Our wickedly good vacation in Maine! 25 July to 3 August 2012. Three days with Sue and Dave Hanson in Pemaquid followed by a six-day bicycle tour with Backroads. July 25: Manhatten skyline during our layover in Newark July 25: Nancy smiling, Newark airport July 26: dear friends: Sue and Nancy near Sue's home in Pemaquid ME. July 26: Eagle soaring near Sue and Dave's home July 26: river flowing into the salt water bay near Sue and Dave's. July 26: After a drizzly lunch at the Coveside restaurant in Christmas Cove, Nancy and Sue visited with Richard of the Unique Yankee Inn. He gave them each a fresh-cut rose in bud vase. July 26: Salting and loading lobster bait (mackerel) in South Bristol. July 26: the swing bridge in South Bristol. There's even a YouTube video of it in action! July 26: Sue has arranged for a local lobsterman to leave some lobsters at their neighborhood dock. Here, she retrieves the basket to select our dinner. July 26: These lobster will soon be our dinner. July 26: fresh lobster, boiled in sea water, for dinner at the cottage. July 27: Road trip to the Maine State Prison Showroom in Thomaston. Wide selection of wood products made by prisoners for sale at reasonable prices. Furniture, knick-knacks, model ships, you name it. The cashier is an inmate; guard nearby. July 27: we had lunch at the Dip Net restaurant in Port Clyde. Here is a view of the port. July 27: Marshall Point Lighthouse near Port Clyde. Has its own wikipedia entry. A scene from Forrest Gump was filmed here. July 27: At Dave and Sue Hanson's. The river in background is tidal and mostly salt water. It's a couple miles from the cottage. July 27: Their house and back yard. They were incredible hosts! July 27: Here's Petey, their daughter Marit's Boston Terrier. She and her husband live in Silicon Valley and Petey is spending his summer in Maine. July 27: harbor near the cottage July 27: view from the cottage. View over the pines is due south and straight to the ocean. July 27: view from the cottage. July 27: view of the cottage from the shore. July 28: Nancy enjoys coffee and morning sun in front of the cottage. Rental car at right. July 28: the lobster boat called Old Glory making its Saturday morning rounds. July 28: Nancy and Pete on the cottage steps, just before driving back to Portland for the next phase of our adventure. July 28: The Portland Regency, in the Old Port neighborhood downtown. This building was formerly the Armory. July 28: street action in Old Port. Lots of tourists like us. July 28: Bob (who joined us Saturday afternoon) and Nancy at Gritty's brewpub. July 28: one of the docks downtown. July 28: Harbor Fish Market. This board doesn't show lobster prices but they are very cheap this year due to warm waters and subsequent oversupply. Lobstermen are getting less than $2 a pound. July 28: down the dock from Harbor Fish Market, things are a bit seedier-looking but not seedy. July 28: parking on the dock July 28: The Coast Guard training cutter Eagle was docked, and was open for touring. It also has a wikipedia entry. Originally a Nazi ship. July 28: Aboard the Eagle. Its young crew members acted as docents and were incredibly polite (and excited to be heading out the next day). July 29: Our Backroads bicycling adventure begins! Vans arrive in front of the Regency about 7:45 am. July 29: first glimpse of our Backroads leaders: Mark, Hanna, and Mary. July 29: Shuttling from Portland to Northeast Harbor to start our ride. Yes, it is raining. July 29: We shuttled to the Docksider restaurant in Northeast Harbor, had lunch, then bicycled 17 miles to Bar Harbor in the rain. Here is a scene along the way. July 29: Nancy biking in the rain with Tony and Pam. There were 19 total guests on this trip along with the 3 leaders. The two 11-passenger vans were a perfect fit. July 29: view from our room at the Bar Harbor Inn. We shuttled outside of town to The Burning Tree restaurant for a gourmet seafood dinner. July 30: Awoke to runrise outside our room at 5:15 am. Lobster boats were starting to come out. The rain is past and this would be our sunniest day of the week. July 30: along the shore between our room and the main dining room for breakfast. July 30: after breakfast, fog set in quickly July 30: main building of Bar Harbor Inn July 30: Downtown Bar Harbor, as we began the second day's ride. Nancy would ride 27 miles today and Pete 43. July 30: In Acadia National Park. We passed over and under many of the 17 stone bridges, and rode quite a few miles on the crushed stone Carriage Road which is limited to hiking and biking. July 30: Each twist and turn in the Carriage Road revealed new sights. Notice the lilly pads. July 30: Most small lakes in Maine are called ponds. Here's one of many in Acadia. July 30: Jordan Pond. Looks peaceful, but there was heavy traffic nearby and many tourists. July 30: Nancy and Pete at Jordan Pond. July 30: After Jordan Pond, Nancy and Bob continued on the Carriage Road, while Pete rode an optional 16-mile figure-8 loop to the Otter Cliffs. Only one other guest rode this loop, and I rode it with our leader Mary who was seeing it for the first time herself. July 30: view from Otter Cliffs. July 30: Making my way along Park Loop Road back toward Jordan Pond. July 30: Coastline beach along Park Loop Road July 30: Vista along Park Loop Road. This was a really a very scenic loop. July 30: Back on the Carriage Road, this is Bubble Pond. There would be one decent uphill from here, then downhill all the way back into Bar Harbor. We dined as a group at the Havana restaurant which despite it's name offered few Cuban dishes. July 31: Boaters out at 5 am, even before the sun. Today, we will shuttle over an hour to Deer Isle for a bicycling tour of the island. July 30: Our shuttle ride ended at the rural Nervous Nellie's Jams and Jellies. Here we get the orientation by proprietors Peter and Ann. He does sculpture and installation art, she does the jams. They don't actually make jelly but it rhymes. July 31: Their daily jam production is about 300 jars like the ones you see cooling here. July 31: Jams are produced in a small cottage by two part-time employees. Here you can see the kettle in the background. July 31: After our tour it was time for a famous Backroads picnic lunch. The selection includes smoked salmon, fruits and vegetables, hummus, chips, and salads. Yum! July 31: We also toured some of Peter's installation art. Here is a mediaval fort in the woods. July 31: Most of Peter's sculptures are assembled from found objects. July 31: These Singer sewing machine parts will someday become sculpture. July 31: Peter also constructed several buildings, including a saloon, juke joint, and the reconstructed Hardy's general store. Hardy is a big name on Deer Isle. July 31: After lunch, we bicycled from Nervous Nellie's. Nancy, Bob and I all rode 23 miles. Along the way, I stopped at an old cemetary. Here are the resting places of folks who died in the 1820s. July 31: Here lies Hattie Gray, who died in 1864 at the age of 19. Charles Gray (brother?) was killed over two years earlier in the Battle of New Bern NC and was buried there. The Union army, lead by Ambrose Burnside, took the city easily and held it for the remainder of the war. July 31: Down the road from the cemetary was Yellow Birch Farms, which included not only gourmet produce but an art gallery filled with $5000 clay vases, and outdoor sculpture. July 31: a few miles along the same road I came across a farm having a family of pigs. July 31: After finishing our ride, we shuttled to the fishing village of Stonington. It was low tide. July 31: At Stonington, we visited the Penobscot Resource Center to learn more about the Maine fishing industry. This poster illustrates currents. July 31: Here we learned how lobster traps are constructed and how they operate. It is estimated that 98% of the lobsters who enter a trap during a given time period leave it successfully. July 31: A pier at Stonington July 31: Wrapup Q&A outside the Resource Center. July 31: unloading lobster at Stonington. July 31: Our home for the night is Pilgrim's Inn, built in 1793. Nancy and I got room 5, which has it's own fireplace. July 31: Pilgrim's Inn. July 31: the grounds of the Pilgrim's Inn. July 31: We dined in shifts at the Pilgrim's Inn. Here our leaders enjoy happy hour: Mark, Mary and Hanna (that's HAH-nah; her grandmother was Norweigian). August 1: Rain arrived along overnight along with August. The scheduled kayaking trip was optional and about half the riders kayaked in the rain. Nancy, Bob and Pete did not. August 1: Today we will shuttle to a winery for lunch before riding. Leaving Deer Isle, more fog now than rain. August 1: Arriving at Cellardoor Winery in Lincolnville. They've prepared a buffet lunch, left, then some of us will taste wines at the bar, right. August 1: The vineyards here are still young and their fruit is not yet being used. The wines here are made from grapes harvested in California and Washington. Note the upturn in the weather. August 1: Pete at the winery, after lunch. August 1: The daily route rap. Here we learn about the day's ride and go over the route. The route is fairly easy today, not to say that the ride is easy. The word rolling has a different meaning in Maine than in Ohio! We do 16 miles from the winery into Camden. August 1: Christmas tree farm on the road to Camden. August 1: Lake Megunticook. These tiny islands have houses on them! August 1: Bob and Nancy arrive at the Camden Harbour Inn, our home for the next two days. August 1: View of Camden from Bob's room. We're on the third floor of this hilltop inn, with nice city and harbor views. August 1: Nancy and Pete's room at the Camden Harbour Inn. Rack rate $900. The bed was impossibly plush. August 1: Nancy finally sees a moose. Downtown Camden. August 1: Sue and Dave Hanson drove up from Pemaquid to spend the evening with us! They selected an excellent restaurant, Water Front, and we went early for a good table. August 1: Pete's meal at Water Front, tuna cooked rare and baked sweet potato. August 1: After dinner, we wandered around town. Sue and Nancy did some shopping, while Dave, Bob and Pete explored the park on the harbor. August 1: there are some nice boats in Camden harbor. August 1: Main street Camden. Fog is starting to roll in. Dave and Sue left shortly thereafter for their drive home. August 2: Thursday morning fog in Camden harbor. August 2: Camden Harbour Inn, front. Pete and Nancy had the room on upper left, two windows. August 2: Today we rode a loop to Rockland and back. There were three riding options today. Bob, Nancy and Pete all took the longest one, 38 miles. This is the Aldermere Farm just outside Camden, with its Belted Galloway cows. August 2: The Children's Chapel, just outside Camden. August 2: Nancy and Bob ride with Bob Gries of Cleveland, right. At age 83, he was an inspiration for us all. Solid rider; he took nearly all the longest options. August 2: En plein air artist near Rockport. August 2: Exploring rocks near Rockport. August 2: Rockport harbor. August 2: Andre the Seal memorial at Rockport Marine Park. Mary shows her love. August 2: Lime kiln at Rockport Marine Park. Limestone is plentiful along this stretch of Maine coast. Limestone is burned in the kilns to produce lime, which has many uses. August 2: Steel sculpture outside the Farnsworth museum in downtown Rockland. More on that later. August 2: Interesting bicycle in pickup bed on Rte 1 in downtown Rockland. We were having lunch at a cafe table at The Brass Compass, home of a monstrous lobster club sandwich. We did not get it. August 2: Today was the first day of the annual Maine Lobster festival in Rockland. August 2: After lunch, Nancy, Bob and Pete toured the Farnsworth museum, which features an extensive Andrew Wyeth collection. We'd been advised to bring the slippers given to us at the hotel, because we could not wear bicycling cleats inside. Here Nancy and Bob model the slippers outside the museum door. August 2: Owl Head lighthouse, which was at the end of the long option. Not much of note, but it was a nice ride out from Rockland and back. August 2: View from Owl Head lighthouse. August 2: The USS San Antonio was anchored outside Rockland for the Lobster Festival. August 2: On the road from Rockland to Camden, Nancy, Pete and Bob took a quick dip in the lake at Johnson Memorial Park. Hanna had alerted us to this option, which we try to do at least once on all our bike trips. She joined us briefly, and said we were the first this year to take her up on it! August 2: Nancy and Pete in the lake. The bottom was kind of rocky but the water was very refreshing. August 2: Rockport, approaching from the other direction on the way back. August 2: Rockport harbor from another vantage point. August 2: The Aldermere cows again, only late afternoon when they were close to the road. Note the bull is brown and has a large brass nose ring. August 2: Calf nursing at Aldermere Farm. August 2: Backroads Group Shot in Camden. August 2: Back at the Camden Harbour Inn, we prepared for our final evening together. Our leaders Hanna and Mary at left with Bob, Nancy, Angie and Bob G. August 2: Pete at Natalie's, the restaurant inside the Camden Harbour Inn. There were six at our table and we all ordered duck from the several choices offered on our custom menu. This meal was a real highlight. August 2: Hanna at dinner. August 2: Bob G. contemplates the conclusion of his 35th (roughly) Backroads outing. August 3: Last day! Tradition photo of Pete and Nancy in their Endorphin jerseys. Just up the street from the Inn. Today we will ride a picturesque 18 mile loop to wrap up. August 3: Nancy on the road. August 3: the route took us down a dirt road lined with lakeside vacation cottages. August 3: Bob and Nancy finish their Maine bicycling adventure. August 3: Nancy was having wrist problems, so we shipped her bicycle from Columbus to Portland for this trip. Here it is strapped all alone on the Backroads van for the trip back to Portland. August 3: Along the road to Portland, we stopped in Bath to visit the Maine Maritime Museum. On the back patio, we enjoyed yet another fabulous Backroads picnic lunch. Tony confers with Hanna and Mary, both wearing lobster hats. Lunch featured chicken, guacamole, cold cuts, corn salad, bean salad. August 3: We could not leave without a taste of genuine Maine whoopie pie. August 3: Before and after our meal, we toured the museum. It is located on the site of an old shipyard. It features both indoor and outdoor exhibits. The two sculptures here represent the bow and stern, properly positioned, of the largest ship built here. Could have spent half a day here. August 3: Bath Iron Works, where a naval destroyer is under contruction. you can see its mast to the right of the leftmost blue crane. August 3: We made it back to Portland, delivered Nancy's bike to the shop for its return shipment, were shuttled to the airport by our Backroads leaders, saw Bob off to Cleveland (he arrived there while Nancy and Pete were still waiting for their flight), and, only slightly behind schedule, left for Washington Dulles then Columbus. Here it is dusk over southern Maine. What a vacation! We'd arrive home at exactly midnight.
Make Flash Slideshow by VisualSlideshow.com v1.6