Lights!

I just got home to find lights and warmth... I'm happy!

A quick glimpse

Home a day early to avoid driving in the snow, I hoped to use my unplanned Sunday at home to wander through the photos I took on my too quick visit to Acadia. The power outage changed the outcome through. I made good progress with my computer running on battery, but the battery life didn't give me time to get through all of the photos. I stopped when the computer's power was down to 20%, thinking that if I needed it for something (who knows what, since I couldn't reach outside of my house without power) it would be good to still be able to turn it on.

It seemed like the light was odd all weekend; I came home expecting to toss more photos than usual. Luckily that wasn't the case.

As I passed this pond and saw the reflecting colors I just had to stop. The colors were definitely past peak, giving me a chance to capture a bit of magic.

(lack of) power

I've come to expect power to be available at the touch of a switch. Power, and internet access...

The power at home disappeared at 11:30 Saturday night. As far as I know it's still out; I'm borrowing a little after hours time at the office to post this.

It's not supposed to snow in October when leaves are still on the trees. Wet snow on leaves caused branches to break and fall across power lines; what a mess! There are some places where estimates from the power companies show expected power restoration on November 3rd, including areas surrounding my home. That's another 3 days without power, yikes! I was seriously thinking about staying with a friend tonight, but when I checked the status on my account it shows the possibility of power restoration tonight. Hmm... I know it would be smarter to stay away, but I think I'll chance it.

Fingers crossed...

One more loop

Denise really wasn't ready to head home, but I think she made the right decision. It really sounds like it's going to snow even though it's not close to winter yet. I wonder why the weather wizard decided it was a good time for a snow storm. Do you know?

It was quite chilly this morning with temperatures in the mid 30s. Luckily the wind was quiet so it turned out to be reasonable for wandering. We went around Park Loop Road, stopping often. Denise played with her camera, and I bounced around a bit and helped her find interesting images to capture. No wind meant that I was able to bounce around the trail at the top of Cadillac Mountain. I really like the photo Denise took of me on one of the nicely colored rocks at the top of the mountain!

After spending the morning in the park, we headed home. Most of the drive was dry, under a gray sky. As we passed through York, Maine (about an hour from home), the rain started. It seemed like there were unconnected bands of rain. There were sprinkles, then heavy rain, sprinkles again, heavy rain. The bands disappeared leaving only rain. Just before the end of the drive, the steady rain changed to snow.

--- Rover

Morning decision

The weather forecast was the first thing I turned to this morning.

If all of the snow was forecast to occur overnight I probably would have kept to my original plans, but that wasn't the case. The forecast for Bangor called for snow through mid-day tomorrow, and that meant there is a good chance that it would be a slow drive home, possibly through snow.

Even though my preference was to stay another night, somehow it felt like the right thing to do to change my plans. I'm going to spend the morning in Acadia, then I'll head to the west, hoping that I'll beat the snow home.

Silly bear!

Did you know that we had a bear as a room host? He lives in the room we stayed in at the Holland Inn, and of course he welcomes all of the guests. The first two nights he was sitting up and waving to us as we entered the room, but last night he was hanging out upside down. He made Denise laugh when we walked into the room, and Evin smiled when Denise told her that the bear made her laugh. She likes seeing how her guests react to the silliness of the bears.

--- Rover

Sunny wanders

Sunshine greeted me this morning along with crisp cool air. Temperatures warmed from the high 30s into the mid 40s by late morning; I was able to quickly shed the extra layers that I needed for comfortable wandering early in the morning.

Two trails, a bit of driving, and some walking along the loop road filled my day. I started on the Jessup Path, a flat walk with a good portion on boardwalks lined with trees. That was a new trail for me, one I'm sure I'll repeat another day. My next stop was the Flying Mountain trail in Southwest Harbor. Until I set foot on the trail I thought this was a first for me too. The road in didn't jog my memory, but as soon as I started walking up the trail my memory returned. It's relatively short, up, up, over rocks, through the woods, to a view of Somes Sound, then down again.

I headed back to the main part of the park for a quick drive around Park Loop Road, driving interrupted by walking, a stroll on Sand Beach, some walks along tghe rocky coast.

I even braved the wind at the top of Cadillac Mountain. The temperature dropped as the elevation increased, and the wind cooled the temperature even more. I walked the short path at the summit, questioning my sanity as I found it hard to stand upright in the very strong wind. Crevices in the rocks showed a bit of white (snow). I assume the little bit of white stuff fell last night and simply didn't melt.

Tomorrow? My plans are to play in the park again, to stay here one more night. I have to admit that the forecast has me a bit concerned though; I'll check it again in the morning.

Yikes!

Yikes! I just saw the weather forecast for home. Uh oh. A possibility of 4 to 8 inches of snow tomorrow night seems unreal to me, and the white stuff forecast seems to cover both home and the space between home and my home away from home in Maine. It's only October - much too early for accumulating snow.

I don't look forward to driving home on snowy roads, although I suppose if it does snow Saturday night there is a chance that the roads will be clear by Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately if it snows here too that will probably change my Sunday morning plans to wander in Acadia since Park Loop Road is not a road that is kept open through the winter. Hmm...

Weather wizard, please tell me this is an April Fool's joke in October.

A Schoodic day

Today's target was the Schoodic Peninsula. That's where part of Acadia National Park lives. We drove back to the mainland, then headed a bit further north and east before turning towards the coastline once again. At our first stop Denise tried to convince a cormorant to pose for her. He wasn't very interested, but I think some sea gulls decided to pose. (We'll see when we wander through the photos from today.)

We spent quite a bit of time clambering over the very red rocks at the tip of the peninsula. They were big, and they were slanty. I thought they were good for bouncing, but Denise wanted to make sure that she didn't fall. I bounced, she walked, placing her feet very carefully. She had a good conversation with a couple from Mississippi. They chatted for a bit, then everyone headed off in their own little wandering world.

Brr! It was cold today. Denise was hoping for temperatures in the low 50s; she didn't get her wish. The forecast was for the high 40s, but most of the day the thermometer in the car said it was 41 degrees. By the time we were finished for the day it was just 39. It's a good thing that I reminded Denise that she should throw some extra layers into the car; she needed them today. I did some bouncing across the red rocks; when I got chilled I hopped into Denise's camera bag and rode in my nice cozy spot for a bit.

The colors here are past peak, but there are still trees wearing leaves in color. In one place there was a line of trees with no leaves. Just behind that there were some taller trees with bright yellow showing above bare branches. In other places there was a single tree wearing bright yellow in a sea of rust-colored leaves. I hope Denise grabbed some good photos to share!

Oh! you want to know what we're going to do tomorrow? We'll be wandering in lots of circles, around Park Loop Road, walking. I think Denise wants to wait and see what the weather wizard brings before figuring out which hike(s) feel right for the day.

--- Rover

Light into dark

A changing sky decorated my drive to Bar Harbor.

I left home in daylight under a sky filled with gray clouds. A swath trees wearing bright yellow and orange leaves jumped out at me as I passed through the edge of New Hampshire. Just a little later the road was lined with bare branched trees and evergreens. Later still the colors re-emerged.

Gray skies cleared to blue with high flung white wisps of clouds. And then... the setting sun painted the underside of the clouds with bright pink. Within 15 minutes the color was gone, the sky dark.