Moving day today but an early start for me as I want to get out to a place identified as boulder beach to try some sun rise photography. I had scouted the place the day before on the park loop road and read about it in the book the young man from France had given me back in Portland. Except for the mosquitoes who were much tougher than me the morning was fun. (these two photos are still from Mount Desert Island)
Boulder Beach Sunrise
Boulder Beach Morning
Back at camp and finishing up the packing and prepping for movement. Today we leave the Blackwoods campground and head over to the Schoodic Peninsula, which is also a part of the Acadia National Park....we will be there for three nights so two full days of touring.
We have to go through Ellsworth again on the way so we take advantage of the good cell/internet coverage there and join many other campers in the Walmart parking lot.....not to mention we needed to kill some time because it was not very far and too early to check in. I began doing online bill paying maintenance, etc....while Kathy makes a run into the store for a few supplies. When Kathy came back with the groceries she brought a couple, Lynn and Roger, with her that were also parked close by in a Casita who were looking at our camper and wanted to see it. We spent the next hour or so talking with them and showing the camper....another really nice couple. They live in Maine in the summer and Florida in the winter and shared some tips with us on Schoodic and a Night Sky Festival they were having in the park.
We moved on into the campground, Schoodic Woods, and could not be happier with the location, facilities and the set up here. To our surprise we have water and electricity available on the site - always nice. When we checked in we got details about this area from the ranger and all the maps and other info we needed. We also inquired about the Night Sky event that Roger and Lynn mentioned and they had a guest speaker presenting on the Schoodic Peninsula that night so a plan was hatched.
The peninsula is not really very big so Kathy and I did a little recon after setting up to find the location for the speaker at the Schoodic Institute auditorium. The speaker (Frederick "Rick" Hauck) was a decorated Navy Veteran and Pilot (100 combat missions in Vietnam) who also co-piloted one space shuttle mission and commanded two others, including the first one after the Challenger disaster. (A real hero) The title of his talk was "How to become a rocket scientist in one hour" so we were all ears and interested. His talk proved to be a little disappointing to us in the first half but when he talked more about his personal experience and the Q&A part it was good. In the end a nice way to spend the evening and the price was right.
Thursday 6 September
When we checked in the ranger mentioned a great bike ride on Schoodic Peninsula that many people enjoy so that became our plan of the day for Thursday. The ride is an 8 mile ride that is relatively flat (with some not too steep hills)....partly paved along the water front loop road and partly gravel carriage roads back across the peninsula to the campground.
When we woke up it was very windy and looking like bad weather was going to set in....Kathy and I headed for the coast (in the truck) to see what a little rougher water looked like on the shore.
There was a healthy wind and heavy fog that made the scene pretty nice to see and the wind was stronger than the mosquitoes which was a bonus.
Schoodic Point - wind and fog
Island in the Fog
We called Ed and Kay and told them that we wanted to delay (or consider cancelling) the bike ride because of weather but after about an hour or so, the fog started to lift and the sun began to shine and the bike ride was back on the schedule.
After breakfast we packed a lunch and hopped on the bikes for the ride....a beautiful ride along the rocky coast on a two lane (one way) so there was plenty of room for the light traffic to pass without them getting too close or us worrying about it. The road runs along the shore with many spots to pull off. We rode to the Schoodic Point where we enjoyed our lunch on the rock's edge overlooking the water...how nice is that?
After lunch and resting we head on for the second half of the ride. It was paved for a bit and pretty flat but turning on the carriage trail we begin two miles of lightly sloping (uphill) run on gravel....and dark clouds rolling in and bringing rain showers. We had a good workout getting back to the campground but a very great ride/view.
Bike Team
On the bike ride back at a rest stop we met another Maine retiree who Ed declares might talk more than I do...but we had a good conversation with him that went from Moxie to football. He and many others in the New Englanders all want to talk about the New England Patriots but we keep telling them that football in the Southeast is not NFL it is the SEC. We had fun talking with him.
We had already scouted a place to buy some live lobster for dinner and employed Chef Culpepper to do the honors again. Ed started the water (takes a long time to boil a large pot of water on a Coleman stove) while Kathy and I ran to the local IGA for some fixins (and beer) and then to the LobStore (yes, that's right) to select our fresh lobster and deliver them to the cook who was waiting. Another successful meal at the campsite!
Toasting another great day
Dinner in hand
Chef at work
Lobstah - it's what's for dinner
After dinner, we (Kathy & I) went to Schoodic Point again (Ed and Kay resting from the bike ride) to watch the sun set and just relax in a pretty and peaceful place. All was well until the wind died down and the mosquitoes returned and chased us out of there.
Schoodic Point - early evening
Schoodic Point Sunset
Friday 7 September
You may have noticed that we have not mentioned much about Bar Harbor even though at the last campground we were not far from the village. We did venture into Bar Harbor one evening to get a couple things from the grocery store but it (the town) was so crowded that we decided that we should wait until well after the holiday week-end and hope for less of a crowd. So we decided to take a ferry from Winter Harbor (near Schoodic Woods campground) on our last day here and spend a day at Bar Harbor. We caught the 10:00 ferry that takes about an hour and had a reservation to return on the 3:30 ferry.
Miss Lizzie - water taxy arriving
Departing Winter Harbor
Arriving Bar Harbor there was a cruise ship in port (Holland America) so we expected the worst but as it turns out, not too bad - especially the farther you walked from the dock landing area. We walked the town and looked in way more shops than I needed to on our way out of the congestion to a nice sidewalk cafe for lunch. This was going to be the second day since arriving that we did not eat lobster....but still had some good seafood.
After lunch and more walking and looking we stop by the ice cream store on the way back to the ferry for a cool ride back across to Winter harbor.
Bar Harbor
Schooner sailing near Bar Harbor
Island Home on the Way to Bar Harbor
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