Sunday, May 30, 2010

Boston/Bar Harbor






Today is a twofer--two days for the price of one click! Didn't post last night, so I'll include the drive from Boston to Bar Harbor and our day in Bar Harbor in this post.

The drive up the coast was good. We took US 1 most of the trip, but did maybe 25% of the mileage on I-95. The weather was outstanding; blue skies and very nice temperatures in the low 70s.

If I had to describe the trip in two words, I'd say "Yard Sale". They were everywhere you looked. I bet we saw 1,000 yard sales along the way. I guess it was New England Yard Sale Day! We stopped at a thrift shop (Big Sis loves thrift shops) just to look around and to fill her need to check one out. I bought a little thing--chest, I guess, that looked old and neat. It has a drawer and a cabinet door. It's painted and has some flowers or something painted on it. She bought a collander and bowl.

We drove into Kennebunkport, to see what it looked like. Busy with tourists. While riding up the road, she spotted a little fire truck that children ride in at a yard sale up the street. So we stopped to check it out. Turns out that the street was lined with yard sales, so we checked all of them out! I bought a Brass scale (0 to 50 pounds), the kind with hooks. Up the street, I found a Coleman two-burner stove in a box that the owners said they had never even opened. Got it for $8. Bar found several items on the street, but did not get the yard umbrella that she wanted because it wouldn't go into the car. She also got a pretty thingy with glass balls in copper that you hang up outside. And a few other things. If we keep up this pace, we're going to need a U-Haul trailer!

When we had finished our shopping, we headed to Freeport, ME, to see the LL Bean store. I guess we had not done all the shopping we needed to do. We actually only went to the Outlet store, looking for bargains. In the end, she found a good deal on a quilt, and some clothes. I found a small multi-tool that I liked. And that brought to an end our shopping for the day.

From Freeport, we jumped back on US 1 and went on to Bar Harbor and our motel, the same one that Gary and I had stayed in last year prior to taking the ferry to Nova Scotia.

Today we got up to a wet world; it had rained overnight quite a bit. We found a place for breakfast and then went on to the welcome center for Acadia National Park, where I bought my Senior Pass. I had been wanting to get one since I turned 62 years old. It's one of the best deals in travel--unlimited visits to national parks and many other national attractions for $10 as long as I live. A great deal indeed.

Drove to Cadillac Mountain, some 1,530 feet above sea level. It's a monolithic piece of granite that has views that are so pretty. It overlooks the town of Bar Harbor, and behind it, the ocean and bays. Numerous islands dot the sea, with green trees on most of the islands. It's clearly one of my top 5 prettiest places in the world. There's something about having the ocean and islands as a backdrop to a huge block of granite that I really like. I believe I overstated it to Bar; she liked it, but not to the same extent as I do.

We then went to Sand Beach to see the beach and put my hand in the cold water. It was crowded there, and we had a hard time finding a parking place. But we did find a space and walked down to the water. The beach is neat; about 500 feet long, with lots of little children running around and playing.

From there, we went to Thunder Hole, where the waves wash in to a narrow space between the rocky shore. It was peaceful, and we sat on the edge of the rocks watching the sea wash into the "hole". I think both of us enjoyed our stop there.

We rode around in the park a while, and then over to Northeast Harbor, on the other side of the island. It's a pretty place. Then back to Bar Harbor to walk around town a bit and look in the shops. Had a late lunch there, walked around and, around 7pm, headed back to the motel. It was a good day with Big Sis.

Need to decide where the road will take us tomorrow--either west to New Hampshire and the mountains, or south towards Philadelphia.

2 comments:

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  2. I like your blog. Great pictures. It looks like you and Barbara are having great weather!

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