Monthly Archives: August 2020

I hesitate to even label today an “activity day” because we pretty much did nothing.

The End.

Okay maybe it wasn’t that boring.  (I’ll let you decide!) We woke up relatively early as the morning was very bright and the hotel doesn’t have blackout curtains. We had our gourmet breakfast of Cinnamon Chex and Keurig coffee.  We grabbed some beach chairs and an umbrella and staked out our space on the beach.  That was the biggest challenge: finding a spot that would provide the social distancing that we would be comfortable with. We got things set up with another family from our hotel about 10 feet away and then headed to the coffee shop for some REAL coffee.  There’s a great cafe on the corner, Dolce Crema, that we would frequent several times today.  We started with some lattes (mine iced and Frank’s hot) and settled into the beach chairs for they day.

That started the battle for space.  As people started to roll onto the beach, they headed for every nook and cranny, often without any thought to how close they were getting to others.  At one point we decided to put down a “spacer towel” between us and the family next to us to make it look like someone was already there and prevent others from muscling in.  On the other side of us, we watched a couple spend 45 minutes wrestling with and 8×8 shelter, the edge of which was about 6 feet from us.  The precarious nature of the structure and the windy conditions made sure no one got anywhere near them for fear of being underneath when it collapsed!

And so we were set for the day.  Sorta.  You may know that we are notoriously bad at doing nothing.  We tried very hard.  It was incredibly warm for the coast this far north and the water was unbelievably cold! We people watched for a while, walked along the beach, grabbed a sandwich at the corner cafe (chicken salad on a GF roll for me, a lobster roll for Frank), took a dip, grabbed some gelato (pistachio and pink grapefruit), and just generally did nothing much for a good 5 hours.  Then we were done. Funny enough, we lasted longer than the couple with the shelter who packed up and left about 2 hours after they finally got things set up.

Around 3pm we packed up and headed to the hotel pool (and the hotel pool bar!) and went for a swim and had a few drinks.  The wind was too strong to play cards so we got out the travel dominoes and played while finishing a bottle of rosé (yes, we are those people now!)  Then it was time to shower and figure out what to do about dinner.  Because we are lazy and because they have a gluten free dedicated fryer, we went back to The Shack next door for a fish and seafood fry:  haddock, scallops, and clams with fries, all gluten free.  YUM!  One last troll through the town and it was back to the hotel to play cards and enjoy a bottle of prosecco.

The news has been all about when the hurricane will hit the area and we are looking at a rainy and grey day tomorrow for our last day with some severe weather tomorrow night into Wednesday.  Given that most things around us are closed on Tuesdays, we are considering heading home a day early to avoid the worst of the weather.  We’ll keep you posted!

Numbers for today:

• High temperature: 90 degrees
• Wind speed: 20mph gusting to 25
• Water temperature: 69 (brr!)
• Boogie boards and floaties that were blown down the beach and hit us: 3
• Pages of my book read: 15

One of the most entertaining things about sleeping in a king sized bed is seeing how far apart we are when we wake up.  Today we had at least two pillows between us – which may explain why I slept so well. 😉  Breakfast was part of the package so we made our way out to the lobby to order vegan oatmeal (GF option) and sweet potato and chicken hash. The morning was beautiful and we enjoyed the sunshine on the deck while we were eating.  Then it was time to head out.  We couldn’t leave Mount Desert Island without a visit to Acadia National Park.

Car packed up and top down, we made our way to the crown jewel of the National Park service.  I was reminded of the Longfellow poem I learned in 7th grade (thank you Mr. Heffernan):  This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlocks. We drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain where we had spectacular views of Bar Harbor and all the smaller islands.  It was breathtaking but I confess that we were less impressed than would have been the case if we hadn’t already seen great views from the top of several other mountains that we had hiked to the top of.  We did make a note that this was a destination we would need to revisit as we didn’t feel the flying visit was sufficient.

Part of the reason for the short stay was Frank’s increasing concern over the angry swelling on my leg where some unidentified insect had bitten/stung me after our hike on Big Moose Mountain on Friday.  While I felt the painful sting, I had no idea what had climbed/flown up my shorts and assumed it was no big deal.  Until the large hot painful welt arose, I didn’t think much of it.  When that welt developed blisters today, that was the last straw – I would seek medical care. Period.

We made our way to a walk in clinic in Ellsworth (outside Bangor) and 90 minutes after my arrival I left with instructions to use higher doses of antihistamines and watch for infection.  While I felt like the stop was unnecessary, I was very cognizant of how lucky I am to have had the ability to be seen without worrying about being able to afford it.

And then we were off again!  We made a quick trip to Augusta to visit the capitol building (part of a plan to take selfies at all state capitols!) and continued toward today’s destination: Old Orchard Beach.  A place I haven’t been since I was in high school, I wanted to have a few days of the stereotypical New England summer vacation.  We stopped for a quick lunch at Five Guys in Waterville before rejoining I-95 and the bane of every convertible driver: lowering clouds.  Although the day started bright and sunny in Bar Harbor, grey skies were now prevalent and the occasional drop on the windshield gave us pause.

But there would be no capitulation! Frank truly believes that if you own a convertible the top should be down ALWAYS barring downpours.  Speeding down the freeway with Thin Lizzy Radio playing on Pandora (we finally get consistent signal!) we outran the worst of the rain arriving at the Beachwood Motel at about 4pm.  This is the quintessential beach motel:  two levels of exterior doors overlooking the pool and just steps from the beach.  Our King Partial View room (we can see the path to the beach) is STUPIDLY expensive but the location is great and the place is immaculately clean.

We unloaded and wandered around to explore and get some groceries (we have a kitchenette) and figure out our plans for the rest of the day.  The skies were still grey although there was no rain so we enjoyed a quiet drink at our little table and chairs outside the room while we watched the kids swim in the pool.  Then we wandered next door to The Shack where we indulged in the stereotypical steamed lobster dinner. A little more wandering about town (the people watching is AMAZING! I think Frank is the only person in this town with no ink! And that may include some of the kids!) and it was time for a nightcap.  Again, we sat outside and watched as the hotel put on a light show: playing music while flashing the lights of different colors somewhat in time with the tunes.  Very entertaining!  I can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store!

Numbers for today:

• Convertibles sighted on the freeway: 3
• Minutes of rain while driving with the top down: 10
• Percent of rides open at the beach: 10%
• Steps taken: 11,419
• Moose sighted: 0

Today as a day of transition as we were leaving Moosehead Lake. We had originally planned to be here for a full 7 days but when I made the reservations, I put in the wrong end date.  So we had one part of the holiday ending on August 1 and the next part starting on August 2 which left us in a lurch for one night.  Our hosts in Rockwood would have been very happy to extend our stay but we were done with the rural life and were ready to move on. After a little online research, I decided that we would head to Bar Harbor at the gates of Acadia National Park – a place I have always wanted to visit.  A little more time on line got us a lovely king bed room at the Inn on Mount Desert just out side of downtown.

The sun was bright and the day promised to be warm – almost taunting us with the promise of a dry day.  We had a breakfast of leftovers – one scrambled egg, 3 pancakes, 1 Skyr, half a pint of blueberries and 2 GF pan au chocolate – and packed up the car.  A short goodbye to our hosts and goodbye to the chance of seeing a moose; we were on the road to the coast by 9:30.  The drive was nothing special except that the weather was glorious and the traffic was light.  We made a quick stop in Bangor to see the largest cargo plane in the world that had randomly landed there last night. Then we got into the line of traffic heading to the island very much like any other coastal location.

We got to the hotel and dropped off the car while they finished cleaning the room.  It was time to hit town for lunch.  Unlike the rest of this trip so far, we were in a walkable town with LOTS of other people.  It was quite a change.  Also unlike the north country, masks were everywhere and explicitly required in most places.  In many places at the lake, masks were requested or strongly encouraged but not required.  In Bar Harbor, there are signs everywhere that say “Wear a mask, don’t make us ask” and the less polite “No mask, no service.” What a difference a day makes! In fact everywhere we went for food or drinks, they took our name and a phone number for contact tracing.

We had a fabulous lunch at the Side Street Cafe where I had a Gluten Free lobster roll (which was amazing!) with a raspberry gimlet.  Frank had a haddock Reuben (which he said works way better than it sounds!) with a blood orange margarita.  All in all an excellent meal!  Then we wandered around town doing all the touristy things we couldn’t do in the rural north. It was urban hiking at it’s finest – more than 12K steps worth!

We finally got checked in to the room and had a shower and some down time before it was time to eat again.  For dinner, it was Geddy’s down on the waterfront.  Nearly everything on their menu was
gluten free – including the fried calamari appetizer. Amazing! Frank had shrimp scampi and will smell like garlic for at least a week!  I had the seafood pie which was outstanding! We wandered across the street to a park where everyone seemed to have gathered to watch the sunset which was very pretty.  A little more walking and it was time for an early bed.  Tomorrow would be another transition day.

Numbers for today:

• Mosquito bites: 3
• Unidentified bites requiring large doses of Benadryl: 1 (it really hurts too!)
• Complements on my silly smiley-face mask: easily a dozen
• Extra bags to fit into the packed trunk: 3
• Moose sighted: 0