Tag Archives: ocean

Mountains and Carriage Paths (8/19/10)

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Louisa and I starting the day's hike.

We knew that we wanted to relax after the whale watch, so of course we waited until 8am to get breakfast (shhh…. never mind that’s when breakfast started).  We ate outside at one of the tables set up on the porch, and enjoyed fresh cantaloupe slices, coffee, juice, breakfast sausage, quiche Lorraine (for Tony) and blueberry pancakes with Maine maple syrup (for Louisa) while we listened to a cardinal chirp.

View from Mt. Huguenot.

After breakfast we headed out to hike the Beachcroft trail up Champlain.  It is a very nice trail design (large flat stones are set into the path), and a rather easy hike up the mountain.  We did take a slight detour midway up to attempt to find the trail to the top of Mt. Huguenot.  We originally found an apparently marked trail, but it didn’t go anywhere.  We began hiking back towards Champlain, until Louisa did a 180 and insisted we try to find the path one more time.  This time we tried going up an unmarked path that just kind of looked like a trail.  This time we were successful, and were given nice views of some of the surrounding mountain peaks.

The bay can be foggy in the early morning.

Once we got to the top of Champlain, we had even better views and were able to look down on Mt. Huguenot.  We hiked down along the North Ridge, which is definitely steeper with more loose stones than the path we took up the mountain.  We also hiked along the unmarked Beaver Pond Trail to get back to the car.  Although we did have a nice view of the pond, there weren’t any visible beaver dams.

Near the end of the hike.

We ate an al fresco lunch at the Chart Room Restaurant: clam chowder, scallops, and a lobster roll, along with great views of the water and small fishing boats.  We also watched a sea gull repeatedly pick up a small clam (?), fly about 10′-15′ feet into the air, and then drop the clam.  The bird would repeat this until it either got tired, or the shell cracked and it too could enjoy lunch.

View of Eagle Lake from the carriage path.

After lunch went to Eagle Lake to hike some of the carriage path there.  The trail was nice and wooded, and not too crowded.  We went down to the bridge by Bubble Pond.  We were also able to walk under one of the carriage path bridges, since the park loop road used to run under it.

The bed was comfy at the Inn.

Afterward we relaxed at the room and got afternoon snacks (blueberry pie and chocolate chip cookies) and coffee.

Tonight’s dinner was at Poor Boy’s Gourmet – scallops, pasta with marinara, lobster bisque, whole lobster, and crème brulee (the top was a bit overdone, but custard was excellent).

The full moon provided great lighting for the night drive.

After dinner we drove into the park to check out the scenery.  We went down to the Thunder Hole section, and watched the moon over the water.  We met a nice ranger who told us about a scenic overlook where we could see the ocean and mountains.  By that point, the fog had rolled in – it might rain tomorrow morning.

Whale Watch and Cadillac Mountain (8/18/10)

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It was a good day for sailing.

Today looked like a perfect morning for some boating!  Breakfast was great again – frittata with zucchini, cooked plum with raspberry jam and homemade granola, cranberry orange, and Belgium waffles with cranberry and orange zest.  After breakfast we walked the few blocks to the Bar Harbor Whale Watch office.  We decided to do the 8:30 am puffin and whale watch tour.  Fortunately for us, the seas were relatively calm (average crest height of 2.5′) and the fog wasn’t too dense.  Apparently the fog was so bad the previous day that the boat had to find whales via sound, rather than sight.

No, the seagull was not standing on the water.

We found a spot at the front of the boat along one of the sides, and were soon underway.  There was a large cruise ship in port, as well as a few lobster boats.  Past the ship, but before we got out of the bay, we saw a Minke whale.  The naturalist mentioned that this was only one of a few times during the season that a boat had seen a whale so early in the tour.

These puffins were happily enjoying the water.

After seeing if the whale would surface at all (it didn’t seem too interested in us), we continued on towards the Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge.  We saw puffins and guillemots swimming and flying (as well as one little puffin that kept catching fish).  We also admired the Petit Manan light house.  At this point, we were still happily standing at the front of the boat.  Then, the pilot decided to quickly accelerate in order to go find waves.  Let’s just say that was that.

Pilot whales swimming in the water.

Pair of humpback whales.

We saw a pod of pilot whales complete with babies.  These whales have to intentionally take each breath, so they, and especially the babies, stay close to the surface.  We also saw 3 other humpback whales.  Admittedly, we both were pretty wiped out from the Dramamine; Tony was feeling good otherwise, Louisa was just glad to see a lot of cool things (though she wasn’t running around the ship like Tony was, more like she was hanging out in the back glancing up when people became excited by whales) and be back on land.

The sand bar is busy when it is walkable (and drivable).

We managed to avoid the cruise ship crowds and had lunch at Galyn’s (scallops with garlic and mushrooms, baked haddock with a horseradish crumb topping, wild rice, and steamed broccoli).  After lunch, we walked a little bit of the sand bar to Bar Island.

View from the top of Cadillac Mountain.

After lunch wandered back through town and drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain.  We were pretty wiped out from the 24 hour Dramamine, but we did a bit of exploring among the rocks and saw some great views.  Although it was overcast, it wasn’t foggy, and was a perfect afternoon for viewing.

Bald eagle landing on a tree.

That afternoon we checked into the Primrose Inn, room 2, got some snacks for the road (hermits that were put out for the afternoon tea) and headed to Schoodic Point.  This B&B was more of a “traditional” place (and the room may have been a bit musty).  Despite the comfy bed and afternoon treats, this was probably our least favorite B&B.  Along the way to Schoodic Point we stopped at at Ruth and Wimpy’s Kitchen to get dinner.  It was decent, diner food – lobster stew (very buttery, but good amount of meat), lobster roll (good, but not as good as naked lobster roll from earlier in the trip) and baked scallops with a butter cracker topping. After dinner we continued towards Schoodic Point.  Before we got there we saw a bald eagle sitting in a tree on a little island.  We pulled off the road, and went back to watch it for a little while.

Sunset view from the point.

Once we reached Schoodic Point, we saw the sun setting over the water; it turned the clouds a bright fuchsia.  We also shared the road with some adventurous sea gulls, and shared the water with a bunch of pesky mosquitoes.

Once back at our lodging, we got some coffee and oatmeal raisin cookies before bed time.

Hiking and a Lobster Pound (8/17/10)

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Great breakfast at Holland Inn.

Since the B&B has a limited seating for breakfast, guests select a time to eat – 7:30, 8:30, or 9:30.  We picked the 7:30 for each day, and this worked out perfectly.  We started the day with a great breakfast – coffee, juice, blueberry muffins, apple/yogurt/walnut fruit salad, and avocado and tomato quiche.  Evin (the innkeeper) has also hiked all over the island, and provided each guest with different ideas for hikes or other activities.

View from behind the Beehive.

After breakfast we quickly made our way over to the Beehive.  We were one of the first cars in the Sand Beach parking lot; this might have been due to the relatively early hour, or to the fog blanketing that side of the park.  Regardless, we had a fun hike to the top of the Beehive.  Louisa particularly enjoyed climbing up the iron ladders.  :)   We had about 30 minutes at the top to just relax, before a father and a few boys disrupted our solitude. ;)

There were many frogs along the shoreline of the Bowl.

Thanks to Evin, we chose to extend our hike down around the Bowl (i.e. a pristine mountain pond), and then up Mt. Gorham.  The pond was lovely, and Louisa appeared to be imitating the canopy methods of the reddish egret as she attempted to catch frogs.

Looking down at Thunder Hole.

The hike resumed up to the top of Mt. Gorham, and then down along the (by now very crowded) Ocean View Trail.  We did stop by Thunder Hole, saw/heard the water – and then continued, as quickly as we could, to get back to our car and try to find a less crowded area of the park.

Enjoying some lobster at the Pound.

Our idea of fewer crowds originally consisted of the Jordan Pond house.  While we realized this area would be insanely packed, we had no idea there would be a 2+ hour wait.  We changed plans, admired the trip arch bridge on our out of the park, and headed down to Bernard.  Lunch consisted of both hard and soft shell lobsters at Thurston’s lobster pound.  The pound sits over the water, and affords nice views of the harbor and lobster boats.  The lobsters themselves were delicious, perfectly cooked and served with drawn butter.  Since it was the end of the soft shell season, those lobsters had almost fully grown into their shells and were very similar to hard shell lobsters.  Although we were told the soft shelled ones were usually sweeter, both of us agreed that Tony’s hard shell lobster was a tad tastier.  We also learned that we prefer claw over tail meat.

View of the bay from Flying Mountain.

We snacked on chocolate chip cookies on our way over to the trail at Flying Mountain.  The hike to the top was short and quick, but the views were fantastic.  We admired the scenery for a few minutes, then wandered down the back side of the mountain (and wondered if we would have to climb back up).  However, we were able to follow the wide logging road back out.  This hike was quiet, with great views of water and fog in the distance.

View on the drive back to Bar Harbor.

Dinner was maybe the best dinner we had in Bar Harbor.  We made reservations at Café This Way (perhaps named for the”cafe this way –>” sign directing diners to the little building tucked away behind several others).  We  enjoyed some good food and drink (including mojitos, crab cakes with lime-tequila aioli, blackened swordfish with tomatillo salsa and peach/pineapple salsa, garlic mashed potatoes, Bailey’s crème brulee, and cashew chocolate chip cheesecake).

Florida Road Trip: Day 5 (Blue Spring and Canaveral)

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Manatee at Blue Spring

We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel, and then headed out in search of the elusive manatee.  We drove towards Blue Spring State Park and decided to head along the board walk.  We heard rumors that there were manatees in the spring, and knew we had a chance to see some.  At the end of the board walk was a small pool – and a manatee!  It was just lazily swimming around… and then went back down the stream.  So, we followed it, and eventually found some more manatees – and manatee babies, too!  Well, they looked like mini baby blimps, but they were still very cool to see.  We also saw one manatee that had been tagged with a little ring around its tail, and a boat attached to the ring by a cord.  This manatee was a bit of a showoff, and did several barrel rolls.

Armadillo!

We also saw Canaveral National Seashore.  It was a bit cool on the ocean, but that didn’t stop us from wandering up and down a pretty stretch of beach.  We also saw our favorite tiny shorebirds, sanderlings.  Since they hunt in packs, we nicknamed them “tiny raptors.”  We also saw several (live!) armadillos eating grass (?) on the side of the road.  Apparently they’re quite tame; some people even pet them.  We didn’t, since we wanted them to remain semi-wild, but we had fun watching them.

Sunset at the marina.

We attempted to drive to the other section of the park; however, by then it was 5:45 and the gate was closed.  However, we did see the entrance to Kennedy Space Center, a pretty sunset… and dolphins!  We were driving over a drawbridge, when Louisa spotted a black shape jump out of an inlet.  We parked near a group of fishermen/construction workers, and walked up a (closed due to construction?) bridge so we could watch the dolphin playing in the water.  We also had a great view of the sunset.

We got back to Orlando in time for dinner and ate some good seafood at a restaurant (Boston’s Fish House) Tony had discovered on his recent trip to FL.  After dinner we walked around downtown Disney, and eventually made our way back to the hotel.

The next day we began the long drive back to VA.  Of course, we timed our drive so we would get to our favorite GA BBQ place in time to get burnt ends for lunch.  It was a welcome break, especially since we encountered rain for the vast majority of the drive.  We had a great whirlwind trip of FL. :)