem was probably that it wasn't yet blueberry season (duh!).

Here are some that were only so-so or that we were warned away from...

• The Mex- I guess the rule of thumb is you don't come to Maine for Mexican food!
• Mainely-Meat- A BBQ place in Bar Harbor on ME-3 & in Ellsworth downtown. Only so-so. Again, when you think of BBQ, is it Maine you think of first? Probably not. But it was definitely better than what we had in Batavia, NY.
• Helen's- on US-1 near Home Depot. We tried to like this place but looks can be deceiving. The food was not well prepared and the recipes left me wondering (lasagna Alfredo? Maybe, but it's not on my short list of favorites!). The desserts looked great but had apparently been sitting too long: the genuine whipped cream topping was stiff enough to be used as a Frisbee.

Celia had lunch with friends at Jordan Pond House in Acadia NP. High end and in a prime location and is quite literally world famous. Apparently parking was chaotic which made it dicey to arrive on time for their reservation (recommended). Prices were $$$, food was good (but skip the lobster soup... not enough lobster). Jordan Pond House famous for its popovers. If they're anything like I had when there in 1971, they're outstanding! Everyone needs to go Jordan Pond House at least once so you can have bragging rights. But if you have a long bed dually like us, better find another way to get there!

And if you don't know what a popover is, check out Wikipedia.

Along the road.

Watch for the road side stands. That's where you can buy good berries in-season. You'll find (in order of appearance) strawberries, then (briefly!) raspberries, and finally blueberries. We lucked out cuz the park has a local that supplies each of these as they become available. A local drops them off as she makes her rounds. We paid $5.50 for a quart of blueberries. However...

When we took a drive northeast we made it as far as Columbia Falls, ME to the Wild Blueberry Land. Kinda' looks like the Giant Orange roadside stands we used to see in California except it's blue and doesn't have orange juice. They sell blueberries and pretty much anything made with blueberries like pie, jams & jellies, candy. Whatever. I coaxed The Admiral into buying a blueberry pie which I later discovered cost $17. Yikes! The point is, don't get too carried away with local food and crafts. The local dude a 1/4 mile down the road from the RV park is selling the same things and wants $11 for a pie.

Off to the vet

Annie has struggled since we left the southwest. She keeps getting hotspots. Probably from bug bites or maybe it started from inadequate rinsing from the last bath before leaving. Whatever, she would get over one, then another would start. We went to a vet in Michigan, just north of Elkhart, IN; then we called the vet in Santa Fe and got Cephalexin via WalMart; then when she got her 4th or 5th infection we decided she needed to see a vet again. We found Oceanside Animal Hospital here in Trenton, about 1.5 miles south of us on ME-3 (Bar Harbor Rd.). Oceanside AH is run by Darryl Burmeister, DVM. He did a thorough check of Annie looking for hotspots we may have missed (we hadn't, but he found all the old ones); treated the worst site; then sent us on our way with prescriptions for Prednisone and Cephalexin.

About a week later Kelly started having a problem for the first time. She licked and chewed her way through the hair on her side and managed to get a big old smelly site going in a matter of a few hours. Back to Oceanside.

This time Darryl The Vet said he thought Kelly wasn't far enough advanced to require Prednisone, so Kelly was treated (shaved the site and disinfected it) and sent us home with just Cephalexin. Again, the treatment was like magic. Both dogs are doing great now and we couldn't be happier with Oceanside Animal Hospital for care of our dogs. So if you find yourself in the area of Trenton/Ellsworth in Maine and in need of a vet, consider Oceanside as our suggestion.

Btw, Annie & Kelly routinely get a pro-biotic every morning, so antibiotics are seldom an issue for diarrhea or loose bowels. Prednisone, however, made Annie have to pee every hour only to slurp up more water. Had to get up several times the first night. Which is not a problem since I have to get up just as often for myself! Annie did complain about having to shave several times a day, but hey... that's life in the truck lane!

More coming. May try to get out of here about the first of September depending on the weather west of us.

Postcard from Maine- 4

14 July 2012

Trenton, ME

We are really enjoying our stay here at the Timberland Acres RV Park. It's a nice park, we get our mail forwarded quickly (NetFlix again!), and the weather has been OK for us (we're wimps and start whining if the weather varies much from our "acceptable" norm!). Trenton has turned out to be a nice location for touring the area and, other than Eastport, is probably as good a homebase as an RVer could hope for.

Repairs to the weather station

Temporarily having a physical mailing address meant I could finally get our Davis weather station repaired. When we drove from Oklahoma to Branson, we went thru N Arkansas to get there. It was a gorgeous drive with new foliage overhanging the road. Normally there would be clearance between the tree limbs and the top of the coach. But we came thru early and the new growth hadn't yet been knocked back by passing delivery trucks. Apparently I was the trail blazer and ended up with no anemometer cups on the weather station (it's mounted on the ladder). Oops.

So I ordered a replacement anemometer wheel which we could receive here at the park. Only problem is it wouldn't fit on the now-bent-out-of-shape shaft on the anemometer!

So next I ordered a new sensor suite (Davis' ISS for our Vantage Vue). When that arrived I found nothing was working on the display. Apparently I received something that had been on the shelf too long as the battery was reporting it had low voltage and there was no wind speed displayed. So with our now-cloudy skies (I'm told this is the summertime norm for this area) I positioned the ISS under a light on the table for a few hours and Presto! We now have wind speed. I'd love to tell you I relied on my superior deductive skills, but the truth is I had seen wind speed suddenly come alive after a couple hours on the original ISS when that unit had been indoors for a couple days and needed to do some charging.

East Blue Hill

Not long after we arrived in Trenton we learned we have friends staying nearby. Connie & Ralph live in Texas but they have a summer cottage in nearby East Blue Hill Village. It would be a shame to be this close and not see them, so we hoped we'd be able to connect with them before we leave to return west to forest fires and dust bowl conditions in the west.

And connect we did. Initially hey had visitors when we first e-Mailed them, plus they had a pre-planned trip to Nova Scotia for a few days. But they were free after that, so we made plans for us to visit on the 14th. The drive from Trenton to E. Blue Hill should have been a straightforward thing to do: enter the address into the GPS and go. Unh-uh... not so fast. As far as Garmin is concerned, we're talking blazed trails here. The chance of having their address actually show up in the Garmin was somewhere between slim and none and none is what it w was.

Fortunately Connie sent detailed directions and off we went... 'over the river and thru the woods', directions in hand, with no clue where we were most of the time. But the directions were spot-on and we made it, only a few minutes late. With the dogs.

Interior of the 1920's-built cottage.

View from the deck

Connie & Ralph have an incredible location overlooking a large inlet off what I believe is Blue Hill Bay. The small main house was built in the 1920s and the tiny guest cottage a couple decades later.

Plus they have added a small barn where Ralph has a shop and can store their tractor with enough room left over for winter storage for their wooden dinghy. Lots of work to keeping a place like this... trees everywhere plus brush, paths and stairs to be maintained, a new sewage treatment system to be installed. The list went on and on!

Motion detectors at work on the deck. My God they're loud!

The house has a large deck which looks out over the water, so the dogs immediately made themselves at home and told anyone that could hear them they were in charge. Later I realized you could hear their bark miles away (I don't want to think about how many raised eye brows we caused!). They seemed oblivious and just plopped right down and made themselves comfy. Good things  they;ve been dog owners!

Connie & Ralph slaving away in the kitchen

Lunch was a Maine-visitor's dream come true: lobster rolls! Connie put together the lobster rolls and Ralph took care of the strawberry shortcake. Wow! What a meal. Thanks again guys!

Celia was right in there asking questions and taking her own photos, so maybe we have some in our future! Till that happens we'll have to be happy with this reminder  us of a wonderful meal with our guests!

The steering station and the spray dodger

When you have a place on the water as they do it's only natural to have a boat as well. Ralph has a wooden Hampton (the vintage style, not the builder). The boat has a strip planked hull, wooden decks and removable wooden floors. Very simple layout with a steering sttion and stowage fore & aft. It's powered by a 3-cylinder Yanmar diesel engine that moved us right along when we went out after lunch. Rock-solid steering! It was a dream to handle as it tracked like it was on rails. It's been several years since I was last on the water, so this was a very special treat for me. And I didn't have to row the tender...

Looks like what it's named for: a pea pod.

The Hampton seemed to be about a 1/2 mile out, so you have to have a way to get to the mooring. And that's where this 13' Pea Pod replica comes in. It serves as the tender and is also wooden. A tender is the 'taxi' that gets you between the shore (or wherever you happen to be) and the boat. Not sure who built his Hampton, but the Pea Pod was built by a local builder in Blue Hill. It's beautifully built and maintained and it came with a 1 person-power engine: two oars pulled by Ralph.

We really enjoyed visiting and greatly admired their house and property. They told us it was something of a disaster when they bought it in 1996 and that they've done a huge amount of work. But it paid off and now they have a show piece. Great job guys!

Postcard from Maine- 3

11 July 2012

Catching up, so this is a long one!

Trenton, ME

We 4 desert rats have been struggling with the heat, humidity and bugs. There's no way to avoid mosquitoes during the summer, but I was sure we'd avoid the heat and humidity here in Maine. That was apparently an illusion as we got hammered with several days over 90° F that made it feel like my internal battery charger was broken... my virtual motor was kaput. We were so uncomfortable we were to the point of driving West to the Oregon coast which, in our recollection, is always cool & foggy from the chilly waters traveling down the coast (more illusion as the reality for 2012 is quite the opposite!).

Our daughter-in-law Stephanie told us we really needed to look at more of the northern part of Maine after having come all this way. And, more importantly, keeping near the ocean would be cooler. That turned out to be right on the money.

And that's how we have come to be in Trenton, Maine, just North of Mt. Desert Island, Acadia NP and Bar Harbor. I did careful and exhaustive research to find just the right park (I looked in Woodall's and picked the first one that had an available pull-thru) and ended up with a site at Timberland Acres RV Park . I started with a couple weeks to see how we liked it, then 2 days later I extended another week; after 7 days we made it a month. What we've found so far is that, as promised, it's a lot cooler.

And wetter. Guess you have to be careful what you wish for! :) What happened initially is H-Debbie (I try very hard to never use the H-word!) left Florida and came North where it parked itself between Maine and Nova Scotia. The pressure bands that circulate around the eye of a cyclonic weather system (even though it wasn't a tropical storm anymore, it still looks like one on Doppler radar) kept sweeping over the top of us. So it rained like we may soon need an ark, only to clear and dry out for a day or 2.

This is a great RV park with the biggest pull-thrus I've seen. Our 75' pull-thru appears to be about 90' long, and I see some that look to be over 150' long. Like the SKP Co-op in Benson, AZ, this park has events planned to entertain folks that don't want to do much driving: crafts, exercise, entertainment, and of course bingo (hey, it wouldn't be an RV park without bingo!). What's really nice, though, is the convenient location:
- Mt Desert I is just 7 miles away (the park offers a shuttle)
- Acadia NP is just 14 miles away
- Mt. Desert Island is home to a lot of wonderful stops like Bar Harbor, Jordan Pond House, Southeast Harbor, Seal Harbor, etc
- 2 miles north in Ellsworth are Hannaford's and Shaw's markets, a WalMart, and a Home Depot
- There are popular food stops nearby like Jordan's Snack Bar (lunch & dinner), Martha's Diner (breakfast & lunch (was Martha's Cafe till they got a new sign), and Ruth & Wimpy's
- Maine is home to consistently great ice cream!
- And there are more tourist per square inch than in Santa Fe... that's a lot of tourists!

Jordan's Snack Bar

Crab roll and onion rings. Skip the fries!

As soon as we arrived and met our neighbors Mark & June, they told us about Jordan's. And we both have an app for our iPhones called UrbanSpoon that contains a user-created listing for Jordan's with a bunch of raves about the place, so off we went for dinner. It was a pleasant surprise for something which is little more than a hot dog/ice cream stand. They have hot dogs, hamburgers, lobster/crab/meat rolls and are famous for their onion rings (good but not great). Oh... and ice cream.

Luxury dining when it's wet outside!

It was raining (surprise!), so we were able to check out one of their features: they have a dining room in an adjacent building. You order & pay, go to the dining room and wait till they call your number. Then take the receipt to the window, get your food and take it to the dining room. So we didn't have to eat in the truck nor take it back to the park.

We went past Jordan's on one occasion to find incredible crowds and no room to park. Turns out they have live music on Wednesday evening. So if you want music with your crabmeat roll, Jordan's is an option

Bar Harbor

Our 2nd day here we drove to Bar Harbor to look around and so that I could take a few photos for the blog. Yeah, right. That's not gonna happen any time soon. BH is a small old town with small old roads while our truck (crew cab, long bed, dualies) fits about like a full grown moose would fit in our back seat. Yikes! And the traffic was heavy. I was so glad to get out of there we celebrated the escape with ice cream at Udder Heaven just outside the town.

Add caption

There are 2 food places here (Udder Heaven and Mainely Meat), so a few days later we came back to have dinner and ice cream. Mainely Meat is a BBQ place and the food was OK, but the truth is you don't come to Maine for BBQ so I doubt we'll be back for BBQ. The ice cream, however, beckons!

And did you notice that lobster on the sign holding the ice cream cone? Not on the menu... he's just visiting.

More rain

The cloud show just before another T-storm.

The rain was persistent and annoying, but it didn't keep us home. In fact it was a delight to see some of the startling cloud formations. The clouds are a part of the landscape and do as much to to make this a beautiful location as the delicious greens. My only trouble was I couldn't drive and shoot photos at the same time!

After the T-storm. You can't see the 2" deep water
at the front of the site

There was one issue, though. The dogs have to go out to pee or poop. And they really don't care about the weather. Sunshine? OK! Wind? OK! Snow and sleet? Even better! So we're out walking no matter the weather... about 4 times a day plus once more before lights-out. We keep a couple towels near the door and towel their feet and coat, but it really has taken a toll on the rugs. So we'll be candidates for a carpet shampoo this winter after we get back to Benson. And for the record, the only occasion that one had an 'accident; was when Annie had Predisone for a hot spot and had to pee every 30 minutes... couldn't make it through the night.

So the rain kept coming and the weather was cool. I guess we're busy making lemonade. Cool lemonade!

Ellsworth Harbor

Ellsworth's small harbor

We took a ride out on MDI... the local's shorthand for Mt. Desert Island. Except for one small problem: I turned too soon and we ended up driving around to the west side of Ellsworth, the neighboring town north of the park. But it worked out really well as we ended up coming into town past the small harbor... which is where Scoops Ice Cream stand is. I bet you can see a pattern here!

Scoops in Ellsworth is not related to Scoop's in Branson, MO. It's a local place that sells their own home made ice cream which is to die for. The Admiral had chocolate (what else?!) and I had apricot-peach which was incredible. I believe it was peach ice cream with lots of apricot bits added and I've never had anything as good. Wow!

And they have hot dogs, crab meat and lobster rolls. So we drove back a couple days later and had "lunch"... a shallow attempt to legitamize having more ice cream!

Bass Harbor Head light

The pond opposite Seawall

Seawall

 I missed the turn for the USCG station for Bass Harbor Head light and couldn't find a place to turn around till we got to a stretch of beach called Seawall. The name is a mystery at the moment and I want to understand how it was derived. But it was an interesting stretch of large-rock coast line with this small pond nearly unnoticed on the opposite side of the road. And of course more clouds!

And this stop gave me a chance to turn around and head back to Bass Harbor Head light. It's an interesting light with an easy walk to the shoreline where a continuous stream of people crawled around pretending to be ants. All ages, many non-English conversations, young and old, some not happy about having to climb the 60 or so steps, all with cameras in hand. An interesting experience and the light was barely discernable from down below! I needed to be a mountain goat to manage what it would take to get the shot, so y'all need to like this one instead!
 

Annie again

So far this has been a journey of doggie health care. Poor ol' Annie had yet another bout with hot spots. Unfortunately it was a place she could reach to chew and lick. And it was Sunday. The Admiral called our vet in Santa Fe and, thru the miracle of modern telecommunication, a prescription was gotten into the hands of the local WalMart for Cephalexin. $4, same price they would charge for the same script for a human. And it was exactly what Annie needed... she's once again doing great.

A drive to Bangor and Old Town

We wanted to just drive through Bangor. Or at least I did. The first house I bought was on Bangor St in San Jose so I wanted to see the namesake. It's an interesting city and we'll probably go back to take a closer look.

Old Town, ME is the town that Old Town Canoe Company takes its name from. Somewhere here is a museum, but I failed to find either the manufacturing site or the museum. So we'll have to go back before we get a proper check mark.

I did manage to stumble upon the old train station. It's a recycling center today, but it appears the tracks are still tied to a main line somehow... off to the right are many rail cars.

The Great Timberland Acres NASCAR Race

The Aflac car

I was amazed some of these people actually fit inside the car!

There were some grim faces out there!

RV parks seem to worry about keeping people entertained. Timberland Acres had an easy solution drop into their hands when the local Shrine organization staged a NASCAR day with the generous donation of use of cars donated by the local car dealer, Darling Auto Mall. They brought a bunch of miniature cars for people to drive. Pretty cool stuff with the nearly-touching-the-ground profile and unmuffled exhaust! We didn't get involved, but there was no way of ignoring the events as cars roared around the access roads and drawings were announced with all the necessary hoopla. No hay bales, no safety marshals. But no one seemed to miss either. They even had a miniature tow truck.

Penobscot Narrows bridge and Ft. Knox

Not sure how this works, but there was a Ft Knox in Maine in 1893. Surely Ft. Knox in Tennessee was in operation at the same time! It was rushed to completion because we were convinced the Spanish were going to attack from the north during the Spanish-American War. That never happened, but somehow we've managed to have 2 Army forts with the same name. Possibly named for 2 different Knoxes?

The state has built a park that surrounds the fort as well as the tower of the very modern bridge that crosses the Penobscot Narrows. For the price of admission you can roam the old fort as well as take an elevator to the top of one of the bridges towers... the 'Observatory'. It was a grand day and we had incredible visibility. And the girls had a great time sniffing everything hoping for some P-mail. Sadly there was nothing for them, but they did read everyone elses mail!

I'll leave it with these shots from our afternoon at the park. We're really enjoying the area and the weather!

The nearby town of Bucksport, ME

The centerline of the new bridge
from 42 stories up!

Old and new side by side