Our adventure begins

I can honestly admit that after arriving home from vacation, I’m feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment. I’ve got so much to accomplish within the next couple of weeks, and today I actually had to make a list of it all. I’m still going through all the mail in my inbox and have so many photos to share with you but no idea of where to begin. So I decided to just start at the beginning.

It’s a very good place to start.

(name that tune)

In a few posts from now, you’ll probably be crying uncle for all the Maine pics, but here we go.





I took off work last Friday so that we could leave a day early. Our plan was to get up to Maine and stay somewhere along the southern coast. Then Saturday, we would take a leisurely drive along the Coastal Highway, since we couldn’t get into the rental until mid-afternoon. We planned on visiting the park and some other places.

I get bored sometimes on the road, so I pick up the camera. This is the New York City skyline at dawn last Friday.





We left the house at 3:30, solely to avoid traffic on the Jersey Turnpike and the dreaded George Washington Bridge, which we crossed at dawn. There was a single car ahead of us in the toll line.

Mission accomplished.

We were beginning to get tired after getting into Maine and began looking for a hotel room shortly after 1 pm. Unfortunately, every place we stopped either did not accept pets or was completely booked. I got on the phone and made some calls, finding out from another motel that there was one along the road that might have openings, AND they accepted pets.





When we pulled up, we nearly kept going because the place had the look of a dive written all over it. But we were so tired of driving at that point, having slept so little the night before that we took the room after having a look.




The Pioneer Motel had seen better days but our room was clean and the bed seemed comfortable when we sat on it. Actually, the king-sized bed was the biggest surprise and now has the distinction of being one of the most comfortable in any hotel/motel room/rental cottage that I’ve slept in. The sheets were actually wonderful. The motel, just north of Wiscasset along Rte. 1, never filled up that night and we watched from our porch as cars pulled in, took one look and left.

Early the next morning, we hit the road north.

My husband’s idea of early and mine are not the same, but it’s easier to just go with the flow sometimes. We were on the road at 5:30.

Are you really surprised?






All in all, it was a pleasant ride and the little towns along the coast are lovely. I believe this may be Belfast.





I know we’re getting close when we can see the bridge at Bucksport.





It was a perfectly beautiful summer day and the radio played a forgotten song.

(name that tune)





And then, we were heading up Cadillac Mountain at Acadia National Park. I shot this from the car window - that’s Eagle Lake.





We were on the top of the mountain by 8:30 am. That’s the town of Bar Harbor in the photo above and you can really see the golf course well.

I brought the video camera along with us on vacation, and took this 30 second clip. The drive looks like it’s happening faster than it actually is, but we were only doing about 20 mph.

.

Sorry if that made you nervous.





We had the most delicious coffee at the camp store on the top of the mountain and my husband bought himself a new cap. He also bought George two stuffed toys – one a Peregrine Falcon (not a Paraguay Falcon) and the other a Snowy Owl.

George’s old Scary Bird lost its voice a while ago.





Afterward, we headed down to Bar Harbor and parked at Geddy’s next to our car’s twin from Maine. The color of our car is ‘sunset orange pearl’, only available in 2003-2005 I believe; the orange color was changed after that.

My husband wanted me to get a photo for posterity’s sake.

Speaking of photos, one of my husband’s pastimes is visiting camera cams from places we’ve been. His favorite is the one at Geddy’s on Bar Harbor where you actually get to move the camera.





The camera is there on that pink building, just at the left edge of it. Here, let me circle it for you.





Check it out, if you like.

Geddy’s Harbor Cam

Our adventure continues tomorrow. Until then . . .

The kindness of others

The other day, I wrote that I missed my macro lens terribly but would learn to live without it until the folks at Nikon mailed it back all fixed. I’m sure you’re all getting quite tired of it all.

Well, a friend wrote me that day, telling me that she wasn’t using her macro lens very much and I was welcome to borrow it. I was stunned, but politely declined, thanking her all the same.

And then a co-worker from school e-mailed me the same day, asking if I wanted to borrow her lens over a weekend. I thanked her and told her maybe I would do that but I was fine for now.

And then the first friend wrote back and insisted that she really was not using the lens all that much, and she’d be glad to lend it to me. Then she packed it up and shipped it FedEx.

And it came today!

I think she got tired of hearing me say how much I missed it. I don’t want to embarrass her by revealing her super hero identity, so that will be kept my secret for now.  She knows who she is, and I thank you, my friend.

I had some tiny little Queen Anne’s Lace that I’d put in a little blue vase, so I tried out the lens on that this afternoon. The light was low but still, I am happy.

I was happy all day, in fact. There must be something in the air, or perhaps it’s the wonderful weather that we’ve been enjoying. I was even glad while paying all my bills tonight.

And that’s highly unusual.

My husband is laughing at the TV and George is getting upset that I don’t keep tossing Scary Bird. I’ve thrown it at least sixteen times. Enough already! The odd thing is that he’s fetching it when it’s called either Scary Bird or Paraguay Falcon. I guess my husband has been working on him. Either way, it’s been a month now and it’s still his most favorite toy in the world.

Besides frisbees and sticks, that is.

Hope your day is a good one. See you tomorrow, my friends . . .

Scary bird

George the border collie got a souvenir from Maine last week. My husband bought him a stuffed bird from the gift shop on Cadillac Mountain at Acadia National Park. We visited there early last Friday and took a walk around the trails at the top of the mountain, stopping afterward at the gift shop for coffee and for a look around.

This isn’t just any stuffed bird. It’s an Audubon real-life sound peregrine falcon and George is almost afraid of it.

To listen to the cry of a peregrine falcon, click here and scroll down to 'Calls'. Warning: turn down your speakers. I cannot stress this enough. Our stuffed bird has 3 seconds of screech, then a pause, then 3 seconds more. And believe me, it’s more than enough.

Even in the store, George was wary of this new gift. He really didn’t want to have anything to do with him while we were in Maine.

Fast forward to this week and we find George preferring the scary bird over all the others from the toy box. I’ve been calling it scary bird when I play with him and when he chooses the bird from among the other toys in the box, he picks it up very very gently. I think that he finds the screech as annoying as I do.

But let’s get back to the story.

Last night, my husband and I were sitting in the living room watching Wipe Out and suddenly George wakes up and wants to play. Yes, we watch Wipe Out. It’s our secret obsession. Well, I guess it’s not so secret anymore, but any show that makes my husband laugh out loud is The Best Thing Evah in my book, so we watch the show every night it’s on. And well, here’s how the whole toy conversation went down:

(Aren’t you glad you come here? A thrill a minute, I tell you.)

HIM: George, go get your Paraguay falcon.

George looks at my husband, turns his head to the side and begins wagging his tail.

HIM: George, go get your Paraguay falcon.

George continues to look at my husband, still wagging the tail and waiting.

ME: Um, honey. I don’t think he calls it that.

HIM: Yes he does. We’ve been tossing it around this week. (Repeats the order).

George continues to look confused yet there’s a hopeful glimmer in his eyes. He has no idea what toy his master is asking for.

ME: Well, maybe he knows that it’s not a Paraguay falcon and that it’s really a peregrine falcon.

HIM: He knows what it is.

ME: It’s a peregrine falcon. Per-a-grin falcon.

HIM: Yeah. What I said. A Paraguay falcon.

ME: George, go get your scary bird.

George runs over to the toy, picks it up gently, trots back to me and deposits the toy in my lap.

ME: It’s scary bird. Just call it that, honey.

And so christens the new toy. They all must have names, you know. A border collie has a huge vocabulary but you have to keep at it.

As I write these words, I wonder where in heaven’s name my mind has gone to be writing this kind of drivel for all to see and sharing pictures of what amounts to be chewed dog toys.

I may need help.