HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!!
For those of you who don’t know, Blaine and I have been together a lot longer than the 39 years would indicate. We actually met at church when we were 5. Grew up together (when I wasn’t moving around with my family), started dating when we were just barely 16, and married at just barely 19.
My Mom is responsible. I broke-up with Blaine for a short time at the end of our Senior year. My Mom forced me to see him again by dragging me along with her to his graduation party with the promise of dinner at McDonalds (which was a very big deal at that time!) after she dropped off the gift she’d bought. Anyway, he kissed me goodbye and that was it! Magic! Fireworks! Bells! We’ve been together ever since. (If I could insert a heart here, I would 😊)
THANKS MOM!!!!!!!
We had plans for a nice, romantic day, but they were scuttled due to the promise of not-so-nice weather. So we adapted our plans and went for a bike ride on the Carriage Roads they have here. And no, we didn’t ride 45 miles. More like 12. : ) Here’s some of what the Park website has to say about them:
Forty-five miles of rustic carriage roads, the gift of philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. and family, weave around the mountains and valleys of Acadia National Park. Rockefeller, a skilled horseman, wanted to travel on motor-free byways via horse and carriage into the heart of Mount Desert Island. His construction efforts from 1913 to 1940 resulted in roads with sweeping vistas and close-up views of the landscape. His love of road building ensured a state-of-the-art system.
Acadia’s carriage roads are the best example of broken-stone roads—a type of road commonly used at the turn of the 20th century—in America today. They are true roads, approximately 16 feet wide, constructed with methods that required much hand labor.
For more interesting info on these roads, go to: www.nps.gov/acad/learn/historyculture/historiccarriageroads.htm
This will show you the road and the incredible bridges!
I took this video because we were enjoying the echo under the bridge like little kids! : )
It wasn’t a great start. Shortly into the ride, we started uphill. STEEP uphill! We both had to get off and push! There was one other time when I had to get off because the hill just went on and on and on . . .
The flat areas and downhills were great!
I liked biking. We saw some beautiful views and you can cover much more area in less time than walking. 😊
Here I am. Enjoying the scenery for longer . . .
The next four are our snack view!
Wonder what happened here?
But where’s the rain?? There was nary a drop all day! How is it that weather folks can be wrong all the time and still keep their jobs? That kind of accuracy wouldn’t fly in any other job that I know of.
Anyway, after the bike ride, we caught one of the free Park buses and headed to downtown Bar Harbor to wander around the harbor . . .
Near the bus stop in town
. . . and through town. Oh, my gosh! The sidewalks were sooooo crowded! My dreams of strolling languidly on the streets hand-in-hand with my honey were dashed at the feet of the mob. Whenever a cruise ship is in port the downtown population soars during the day. We did however, get some shopping done that we’d put off for as long as we could – since neither of us like to shop. 😊
I know these pictures don’t look like it’s crowded. We caught them at a brief lull – when most everyone was in a shop . . .
Look! A square hole!
Picking up our Jeep, we headed to a recommended restaurant for our Anniversary Lupper (between lunchtime and dinnertime) – The Chart Room. We were both hungry for seafood but most everything was fried. Ugh! Oh, well. We had a terrific view of the bay outside our corner windows and it was around high tide so the water was close and covered all the low tide drabness. We watched as storm clouds gathered in the distance and produced multiple rainbows. And the seafood was really good – even fried! Haddock, shrimp, scallops and clams that we thought must surely be oysters! We even asked the waitress about it because we thought maybe they ran out of clams and substituted oysters. She was surprised when we told her we’d never seen clams so large.
These were growing by the spot we parked the Jeep. Makes you smile, don’t they?
That ended our evening as I was sick all night . . . not nauseous, but just this extremely bloated feeling that never went away. I don’t know why. Blaine was just fine and he’s usually the one with the more sensitive tummy. Mine’s usually cast-iron.
Tomorrow . . . is another day!
INDIANS UPDATE: Unbelievably at 17!!