Advertisement
Published: October 12th 2010
Bar Harbor Maine
Rene on one of the many trailsSo before I talk about what we did on our journey, I have to tell you about this couple we met in Bar Harbor Maine. So we walk in to the Bar Harbor Hostel and meet Jeff. Jeff is one of the men who run the hostel. While we were talking with Jeff, Rene mentioned it was our anniversary and Jeff's face lit up. He asked how many years and all the usual inquiry questions. Then he proceeded to tell us that he just got engaged the previous day to Emma. We then congratulated him on his big day and I asked about a date for the wedding. He said that they were trying to make it happen within a couple of days and now that we walked through the door and we are married 27 years on the 30th, he decided that was a good sign and wanted to get married on the 30th. How sweet eh? So we went along our way unpacking etc and met up with both Jeff and Emma later. As we chatted we learned that they were making their plans and were determined that the 30th it would be. We also learned they had known
Boats
waiting to go to work each other for a whopping 1 and 1/2 weeks. OH MY!!!!! And we were part of their inspiration??? OH DEAR!!!! Rene thought it was very cool. I thought they were crazy and the mom in me, really wanted to take Emma aside and asked her if she had just lost her mind and what was she thinking. Since it really was none of my business, I smiled and nodded my head as they talked of their wedding plans. They were not young kids and were both very mature so to each their own right????
September 30, 2010 - The weather was forcasted to be cold and raining, so we woke up with not
too many expectations for sightseeing and travel today. It was our 27th Anniversary and we had planned to have a nice meal out. As it turned out the weather was intermittent with clouds and sun and fog. It never rained all day and we had an amazing day in Acadia National Park. Acadia National Park is this beautiful Park with trails and sight-seeing opportunties all through the Park. Cadillac Mountain is called the pink mountain, because the rock is pink granite. Quite cool. We could hardly
see any of the mountain because of the fog. We decided that we are certainly not in a hurry to get anywhere in the next couple of months, and we really wanted to see the park and especially Cadillac Mountain, so we booked another night at the hostel. When we got back Jeff and Emma were just on their way out the door to get married. We wished them the best and off we went out for dinner to a resturant called Havanna. Now ------ we had checked out the menu on the internet and had our hearts set on our choices. When we sat down and were presented with the menus, neither of our choices were there. HOW DISAPPOINTING!!!!!!! We talked with the waitress and pretty soon out came the owner who apologized for the incorrect information on the net. He was able to produce the steak that Rene wanted, but the seafood dish that I wanted, turned into a different seafood dish, that was O.K, but not great. The owner gave us a free cocktail for the troubles. Still disapppointing, because we eat out so rarely, that when we do I want it to be great. Maybe I
Acadia
In the fog need to lower my expectations. Anyway after dinner we came back to the hostel and soon to bed.
Friday- Oct 01- Woke up to pouring rain. Rene went to Ellsworth to get front tire changed. Spent the rest of the day walking around town. We checked out the harbor and all the little shops along the streets. We stopped at this great little cafe and had a yummy piece of warm fresh blueberry pie al a mode and tasty strong coffee.
We met another very interesting fella at the hostel. His name was Edward and he is from New York City. Edward was a man unlike anyone either of us has ever met before. He has tatoos all over his body and for a living he works in the Circus on Coney Island New York. He is the guy that lays on a bed of nails and then gets pressed between 2 beds of nails. Crazy eh? We spent most of the evening with Edward, chatting and learning about each other. What a fascinating and interesting man. If you have the time and inclination Google "Eak the Geek" That is Edward.
Sat- Oct 02- The sun was shining
Acadia
Thunder Hole so off we went to see Cadalloc Mountain. It truly is PINK!!! Came back to the hostel about 1:00 am. We decided to carry on as the weather looked good. Drove to South Freeport and found this quaint town campground on this beautiful lake. Went into Freeport to do some shopping. (window that is) Freeport Maine is the birthplace of LL Bean, so they have this great huge L.L. Bean Store there. They also have lots of Outlet stores. Bought a new bag from LL Bean. Of course we don't have room to buy anything, but we were desperate for a new shoulder bag, to carry our important things in. Things like the camera, the Flip, credit cards, cash, pen etc, etc. We have been looking for one that both Rene and I can carry, so it can't of course be too "girly". How exciting to find the perfect bag. Anyway it started to get dark really early about 7:00pm. Went back to the campround at about 9pm, read and fell asleep.
Sun- Oct 3. We hadn't been to church in a few weeks and we were both missing the peace and fellowship of like minded people so, we
Acadia
such beauty found the United Church of Christ in South Freeport. Met Tim and Wendy there. Welcome to our journey Tim and Wendy. Had coffee with them after church and went back to the campsite to pack up and head towards Boston. We're not City people but we want to check out a few cities on this trip and Boston is one of them. We stopped at a vistors centre to look for accommodations. Both of the hostels on the City were full, so as we were looking for campgrounds , Rene found this deal on a room at the Comfort Inn in Danvers Mass., that was really close to Boston. It was cold and damp so an Inn for the night was a nice treat.
The forcast was for rain in just about all of New England so we booked a hostel in Littleton for the next couple of nights. We didnt want it to be raining when we spend time in NYC in the next few days, so we were going to wait out the weather system. If it's raining in Boston , Oh Well.
Mon- Oct 04- Woke up to miserable cold weather. Yep the forcast was right.
Acadia
so pretty Rene says So we stayed as long as we could at the Hotel and then at noon we had to check out. Thank goodness it wasn't raining just cold. We couldn't check into the hostel until 4, so we made a detour and went to another little town called Spencer and checked out another Diner, Drive- in and Dive. Charlie's Diner is where we went. Rene had this amazing chicken, bacon cheese wrap and I had a good old mega cheeseburger. The chef, Dave, makes his own sauces and rubs and has a web site called "Angry Lepracon sauces and rubs". He is hoping to sell his creations over the internet. Anyway after our massive meal we went to check into the hostel. This hostel was in a 100 year old wooden home. Beautiful place. It is a retreat centre as well as a hostel. About 66 beds and each bed had a HAND MADE quilt on it. Quiet. Serene place. Because we had such a great huge lunch we weren't hungry the rest of the night. Checked out some of the things we wanted to see the following day in Boston and the train schedules, read, played on the computer
Acadia
manicured lawns by one of the $$$$$$ hotels and went to bed.
Tues - Oct 05, 2010 - Like I said, we had checked the train schedules and decided we would catch the 7:50 am train. When we woke up though at 6:30 we were still very tired, so Rene says, "let's just sleep for another hour and take the train closer to 9:00" Great idea I thought, but I just wanted to check the internet to make sure the train really left at 9. So in the dark I fumbled with the computer, finally found the train schedule site and shrieked at Rene, that if we wanted to get to Boston before noon, we HAD to take the 7:50 or wait until 11:00 am. By the time it took me to check all of this out though it was already after 7:00 am, we we both jumped out of bed, got ready as fast as we could, jumped on the bike for the 10 minute trip to the commuter train station and even had time to burn. On the train by 7:50 and into the train station in Boston at 9:00 am. While in the train station in Boston we came across one of those
Acadia
On one of the many trails in the park little bus tour kiosks. Since it was fairly miserable out, we decided instead of humping it through the rain and mist, a bus tour might be a good option. We paid our money and away we went. The whole city loop was about 1 hour and there were about 9 stops along the way where you could get off and wander about on your own and jump back on the bus at any time. We jumped on our bus and met Jerry our tour guide and bus driver. He was HILARIOUS. While he told us the history and facts about Boston, he had jokes and one liners for everything. He was a hoot. We spent the day in Boston checking out the City of Boston. After a complete tour we jumped off and took the subway to Fenway Park. This ball field is the oldest ball field in America. We walked around the field, took pictures and had some lunch. We didn't go onto the field because a film crew was there waiting to start filming the movie "Money Ball". A movie about Billy Bean a baseball manager. After Fenway we subwayed back to downtown and took a habor cruise
Acadia
Bridge in the Park to have a look at the Boston skyline and all the sights from the harbor. We rode and walked around the city of Boston for the day. Saw the original Cheers Bar. (no Norm though). Saw where the first telephone call was ever made and the birthplace of Alexander Graham Bell. Walked through Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market. This is a great Marketplace since the 1700's full of shops and eateries. We had lunch already at Fenway, but if I'm ever back in Boston, I'm eating at Quincy Market. Anything and everything BIG to eat, that you can think of. We toured the USS Constitution (great huge sail boat) and chatted with some Bostonians. What a great accent they have. One of their great sayings is "Wicked pissa". They exclaim this phrase when something is really awesome. So instead of "that's really awesome, great or cool" (for us), they say "that's wicked pissa" Sounds so funny and kinda like swearing.
Anyway our day in Boston came to an end at about 6:30, when we decided to give our legs and feet a rest and take the communter train back to Littleton and our quiet hostel.
We felt so urban and street wise
Acadia
More beauty. The stream!!!! on this day. Taking the train, then the subway, navigating the city. It really was a wicked pissa day.
Wed - Oct 06, 2010. Not such a great day. Woke up to pouring rain and it rained all day. IT was coming down in buckets at some times of the day. Now normally no one is allowed to stay in this hostel during the day because there are no owners around. We were to be out of the hostel by 10:00 am. At about 9:50 I found the owners and asked if we could stay the day. She of course allowed us and another couple, Vanessa and Ed, who are cycling to Florida, to stay for the day. She keeps a few hives of bees and asked Rene if he could help her for about an hour to feed the bees. Rene was thrilled to do this as he worked on a couple of bee farms over the years. The owners also lent us their truck so we could go to town and get some groceries and do some laundry. Very nice couple. Other than a couple hours to town to get the groceries and do laundry, we hung
out in the house and did very little, except to hope and pray the storm would pass soon. Still having an amazing journey and more too come
And so we remain-------
In the Grip of Grace
Rene and Crystal
Advertisement
Tot: 0.043s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0218s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Bruce W.
non-member comment
Hey Kids!
We sat together on the couch at the Robert Service campground. I was the big greyhaired guy on the bicycle. You were the friendly talkitive folks. I have a gift of gab myself. Great Blog but needs more titty bars.