Daily Musings

Bass Harbor Light

Bass Harbor Light, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

Hmmm - not sure how 15 days passed without a blog post... I have picked up my running in full gear and I guess that is wearing me out LOL.

To finish off our stay on Mount Desert Island, here is a photograph of Bass Harbor Lighthouse. Apparently it is one of the most photographed lighthouses. I imagine this is because of its location on the craggy shore but still accessible without a boat. It is also the perfect backdrop for an east coast sunset. There are so many gorgeous photos of this lighthouse but the day we were there the conditions were not great for a WOW photo so here you go. It was another foggy and drizzly day for us on the Maine Coast.

Bass Harbor is on the Southwest section of Mount Desert Island near Southwest Harbor. We had lunch at Southwest Harbor and browsed the boutiques. It is a wonderful village of only 1,966 people and is often referred to as the “quiet side” of the island because it has a mellower pace than the busy Bar Harbor side.

We also explored Northeast Harbor on the previous day - you got it - had lunch and browsed the boutques :-). What better way to spend foggy, drizzly days. Northeast Harbor, also a small village with a population less than 2,000, is the area where the more "famous" residents live. Summer home to the likes of the Rockefellers, Fords and more recently Susan Sarandon and Martha Stewart.

A few more photos and memories to share from Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park. The next post will move further down the coast to Kennebunkport, Maine.

The budding photographer

 

Jordan Pond in the fog. The "Bubbles" are in the background - round hill tops. We stopped at Jordan Pond for lunch one day and had the famous Popovers with Jam - yummy.

 

Jordan pond on a clear day with the "Bubbles" in view

 

Jordan Pond Restaurant seating on the lawn with the "Bubbles" in the background.

I will find some more to add tonight - for now I best be off to work. Have a great day!

Acadia Carriage Roads

Cobblestone Bridge, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

This bridge is one of 17 in the carriage road system of Acadia National Park. It is the only bridge that contains cobblestone.

The Carriage Roads in Acadia are not only beautiful to see but the history and engineering behind them is fascinating. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the roads are the brain child of John D. Rockefeller Jr. He not only financed the purchase of the land and construction of the roads but he also oversaw every step of the work personally. The 45 miles of roadways were built from 1913 to 1940. The purpose of the carriage roads was to ensure there was a way to navigate around the park without the disruption of motorized vehicles.

The roads themselves are meticulously engineered and built. Some characteristics of this amazing system:

• constructed with local granite that was quarried from Mount Desert Island
• the shape of the roads and retaining walls were built to preserve the line of hillsides and save trees
• the roads do not exceed a 4% grade to ensure they are well suited for horse-drawn carriages (this is also excellent for cyclists and runners)
• granite blocks (coping stones) line the roads to serve as guardrails
• a renown landscape architect (Beatrix Farrand) made sure the road system blended with the landscape. Entry ways to bridges were framed with natural elements.

"When I thought a thing was worth doing, I made up my mind that the annoyances, the obstacles, the embarrassments had to be borne because the ultimate goal was worthwhile."

- John D. Rockefeller Jr

We enjoyed a portion of the carriage road system on a Horse Drawn Carriage tour. Molly & Mitch did a wonderful job of pulling the carriage loaded with 16 or so tourists and our tour guide provided fabulous narration of the area and history.

Molly & Mitch, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

Carriage Road Reflections, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

Another foggy day in Maine - this is the stables - Molly and Mitch are getting ready for the day.

 

Beautifully groomed

 

The carriage crossing one of the bridges at Jordan Pond.

Cyclists on the carriage roads - not the coping stones on the side of the road.

 

One of two guard houses on the carriage road system. These were constructed to ensure motorized vehicles did not go on the roads.

The Gift of Acadia National Park

Acadia Coast, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

A DVD we bought on this wonderful jewel talks about the park as a gift. A gift that has not only been provided to us but is also our responsibility to care for.

This wonderful park, located on Mount Desert Island on the North East coast of Maine was a gift of insightful individuals who saw the true beauty and potential of this rugged area. In the early 1900's as access to the island was improved through train service, more and more tourists flooded the area. Speculators were snatching up real estate, and the lumber industry, equipped with modern machinery, was eyeing the island's vast untouched forests.

George Dorr, who had inherited a fortune from his family's textile business, teamed up with his friend Charles Eliot and formed a foundation to purchase land with the aim of preservation. This land was eventually donated to the government and a park established in 1919. George Dorr devoted his life to preserving and expanding the area. When he died at the age of 94, he was an impoverished man, having spent his entire fortune, once valued at over $10 million, purchasing additional land for Acadia National Park.

John D. Rockefeller Jr., the sole male heir to Standard Oil fortune chose Mount Desert Island to purchase land and establish his estate. He joined forces with Dorr and Eliot in their quest and in the decades to come, Rockefeller would become Acadia's greatest benefactor, donating one-third of the land in the park. It was due to the efforts, energy and resources that Rockefeller provided that the Park Loops Road and carriage road system. A separate blog post will talk about the carriage roads and how special they are to Acadia National Park.

This amazing dedication to preservation continues today with the Friends of Acadia foundation. Over the past two decades they've established two multimillion-dollar endowments and helped introduce the Island Explorer shuttle system. The shuttle system runs on clean propane power and provides visitors and residents free transportation to hiking trails, carriage roads, island beaches, and in-town shops and restaurants.

The Park Loop Road connects Acadia's lakes, mountains, forests and rocky shores for easy exploration. All of the photos in this post were taken along the Park Loop Road.

Rocky Coast, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

A Day on the East Coast, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

Maine Beauty, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

Stone Bridge, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

Bar Harbor's Star!

She's a star!, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

Our first major stop on our vacation was Acadia National Park on Maine's East Coast. I will do separate posts on this jewel in America's National Park system. This post will focus on Bar Harbor - our central station during our stay.

Bar Harbor is the largest village on Mount Desert Island with just over 4,800 residents. Bar Harbor has a long history being settled first in 1763 and incorporated in 1796 under the name Eden. It was renamed to Bar Harbor in 1918 after the sand and gravel bar, visible at low tide, which leads across to Bar Island and forms the rear of the harbor. Dan & I walked across the sand bar at low tide and it was there we observed this beautiful star fish. Kids were scouring the intertidal zone looking for sea treasures and found several large star fish. I was excited to be able to see and photograph them. 

This is the sand bar at low tide looking towards Bar Island:

We had mixed weather during our four day stay, typical of the east coast. Nearly every day started with fog - some days the fog stayed later than others and on this day the fog was replaced with beautiful blue skies!

Even the fog can be beautiful though - here are a few images as the sun was breaking through the morning fog.

As the word got out in the 1800's of the beauty of Mount Desert Island, the rich and famous came from Boston, New York and Philadelphia to establish summer "cottages" and resorts. In the fall of 1947, a great fire devasted the area. Nearly half the eastern side of Mount Desert Island burned, including 67 palatial summer houses on Millionaires' Row. All of the old hotels are gone either torn down or burned down. Of the "cottages" that were spared, many of the are still private homes with many more converted to welcoming inns, guest homes, and bed & breakfasts.

The research I had done on New England highlighted the many glorious inns and I was intrigued, yet cautious, about staying at these. Cautious because it was something new - i had visions of lining up to use a single bathroom to several rooms and trapsing through someone's private home when we got home late. I had initially tried to secure reservations at some but with the craziness of changing jobs and such, we left on our trip without a single reservation. The first two nights we spent in Bar Harbor were at the Bar Harbor Grand Hotel - a very nice hotel on the main street, close to shopping and restaurants. Once we decided we wanted to extend our visit on Mount Desert Island, the hotel was fully occupied and we had to find another place to stay. Some quick searches on the internet for Bed & Breakfasts and we found the Thornhedge Inn. This summer "cottage" was built in the late 1800's and was spared in the great fire of 1947. The mansion is beautifully restored to its original glory. We stayed in the Birnam room complete with an antique brass bed, library furnishings and fireplace. Our first experience in bed and breakfast accommodations was very positive and we sought out special places to stay for the rest of our trip. The B&B was nothing that I had feared - each room had its own private bathroom and there was an entrance for guests as well as public areas.

We enjoyed delicious meals in Bar Harbor, included this lobster feast Dan indulged in at The Quarterdeck Restaurant overlooking the harbor.

My favorite meal was Pasta Galyn at Galyn's Restaurant . I know, it isn't seafood. For the most part I indulged in scallops, salmon or shrimp but this one night I was trying the more familiar. Rapununi served wonderful seafood with a twist and Guiness and Porcelli's combined delicious seafood with classic Italian pasta.

There is lots to do in Bar Harbor without even leaving the town to venture into the Park. We chose a few different activities:

• Sea Kayak with Aquaterra Adventures
  We chose the shorter 2 hour tour around the harbor which included instruction and fabulous narration throughout the paddle around Porcupine Island and harbor. I wasn't able to bring my camera with me unfortunately - we saw some amazing scenes including an eagle's nest with two juvenile eagles peaking their heads out. This was one of our sunnier days and it was wonderful starting it out with a refreshing and scenic paddle.

• Whale Watch with Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co.
  This could have been a wonderful experience and I am sure it normally is. Unfortunately, the day we chose to do this tour was very foggy. Even though the tour operators warned us that there was a strong possibility we would not see whales due to the fog, we decided to take our chances. We took our spots at the front of the Catamaran prepared to see the whales. What we didn't know was that we had to travel 25 miles into the ocean to get to the feeding grounds and this was at very high speeds. The waters were rough and as I mentioned it was very foggy. All these conditions led to sea sickness for both myself and Dan. Dan didn't spill his cookies though like I did. In a mad dash to get to the edge of the boat, I lost it and splashed my breakfast all over myself and anyone downwind - how embarassing... So, the rest of the trip was spent at the back of the boat with sick bags, a newly purchased sweatshirt and blanket (in an attempt to warm up) and newly purchased sea sick wrist bands. In other words - a very expensive trip with no positive returns.
• Run / walk along the Bar Harbor Shore Path
  One of the few runs I did while on vacation was along this beautiful path. Check out the link to see some photos of scenes along the path. Here is one I snapped when Dan & I walked along the path initially:

• Shopping
  There are some very unique and quaint shops in Bar Harbor. We enjoyed many hours of searching for the perfect keepsakes.

I will add more photos of what we saw in Bar Harbor shortly...

New England Coast

We made it back from our two week New England coastal adventure last night. The trip back was uneventful for the most part. I find driving through Boston a bit more stressful than driving through Montreal, which for me, is very stressful... We took I93 and then I89 before hitting the Quebec border just east of Lake Champlain in Vermont. I93 travels straight through Boston including a 5.6 km tunnel under the heart of Boston. This is a fascinating engineering feat known as the Big Dig. I have to admit as we were traveling through the tunnel, I wondered about how well it was constructed... Driving through New Hampshire and Vermont is so beautiful. I would have loved to have stopped and visited some of the interior areas as well but by this point we were on a mission to get home. When we made it to the Canadian border, we sat and waited in traffic for 1.5 hours - ugghhh. This delayed our arrival to about 10:30 pm. Still not too bad since we didn't leave Hyannis, Cape Cod until about 11:30 or so.

So, we are home. I have mixed emotions. It is always good to get back to routine (and of course paying work - since as a contractor, I am not paid for days not worked). But, we had such a nice trip and it was sad leaving Cape Cod, which was the last leg of our journey.

I had intended to blog while we were on the road but, believe it or not, we were actually even busier on this trip than we normally are when we travel. I will be posting about our trip over the next couple of weeks complete with photos and activities. We saw so much, learned a lot about each area we visited and truly fell in love with the New England coast. Every trip we make, we always say we would love to return and see more of the area and this one was no different. Problem is, I would need to live another 100 years to be able to continue seeing new sights and re-visit ones we have already been to :-).

This is the itinerary of places we visited:

• Day 1 - North Conway, New Hampshire
• Day 2 through 5 - Acadia National Park, Maine
• • Bar Harbor
  • The Gift of Acadia National Park
  • Carriage Roads
• Day 6 and 7 - Kennebunkeport, Maine
• Day 8 and 9 - Boston, Massachusetts
• Day 10 through 15 - Cape Cod, Massachussetts

As we were driving home yesterday, I thought about all we had seen and learned. What was the favorite place we visited, the food we ate, the people we met. It is really hard to pin point favorites since everything was special in its own way. I hope you will enjoy reading the posts over the next couple weeks as we re-visit these special times.

A day on the East Coast

A day on the East Coast, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

Our vacation has begun.

We left early Saturday and had a nice drive through Vermont and New Hampshire stopping in North Conway to check out the sites before moving on. North Conway is heralded by many as a shopping mecca so we thought we would be remiss to not stop. We visited a few shops but really weren't inspired so we took a train ride instead on the Conway Scenic Railway. We rode on the Gertrude Emma, which is a first class pullman parlor and observation car built in 1898. It was an enjoyable ride although not as scenic as we had expected.

Station, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

Caboose, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

We stayed in Waterville, Maine last night in what appeared to be the last of the available hotel rooms. Our first attempt at the Best Western failed when only one smoking room was left. It cost us more to stay where we did but there was no way we could have slept in a smoky room.

After a quick trip from Waterville (about 1.5 hours), we found a nice place to stay in Bar Harbor at the Bar Harbor Grand Hotel. We took a drive around part of the park today, checked out the Visitor's Centre and stopped at a few scenic places. We had lunch at the Jordan Pond House Restaurant - an historic area that dates to the 1800's. We enjoyed the infamous popovers with our meal of yummy Seafood Chowder and Lobster Stew.

Unfortunately, the weather has not cooperated today - it has been foggy and rainy leaving the visibility at almost zero. After a big rainstorm, we ventured out on the main street of Bar Harbor to check out the shops. We are very impressed by the quality of the stores and found some nice purchases.

Tomorrow we plan to do some hiking and biking - let's hope the weather cooperates.

Garage Sale - Orleans, Ontario!

Jordan is hosting a Fundraiser Garage Sale on Sunday, July 26th. There are lots of good quality items up for sale that you don't want to miss.  All the proceeds from this sale are in support of the MS Bike Tour which Jordan and his friend are riding in on August 8 & 9.

Here is a small sampling of what you will find:

• Scrapbooking Supplies including patterned paper, rubons, stickers, rubber stamps, gel stamps, embellishments such as buttons, flowers, metals, etc.
• Lots and lots of containers for storing craft and small things!
• Scrapbooking or craft rolling cart for storage
• Laminated posters - sports, music and movies
• Ottawa Senators memorabilia
• Hockey jerseys
• VHS Movies
• Sports gear - goalie pads, hockey equipment, hockey bags, sports bags, tennis rackets, life jacket, snow board, sled, skateboard, exercise bike and more
• Electronics - game boy system and games, Nintendo and Playstation games, Router and more
• Led Zeppelin memorabilia
• Household items
• Artwork for the walls
• Plush animals - big and small
• Bird Cage
• and too many more items to mention.

The sale starts at 7:00 a.m. Sunday morning and runs until the afternoon. Check out this link for details on location.

I won't see you there as I am heading out on vacation but Jordan would love to have you stop by.

Let it Rain!

Rainy evening, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

That seems to be the weather theme here lately. And not just a little rain either - torrential downpour kinda rain. Saturday morning started out with a walk over to the gym - it was attempting to rain. When I finished my workout and we went out for a run, it wasn't too bad but then the rain started again. I actually prefer running in the rain to the heat so it was nice.

Throughout the day, we had bursts of downpours. It was definitely a stay in the house kinda day. This rain has been going on off and on for a couple weeks now and is getting a bit tiresome.

So, in the evening when it looked like we were getting a reprieve, Dan & I went out for a little drive. We drove downtown so I could show him my new working location and neighbourhood. The weather looked like it was going to hold so we decided to take a little walk. We weren't too far into it when the clouds opened up and we sought refuge under this tree (don't worry, there was no lightning). You can see the rain coming down in the photo. It wasn't long before we had to take cover under the bridge.

It was actually this move that led us on our little journey.

We walked along the last leg of the Rideau Canal where it spills into the Ottawa River. It is such a pretty sight - the majestic Chateau Laurier watching over the scene. You can see the blue sky trying to peak through. I have applied a filter to this photo to bring out some of the details.

Majestic Guard, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

A couple more photos of the final locks.

Historic Locks, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

The final Lock, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

We continued past the locks on the Ottawa River Pathway - I had come across this path a year ago when I did the HBC Canada Day Run. Amazing that I didn't know it existed before then. This was the first time that Dan & I had gone on it. Definitely a spot to go back to - we will likely go back on the bikes so we can cover more ground. We walked along the river to LeBreton Flats where the Blues Festival was underway and headed back on Wellington to the van. The sky had changed back to angry and was threatening another downpour...

A couple more photos from our journey:

West, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

East, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

Noon on the Bridge

War Memorial, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

Are you wondering how my job transition is going? If you are on FaceBook or Flickr, you have probably already seen some updates. It always surprises me (although it shouldn't) that when I make a change, I find that I was well overdue for it. I believe this change will be good for me in many ways:

• From a developmental perspective, I am already learning so much - expanding my horizons, etc. The project is very interesting and I am happy to be learning more about Canada's immigration programs.

• From a personal perspective it is amazing to experience working downtown. It is such a different atmosphere from the laid back complex on Vanier Parkway. They both have their positive sides - this is just different and exciting for now.

• I drove downtown on Monday and paid $15 for parking but have since been taking the bus and am actually quite enjoying it. I have decided to purchase an iPhone so I can make use of my bus time on electronic media - checking my personal email, facebook, flickr, my blog, etc. The only downside is there are no iPhone 3Gs' available so I am on a waiting list. Trying to be patient...

• Today (the first nice day all week), I dragged my camera with me on the bus and ventured out at lunch for Noon on the Bridge. David Maxwell was the artist featured today from Bluesfest. It was so amazing. I met with a flickr friend, we listened to the music and I snapped a few photos before heading back to work rejuvenated.

So, there you have it. Work is good, life is good!

A few more photos from my outing:

On guard, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

Benches, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

Noon on the Bridge, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

What a weekend!

Showy Lady's Slipper, originally uploaded by Kadacat (Marlene).

Whewww - I would say that I am glad it is almost over but I am really not. If the weekend is almost over, it means I only have two days left at the RCMP and that makes me sad :-(.

But... the weekend was jam packed full of things I love to do.

It started Friday evening with 50 minute - 6K run with my running friend Cheryl. Yup, you read that right. My training program is primarily about running slow so even though I could technically run 6K much quicker, it is all about keeping it in Zone 1 and training those slow twitch muscles.

Saturday morning, I met Cheryl at Ray Friel and we did about 40 minutes of strength training. I am definitely stronger than I was 3 weeks ago - I was able to do the lunges and step ups with relative ease and increased the weights on my chest presses and seated row sets. I even did three sets of the dreaded plank. After the strength training, we did two sets of two minutes each on the treadmill in Zone 5. The idea is to go at your maximum running speed to build up the lactic acid and then go for a slow 40 minute Zone 1 run to train the body to deal with it. We did the 40 minute run outside.

After the workout, I made my way to Purdon Conservation Area near Lanark. After seeing the beautiful Showy Lady Slipper orchid picture that my good friend Karen took, I was determined to find these babies. I heard about Purdon Conservation Area through a garden book I bought the week previous at Balderson. It was a bit of a drive to get there but it was so worth it. Purdon is home to the largest colony of Showy Lady Slippers in Canada!

Taken from the Purdon Conservation area website:
"The colony exists today thanks to the care and cultivation of Mr. Joe Purdon. Mr. Purdon was an pioneer of land stewardship and a great asset to our community. The wetland was originally part of Mr. Purdon's farm. Through careful management of the few dozen orchid plants he discovered on this property in the 1930s, Mr. Purdon grew the colony to over 16,000 blooms. Mississippi Valley Conservation acquired the site in 1984 and pledged to preserve if for the enjoyment and enrichment of future generations."

Both the plant and the bloom are quite large standing 35 to 90 cm (1 to 3 feet) high. They can live for 50 years, which they pretty well have to because their reproduction relies so much on chance: they can't self-pollinate and have no nectar to attract syrup-sucking bugs, so they have to live in the hope that wandering insects will blunder into them. Very few flowers get pollinated, but when they do, a single flower can produce up to 35,000 seeds. This sounds like a good start, but the wind can't blow all of them to the soggy, shady habitat they like. Then it can take up to seven years for their root systems and first leaves to develop.

Saturday evening - Dan & I went for ice cream at Dairy Queen (I say it is justified since I put in so much activity during the day LOL) and a nice drive on the parkway. This is generally how we manage to spend time together since life is so busy.

Sunday morning - 10K LSD (Long Slow Distance) run with The Running Room 1/2 Marathon Group. Again, I am training at a much slower pace so Cheryl and I ran together. Our goal was to run for 75 minutes. Our training program is focused on Zone running and time as opposed to distance. It is a great concept - otherwise human nature tends to want to go faster and get the run over with. We did a new route which always makes things a bit more interesting - especially since we normally manage to take a wrong turn somewhere ;-).

Sunday afternoon - Dan & I planned to take the bikes out for an inaugural cycle. He got a new bike last week for Father's Day and my poor bike hadn't been out for a spin in two years! We ended up going much farther than we should have for a first time out. We took advantage of the Rockcliffe Parkway - Sunday Bike Ride and made our way along the river path system down town. We had lunch across from Confederation Park at Starbucks listening to the bands in the Jazz Festival before turning around and heading back. Another stop at Dairy Queen for a Root Beer float and some much needed energy before we finally made it home. It was a tough ride - I was totally exhausted. Total distance was over 44k!!! yup - that was just crazy.

So, I have refueled and had a nap and am thinking about the awesome weekend we had. I didn't do any house cleaning or laundry (perhaps I will get to that tonight). That is just how I like it. Life is too short to be worrying about all the little things in life. My motto is to live life to its fullest. Those orchids wouldn't have waited for me to spend the weekend doing housework.

Hope you all had a great weekend too - thanks for stopping by.