The Rest of Maine

I have already written about cycling and kayaking in Maine. The rest of the trip was pretty col too. For completeness, here's a summary of the rest of the trip:

Thursday: Set off from DC to drive as far as we could. Quite unlike us to not have a planned destination. We made it as far as Lowell, MA.

Fri: More driving! We finally made it to Bar Harbor and settled into what turned out to be our favorite accommodations of the stay, the Saltair in. This place was really nice, and the couple who ran it were very warm and welcoming. They did a lot fo the work themselves and had lots of good suggestions on activities, restaurants and such. We quickly discovered that Maine is not the best place food-wise for people who don't eat shellfish. We ate dinner at the Thirsty Whale. I had a haddock sandwich.

Sunset at the Saltair Inn

Sat: Started the day with a nice breakfast at the inn on the deck overlooking the water. We then headed over to Acadia and biked. Lunch at Jordan Pond House, then a like more cycling for me. We had dinner at a recommended pizza place - which turned out to be pretty discusting. Valerie couldn't even eat the eggplant parm hero. To make up for our sub-par dinner we got some very good ice cream at Ben & Bill's and watched the sunset in downtown Bar Harbor. This was the most beautiful sunset of the whole trip.

Spectacular Sunset in Bar Harbor

Sun: I went kayaking at Long Pond in Acadia, and Valerie went shopping in town. After paddling I browsed a little bit in town too. In the evening we brought a picnic up to Cadillac Mountain and watched the sun set. A little while after we got there we noticed a group setting up a big cross and a portable keyboard over to our left. They came over an invited us to participate in a "non-denominational" sunset worship service.

Sunset at Cadillac Mountain

Hiking at Acadia

While Hiking 

Mon: We did a short hike at Acadia (it was a hot day), then drove the park look and headed out. We drove to Camden, where we stayed at The Inns at Blackberry Common. This place had very nice rooms - rustic but very upscale - but the proprietress was one of those innkeepers who seemed a little put out at having to deal with guests. One wonders why such people start B&Bs. Unlike Saltair, she wasn't very hands on, either - most of the work was done by a gaggle of Bosnian college students working in the U.S. for the summer. We walked into town and ate at an upscale pizza place.

Tues: I got up early and went for a run, which helped situate us in terms of what was nearby. We drove down to Rockland and went to the Farnsworth Museum, which has a focus on the Wyeth family. After the museum we walked around downtown Rockland a bit and got lunch in a combination crunchy granola grocery and lunch spot. On the way back from Rockland I picked up a rental kayak at Maine Outfitters. After a dinner of leftover pizza we went for a lovely sunset cruise aboard the schooner Surprise.

Aboard the schooner Surprise

Sunset on the Water

Weds: In the morning I kayaked Rockport to Camden and Valerie browsed the shops of Camden. After a nap we went out for a dinner at Peter Ott steakhouse in downtown Camden.

Thurs: After a breakfast including a rum raisin polenta and an omelet with cheese and herbs we packed and hit the road, heading for Portland. Valerie was asleep when we drove through Bath, ME but I was excited to see two Zumwalt class destroyers under contruction at Bath Iron Works. These things really look like ships from the future.

We hadn't planned this, but I decided to stop in Freeport, where we did some outlet shopping - L. L. Bean, of course, plus lots of other outlets. We didn't really buy all that much, but it was still a nice experience. How do I know I was on vacation with Valerie? Ben & Jerry's for lunch.

After we finished our shopping we continued on to Portland, where we checked into the Old Port Hilton Garden Inn. Our room had a somewhat funky smell - like the AC hadn't been run in a while, but we put up with it. Valerie had had her steak dinner the night before, so I got my choice: The Green Elephant vegetarian restaurant. We walked there (about a mile) and both wound up loving the food there.

The synagogue at the Maine Jewish Museum

Outside the Museum

Fri: I got up early and went for a run on a trail along the bay - pretty nice. Our room didn't include breakfast, but when we checked in Valerie used some sort of Jedi mind trip and the woman at the desk gave us breakfast coupons - so we ate at the hotel. After breakfast we went to the Maine Jewish Museum (yes, there is one), browsed downtown, and then caught a matinee of the Star Trek movie. How do I know I was on vacation with Valerie? Donuts for lunch at Holy Donut. The Old Port is sort of the hipsterish part of Portland and I had the odd experience of going into a kitschy store and finding that many of the retro items they were selling (Polaroid cameras, eight tracks, ...) were items I remember from when they were new. Boy, I *am* old.

After the movie Valerie had a bad stomach ache and so she went back to the room to rest. I strolled downtown a bit more and wound up hanging out at a coffee bar and reading. For dinner we went to a loud bar called Rosie's. Kind of a local hangout, but it was nearby and they had some items which appealed to Valerie, who was still under the weather. I had haddock "chowdah" and a salad.

Saturday: Breakfast, then we headed home.

Maine Trip: Cycling

Cycling was one of the things that we were really looking forward to on our trip. We had read about the carriage roads in Acadia National Park and, truth be told, half the reason we chose to drive rather than fly the 700+ miles to Maine was so we could bring our bikes - in particular, Valeries' recumbent trike, which is something you can't easily find as a rental. So, on our first full day in Maine we decided to hit the Eagle Lake trail, which had been recommended to us as being both pretty and fairly flat. We drove into the park just after breakfast (the parking lots fill quickly in summer) and headed for the trail head.

Recumbent trikes are pretty unusual, so when we crossed from the parking lot to the trail head we were surprised to spot a park bike volunteer on a Catrike recumbent trike very similar to Valerie's. This turned out to be Greenburg the bike volunteer. Remember Arnold Horshak from Welcome Back Kotter? Well picture him in his late 60's, bearded, and turned into a Maine outdoorsy type, and you'll be in the right ballpark for Greenburg the bike volunteer. 

We spoke for quite a while with Greenburg, who, it turns out, is originally from Brooklyn (Sheepshead Bay HS alum), is a paddler, cyclist, and is one of Maine's three Jews (kidding! - there are at least four). I assume that being a park bike guy is his retirement gig. He said that he too only recently started riding a recumbent - I assume because he could no longer ride a regular bike with his bony, aging tuchas. 

Oh, I'm a little ambivalent about Greenburg the bike volunteer. On the one hand, he was very helpful and friendly enough. But there was something a little condescending about him. Perhaps it was the way he sized us up as soon as we came into view and recommended that we start on the scenic east side of the lake, in case we didn't make it all the way around. Certainly, he rubbed me the wrong way when we were talking kayaking. When I told him I normally paddled a Tempest, his response was, "oh, that's a cute boat." 

Anyway, after a bit we said our farewells to Greenburg the bike volunteer and headed out, taking his suggestion and heading around the east side of the lake. The views were quite lovely. The ride was a slow climb, moderately undulating as you might expect in a natural setting. At one point Valerie took a break while I explored a side trail up to Bubble Pond - she was happy to have a break, finding riding on gravel a little tougher than the same distance on the road. As we came around the bottom of the lake and started up the west side it turned into a steady climb. We took some breaks, as did a lot of other riders. All that climbing did yield a nice reward at the end - a long, fast, downhill cruise to the finish.  

Eagle Lake

When we got back the start Greenburg the bike volunteer was still there. We thought it would be fun to get a picture of Valerie and Greenburg standing next to the two recumbents, but when Valerie went to get off her bike her right shoe wouldn't unclip - she was stuck to the bike! We fiddled with it with the tools we had with us, but we couldn't get the darn shoe off the pedal! This no doubt further lowered Greenburg the bike volunteer's opinion of us as cyclists (though at least we *had* confounded his expectations and had made it all the way around the lake), and because Valerie couldn't get up the two of them wound up posing seated on their bikes. It turned out that one of the screws holding Valerie's cleat had come out (probably while we were walking around at one of our stops). Back at the car, where I had a real screwdriver, I was able to pop the shoe off the bike and the next day we got a replacement screw at a bike shop in town.

Valerie and Greenburg the bike volunteer

After our ride we had lunch at Jordan Pond house. It was a very nice lunch, but something didn't agree with me. We headed back to the room and I rested for a while until my stomach felt better. By this point Valerie was napping and so I decided to head back to the park for more riding. It was my intention to do the longest, most climbing carriage trail route, called "Around Mountain". Unfortunately, I still wasn't feeling 100% and in addition, not long into my ride storms started to move in - I started to hear thunder. So, I cut my ride short. I think I did about four miles, which did include 300 ft. of climbing out of Around Mountain's total 560 ft. climb, so I got some elevation in.

A good day of riding!

Maine Trip: Paddling

Our Maine vacation wasn't planned as a paddling trip, but it was pretty well assumed that in a week of being around water I was going to sneak in some kayaking. I hadn't brought a boat along and so was at the mercy of rentals.

Trip 1: Long Pond, Acadia
As soon as we got to Bar Harbor I started jonesing to go kayaking. So much water, so much beauty! We were staying at a lovely B&B right on Frenchman Bay and got to see groups of paddlers passing by. When we went into town I inquired at one of the tour companies, but they offered only doubles, and I just didn't want to pay someone a bunch of money so I could do some wimpy paddle stuck in a double with a know-nothing stranger. Instead I went for the only solo rental I could find - a recreational kayak (rec boat) on Long Pond. Again, this wasn't perfect, but at least it got me out on the water, and it got me out on the water solo.

In my groovy rec boat

The kayak rental shop is at the far north end of the pond, and is actually across the road from the lakefront. Interestingly, for solo rentals they don't give you a cart; they just have you sling the boat over your shoulder and carry it yourself down to the launch. That's not a big deal for me, but I'm surprised renters don't get squashed from time to time. Why did the paddler cross the road? To get from the rental shop to the launch.

View from the Long Pond launch

I launched into the lake and headed south. The land alongside the north end of the lake is mostly privately owned and I got to see a variety of houses, from small cabins to pretty fancy places. My original intention was to paddle the length of the lake (about 8 miles round trip), but there was a breeze up and I was a little concerned about working my way back 4 miles into the wind in a rec boat, so I altered my plans. I paddled about 3 miles down the lake, crossed and then worked my way up around the broad part of the lake, exploring the shoreline. At one point another paddler passed going in the other direction. We chatted for a minute and he asked where I was visiting from (he's a local). When I told him DC, he asked if I was from the Virginia side. I said yes, and he followed up with a question about Tim Kaine, who had just been nominated as Hillary Clinton's running mate. This crazy election is not far from anyone's mind right now, even when kayaking in Acadia!

Wildlife!

I guess that I paddled about 5 3/4 miles all told. Not bad for a rec boat paddle, and filled with beautiful Acadia scenery

Trip 2: Rockport to Camden
Up in Acadia I couldn't find a way to rent a decent kayak. Down in Camden, I showed up at Maine Sport Outfitters, plunked down a credit card and out the door I went with a 17 foot sea kayak, a paddle and a PFD. As far as they knew or cared, I was going to paddle out into the open ocean and head for Portugal.

When I went in to reserve the rental the day before the trip the young woman behind the counter suggested a Rockport to Camden "port to port" paddle, about 5 miles. She did point out that if I did this paddle I'd need to arrange for someone to shuttle me back. When I said that it sounded like something I could do round trip she looked at me like I was some kind of extreme paddler. Likewise, when Valerie and I went out on a schooner sail that evening, the captain, who paddle boards the "port to port" trip one way, was surprised that I would consider doing the round trip. I guess that outside of the paddling nut community, ten miles is a long trip.

Thursday morning, after a lovely breakfast at the inn (yogurt parfait and blueberry pancakes) I picked up the boat and headed to Rockport. As I was getting ready to launch a Maine Sport tour group showed up. I was a lot faster getting onto the water than they were and so we weren't paddling anywhere near each other.

I launched and did some boat sightseeing as I paddled through the harbor - a lot of lovely, classic sailboats. Rockpart, like Camden, is a pretty natural harbor framed by mountains. I looked around and enjoyed the scenery as a paddled. Out of the harbor I rounded Beachamp Point and turned north. I've got to admit I almost stopped at that point - while the water was quite calm there was a line with some breaking waves. I'm something of a wimp when paddling by myself and so thought about whether it was too risky to paddle through these breakers. After watching for a bit I realized that there were gaps in the breaking waves. I set a path through one of the gaps, and everything was fine. I continued north, generally following the shoreline. As I paddled, the scenery reminded me a bit of Scotland: "skerries" (big boulders) sticking out of the water, waves lapping the shoreline. Unlike Scotland, though, there shoreline was lined with some serious houses.

Scenery just outside Rockport harbor

It was a really nice trip with great ocean scenery - somehow more of an ocean feel than the Chesapeake Bay. After about 90 minutes of paddling the lighthouse on Curtis Island (formerly known as "Negro Island"!), marking the entrance to Camden harbor, came into view. I paddled through the harbor all the way up to Public landing where we had taken a sunset sail the previous evening. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell where the public ramp was. I wanted to take a break before paddling back so I paddled back out to Curtis Island and took a break in a little cove there. I wasn't sure if it was OK to land there and so I just hung out in my boat. As I was about to head out the paddling tour from Rockport came into view, heading to land in the same cove. when I approached I asked the trip leaders (who included the woman from whom I had rented my boat the previous day) about landing there. They said that it was public land and it was fine to land there. So, I extended my break - climbing out onto land and then going to the top of the island to take in the lighthouse and the view.

Curtis Island light

The trip back to Rockport was a little tougher. The wind had picked up and was from the south so I was paddling into it (somehow, you always wind up paddling into the wind, particularly on the way back). The tide also started to come in while I was taking my break, and the tidal range is pretty strong, so I was paddling against the tide tool. The wind made the water a little rougher and so I stuck pretty close to shore. The good news is that the southerly wind was always blowing me towards shore, not out to sea, which was reassuring. I saw a few loons as I paddled back. Loons are usually pretty skittish. when you approach they dive underwater and usually pop back up someplace far away. On this trip one loon let me get close enough to get some pretty good pictures.

Camden Harbor panorama from Curtis Island

When I got back I dragged my boat up the ramp. As I loaded the boat I watched a mother and her young son unload their kayaks and launch. As with the kids I saw in Camden launching for sailing lessons, the water just seems like a natural part of kids' lives in coastal Maine.

A loon!

By the time I got off the water it was about 2 PM and I hadn't eaten lunch. I bought a rice and bean burrito from a food truck and ate it by the water, not wanting to leave the lovely scene of Rockport harbor.