to the end

Today's destination was Stonington. We traveled down the Blue Hill Peninsula, crossed a very steep and narrow bridge to Deer Isle, and kept going until we hit the other end of the island.

You know about Denise and bridges, right? She really wanted to walk across the bridge so she could take pictures of the bridge structure but it didn't feel safe. The bridge had two very narrow driving lanes and no sidewalk; we stayed in the car.

It was chilly this morning and the sky was wearing a bit of gray. Blue pushed in later but the morning gray was interesting too. There were lots of boats moored in Stonington, a few moving on the water too. We walked near the water, sometimes at water level, sometimes high on docks. It was a good wander in a small town.

We headed back up the island, leaving the car on the north side of the causeway linking Little Deer isle to Deer Isle. Denise walked along the causeway enjoying the water views on both sides of the road. Oh, I was with her - I decided to ride in her camera bag instead of bouncing myself. Sometimes riding feels like the right thing to do!

The coast of Maine is very jagged. That meant we had to drive up the peninsula for quite a while before we could head back to Ellsworth to turn back out towards Mount Desert Island. Denise meant to repeat our drive from this morning but she missed a turn after we came off of the island. Oops! Once she realized that we were on a different road she decided to stop and ask someone. The road numbers were very confusing! The road we were on took us almost to Bucksport before we found route 3 again to head back to Ellsworth. This morning we were on roads that were close to the eastern side of the peninsula; the roads we followed back were on the west side. The land around us was beautiful so the slight detour was just fine.

Tomorrow? I think we're going to walk into Acadia, somewhere.

--- Rover

Stonington, Deer Isle, Maine


at the entrance to Scott's Landing preserve, Deer Isle, Maine

driving

I watched the trees change colors as we drove further to the north and east. There were still a lot of trees wearing green close to home, green with a tinge of rust and some splashes of yellow and red. When we passed Augusta I noticed that the colors looked more like fall, leaves painted in orange and yellow, and trees with bare branches too. I hope the colors make Denise happy when we start wandering tomorrow!

The sun was really dropping during our drive between Bangor and Ellsworth. It lit the clouds in wonderful pinks and oranges.

We captured all of the color as memories.

--- Rover

strawflower

My garden walk last weekend showed highlights of color from the remaining flowers. The petals of this strawflower were reaching out, brightly colored.

heading east

It's almost time for Denise and I to head out on a short wander. Denise is working until the middle of the afternoon tomorrow and then we're off!

We had intended to play in Acadia National Park but with the government shutdown the national parks are all closed; I guess that means we will need to find some new places to visit.

I really wanted to bounce on the rocks at the Schoodic Peninsula but Denise said she is sure that the road is closed. I'd bet we walk in the park somewhere though. We don't need to walk through the main gate to get access to trails in the park since they are all over the island.

I just found this article in the Waterville Morning Sentinel about park rangers at Acadia issuing $100 fines. Ouch! But I read all of the words and it sounds like the rangers aren't fining people who are walking or bicycling; it's people on motorized vehicles who are attracting their attention.

I think we'll find some places where we can walk into Acadia, and I'm sure we'll get to some new-to-us places too.

Guess what! Denise decided I needed my own photo gallery! Now if you want to see me posing in some beautiful places you can jump to the gallery portraits of Rover.

--- Rover

all natural

Flowers in a squash vase on a stone wall caught my eye, the product of a very creative gardener.

a quiet day

Today was a gray day, cool, wet, and quiet. I initially thought I would head to the coast for a walk but somehow "seeing" the day made me change my mind. It was a good day for relaxing, for making a big pot of soup, for walking in the rain.

magical

Leaves change slowly from their summer look of all green to a magical combination of green and red.

yellow pops

A bit of yellow pops in a sea of (still) green leaves.

dreamy

The sun was still high in the sky as I headed out for a walk yesterday. I followed an urge to walk through an open gate and into the woods where the trees blocked a good deal of the late day light.

rusty

Flowers wearing shades of rust and orange, an image of autumn...