spring green

Trees in Acadia were dressed in light green shades of spring. The growing and leaf season starts a little later there than it does at home.

photos! Acadia

Photos from my recent wander in Acadia National Park are available for viewing in two galleries, one focusing on my wanders in the park and the other focused mainly on outside-of-the-park gardens (with a few additional images).

Start your viewing by clicking to the top level gallery Acadia :: May 2017 or by clicking on one of the photos below to go to a specific gallery.

wandering Acadia

gardens, and...

what's next?

I think our trip to Acadia was a great success. We had sun and clouds and a little rain too. Denise really prefers changing weather, so the weather wizard's changing conditions made her happy.

Denise is still sorting through the photos that jumped into her camera, and I am starting to think about another away from home wandering spot. I'm not sure where that will be but it's always good to dream.

--- Rover

standing on a big rock at Jordan Pond

blue behind clouds

On my last morning in Acadia I could see blue behind clouds as I looked to the center of the island. Once I reached the coast the blue sky disappeared.

morning walk

For our last morning in the park we chose to walk a portion of Ocean Path. It runs along the coast from Sand Beach all of the way to Otter Point. We actually walked a good chunk of this trail on Tuesday; today we walked a different section.

It's funny, when we left Bar Harbor this morning to head into the park the sky was clear. As we drove on Park Loop road we started to see some clouds. When we looked out over the ocean we saw what looked like fog. The misty gray didn't extend inland; it seemed to be hovering over the sea, filling the sky with gray. I thought it was interesting.

Denise & I had a good wander - we both really like Acadia.

--- Rover

upside down

I think our day today was upside down because we were planning to walk from our B&B to the Wild Gardens of Acadia via Jesup Path this morning - but we didn't head down that trail until the end of the day. Denise says that's not an upside down day, but I think it is.

It was a good day though, no matter the order of our activities.

When we looked at the weather forecast last night it called for rain early, then clearing. The forecast was a bit flipped this morning - sprinkles in the morning, then rain starting later. Since Denise doesn't mind walking Jesup Path in the rain we moved it to later in the day.

Our first stop of the day was Schooner Point. The view at the end of that trail is amazing, and the ocean was quite active. Next we parked by The Tarn, walking through the woods to the Wild Gardens. When we finished there we headed back to Park Loop Road for a combination of driving and walking. Our longish walk was out and back, a nice distance doubled. There were occasional sprinkles, but nothing to convince me to jump into Denise's camera bag to stay dry.

We stopped at a beach of rounded rocks, one that doesn't seem to have a name. I know, it must have one but I can't find it! Denise finds the round rocks to be difficult to walk on but she likes to visit there because the waves and the rocks create their own kind of music.

... the waves rattle the stones, as if a child has dumped over a large bucket of marbles. Bob Trebilcock, "In Defense of Maine's Cobblestones", Yankee magazine, April 1988

By the time we arrived at Jordan Pond it was raining sideways. We kept on driving, heading up Cadillac Mountain to check the crazy conditions. It was cloudy, foggy, and very wet. We didn't stay too long!

When we arrived back at our home at the Holland Inn the air was clear. After a few minutes rest we headed out to walk to Sieurs de Mont. As always, it was a good walk and a good day.

--- Rover

walking, watching

It was a day of walking short trails, a good mixture of flat and hilly. Whenever I walk with Denise I see new things; she is teaching me to look around as I bounce down the trail. Sometimes I like doing a long trail but I'm learning to like stopping and looking around. It's hard to walk with Denise without picking up that habit!

The sky was mostly clear in the morning but in the afternoon interesting looking clouds started to accumulate. I first noticed the clouds when we were walking near Jordan Pond. I thought we were going to head to Cadillac Mountain in the early evening - before sunset - but when Denise saw the late afternoon sky decorations she decided we needed to change our plans. It was windy and a bit chilly at the top of the mountain. The cloud paintings were wonderful!

The weather wizard says it might be a bit wet here tomorrow. It's possible we may be doing some walking in the rain.

--- Rover

garden morning

We started out this morning with a focus on gardens.

Before the flowers, we bounced down a short trail to Hunter's Beach. I think it's a bit odd that the name says "beach" because that word makes me think of sand. This is a beach composed of round rocks. Denise say they are hard to walk on; that must be because she is bigger than me. I was able to bounce across quite comfortably. It's too bad it was low tide when we visited; at high tide the water makes the rocks roll against each other creating a kind of music.

The first flower stop was at Thuya Garden in Northeast Harbor. We walked a winding trail up the hill, then wandered through the garden. It was too early in the season for most of the flowers at Thuya; the garden was very green, with just a few blooms. It was a good walk though.

Next we absorbed the color at Asticou Azalea Garden. It's been a while since we visited when the azaleas are in bloom. Some of the azalea were past peak, some were in prime conditions, and others were still in a bud stage. What a delightful place!

The last garden of the day was the Charlotte Rhoades Park & Butterfly Garden. Flowers in bloom included a few tulips and a couple of thriving patches of very purple dwarf iris. I'd love to see this garden as summer approaches; a garden designed to attract butterflies seems like it would be a good place to visit often.

--- Rover

to Schoodic

Our first wander of the trip was at the tip of the Schoodic Peninsula. We've decided that Schoodic Point is a place of pure magic.

The tip of the peninsula is made up of very walkable big granite rocks, with black, basalt dikes drawing patterns through the pink granite.

The most striking bedrock feature at Schoodic Point is the array of black, basalt dikes which cut through the pale pink granite. Basalt is a smooth, dark colored rock that forms from rapid cooling of molten rock. In places where the molten rock erupts on the earth's surface, as in Hawaii or Iceland, basalt is a volcanic rock (lava). credit Maine Geological Survey

Tomorrow we'll be wandering on Mount Desert Island, in Acadia and in some spots outside of the park too. I really like it here!

--- Rover

driving north & east

We had a pretty early start today, jumping on the road at 7:30 AM (just a half hour later than Denise planned to leave). I think that was pretty good, don't you?

I wondered if we would run into holiday traffic but Denise told me she thought it was probably too early. We saw a pretty long line of cars heading towards north towards Bangor on Route 1 as we were heading south. That was just after 11 so I guess that might have been folks heading home from Acadia.

The weather was pretty good. It was cloudy when we left home. By the time we started across the bridge across the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth the upper sections of the bridge were covered by fog. Then it rained just a bit, staying gray until we turned toward the Schoodic Peninsula.

I thought it was a good drive. I know, I know, I was just watching, not driving - but Denise said it was a very reasonable drive.

--- Rover

soon...

Wow, I just realized that it's been a really long time since I wrote. I try to help Denise by writing blog entries when we travel to very cool places. That gives her more time to play with her camera without the need to think about words too. I just looked back, and the last time I wrote was during our visit to Acadia National Park last fall. Yikes! I guess I need to start gathering a list of travel places for later this year.

Over the past several years (or maybe more than that!) we have been trying to visit Acadia twice a year, once in the spring, and once in the fall. We usually go in early May but Denise says that some things got in the way of that this year. When I saw that the end of the month was coming I started telling her that I need a trip to Downeast Maine even if she doesn't. I'm so glad she listened to me; she said she needs a wander there too! Happy, happy...

I just checked the weather forecast for Bar Harbor and it looks like it could be a little wet while we're visiting. I know Denise likes cloudy days; if it's wet I can always jump into the camera bag to stay dry. I guess I'd better remind Denise to bring her rain jacket for wandering in possibly wet conditions.

Soon... we'll be off and wandering!

--- Rover

on Jesup Path in Acadia, during our visit last October