Daily Musings

Seals and Sea Lions!

One of my goals for visiting the coast was to see Seals and Sea Lions! For those of you that live or have lived along the seaside may think I am crazy. I remember the look on the face of the Inn owner in Cape Cod where we stayed when I told him I wanted to find seals and to pay to go on a seal watching tour! Apparently they can be a bit of a nuisance to the locals. Me, I love them! They have such sweet faces and interesting personalities. OK - they can be a bit stinky and the sea lions on the noisy side but they are still sweet. And honestly, how often do you get to see these beautiful animals when you live inland unless you go to a zoo and I much prefer to see animals in their natural habitat. This was a real treat.

We saw seals along the shoreline at several points along the route but most notably at Yaquina Point just off Cobble Beach.

On our way down the coast, we decided to stop and see the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. Somehow we got misguided (not sure who was navigating at that point LOL) and ended up in the historic bayfront area. Why not take advantage of an opportunity? We stopped to see a bit of the area and have some lunch. As soon as we stepped out of the car, we could hear the racket - it sounded like dogs barking. We followed the sound to the wharf and there (amongst many onlookers) were many sea lions in the bay, sunning themselves on the dock and fighting for territory. We had lunch at the restaurant overlooking the sea lions (can't remember the name) - sitting outside on the patio - with a fabulous view of these gorgeous creatures. The highlight of my day!

In this photo, you can see the patio where we had lunch- the restaurant actually owns this pier and put the big steel cage in to use when the sea lions get fishing nets caught on their bodies. They can close them in the cage while they remove the net. You can see that the sea lions quite like the cage though. We had fun watching the two "guards" at the door. It was obviously an invitation only establishment!

 

The sea lions at Newport are the typical California Sea Lions that you hear about visiting the piers in San Francisco and along the California Coast.Notice the ear flaps in the photo to the left and the flippers in the photo to the right. These are the distinguishing features between seals and sea lions.

We did eventually find the Oregon Coast Aquarium and paid a visit there. They had seals as well but like I said, I much prefer to see them in the wild.

 

We continued on that evening and spent the night at the Best Western Pier Point Inn in Florence with the intention of visiting Sea Lion Caves the next day.

At one of our earlier destinations, a travel information attendant had told me not to bother with the caves - she said they would be empty at this time of year. Am I ever glad we didn't take her advice. It was a fabulous experience! And the caves were certainly not empty. The lighting was very poor in the cave and no flash allowed so the image quality is not great but you get the idea. You get to the cave via elevator (very cool) and it is very well set up with walkways and such within the cave. The experience itself was worth it. There is quite a stench though so definitely something you need to be prepared for.

Stellar Sea Lions are the dwellers of these caves and nearby rocky shores.

A few sea lion facts:

• warm blooded mammals that live in and around the sea feeding on mainly bottom fish such as skate, small sharks, squid, and various species of rock fish.
• pinnipeds - literally, feather footed. They have finlike members for propulsion.
• characterized by the presence of ear flaps, long front flippers, the ability to walk on all four flippers on land, and the lack of dense underfur;
• average size of 300 kg (660 lb) and 2.4 meters (8 ft) long;
• average lifespan is 17 years in the wild, and longer in captivity;
• by sealing their nose shut, they are able to stay underwater for up to 15 minutes;
• California Sea Lions - 188,000 - increasing population
• Stellar Sea Lions - 80,000 - decreasing population - considered an endangered species in the northern Pacific

Japanese Garden

The Portland Japanese Garden is said to be one of the most authentic Japanese gardens outside of Japan. It is situated on 5.5-acres in the scenic west hills of Portland, Oregon and is a short walk from the International Rose Test Garden.

There are five distinct garden styles influenced by Shinto, Buddhist, and Taoist philosophies using compositions of stone, water, and plants. Each garden's objective is to realize a sense of peace,harmony, and tranquility.

• Flat Garden

• Strolling Pond Garden

• Tea Garden

• Natural Garden

• Sand and Stone Garden

 

and a few random images from the gardens:

 

The City of Roses

Portland, Oregon - the City of Roses; home to world headquarters of companies like Nike, Intel, Columbia Sports, and others; the largest supplier of wheat in the US and home to one of the largest commercial dry docks is a booming metropolis and home to more than 2 millions people. Not only does the job market attract people to Oregon (in fact, this city has a higher growth rate than the national average) but also the perfect climate (mild winters and warm, dry summers) and close access to activities such as skiing year round, river and sea kayaking, wind surfing, beaches,mountain climbing and much more. It is this perfect climate that permits roses to grow so well.

The city is home to the International Rose Test Gardens, a 4.5 acre tiered garden in beautiful Washington Park, filled with over 7,000 rose plants and approximately 550 varieties! Washington Park is also home to the Oregon Zoo, children's museum, arboretum, forestry centre, tennis courts and miles of forested trails.

For anyone loving these beautiful flowers (as a floral enthusiast or photographer), this garden is a must see. I have never seen so many blooming roses in one place! Although many varieties of roses bloom right through to October, June is the ideal month to visit.

The history dates back to 1917 with a group of enthusiasts lobbying for a rose test garden. It later became a safe haven to harbor hybrid roses grown in Europe during World War 1 to ensure plants that could be destroyed as a result of the war were protected. 

What is an International Rose Test Garden, you ask? It is a place to test the growing of new rose varieties. I don't know a lot about roses, cultivars and award winning blossoms but I do know a beautiful flower when I see it and this place is filled with them.

We took the public transit system to get to the gardens. This was so much easier than driving the car in unfamiliar areas and attempting to find a parking spot. I have mentioned before that this system is state of the art. I purchased our transit tickets in downtown Portland - a day pass that we validated on an electronic system at our station (had the time of departure stamped on it) - complete with a printed route of how to get to our destination. We embarked on the Light Rail Blue Line and transferred to the Washington Park bus which took us right to the gardens. We were surprised at how easy it was. The bus driver was super friendly telling us about the area and the ride itself was very scenic as it twisted up the hillside through the area leading to Washington Park. 

We spent a couple hours exploring the garden, marveling at the thousands of beautiful flowers, snapping a couple hundred photos and enjoying a snack before heading across to the Japanese Gardens just north of the Roses.

Mount Hood

Mount Hood is part of the Cascade Mountain Range that runs from southern British Columbia, through Washington and Oregon and ends in northern California. The range includes both non-volcanic and volcanic mountains. Mount Hood, the highest peak in Oregon at 11,240 feet (3,426 m), is of the volcanic type which is easily seen by its cone shape. The last major eruption occurred in 1781 with minor volcanic activity occurring up to 1907. Although scientifically, the volcano is considered to be an active volcano having had activity within the last 500 years, it if informally considered to be dormant.

From our Columbia River Gorge drive, we continued along Highway 30 into Highway 84 until we reached Hood River. Hood River is known for its windsurfing and kiteboarding activities due to the winds coming up through the Columbia River. If you are into that, it is the place to check out! At Hood River, we turned onto Highway 35 - the Mount Hood Scenic Byway. It was interesting to observe the changes in temperature along our route - the start of the day was foggy and a bit chilly at just over 60ºF. As the skies cleared, and the sun appeared when we reached Hood River, it was about 85ºF - getting warm! The Mount Hood Scenic Byway brought us into higher elevations as we neared the top of the mountain. When we reached Timberline Lodge the temperature was below 60º. Not too bad considering we were near the top and there was snow!

The view of Mount Hood from along the scenic byway. The surrounding area is beautiful farmland and vineyards.

 

At the top - you can see the chair lift on the left. There is skiing year round at the top of the mountain.

Oregon Coast

Ahhh, the Oregon Coast. Pure heaven. The Coastal Highway that runs along the west coast of Oregon is approximately 363 miles (584 km) and is all accessible to the public thanks to a bill that was passed in 1967 (the infamous Oregon Beach Bill). This bill ensures also ensure that there will be no construction within certain limits of the beach. This is in stark contrast to the California Coast (particularly in the south) where the coast is primarily accessible only to those that can afford the estates that line the beaches.

You would think that 584 km could be traveled easily within one day. That is a little more than the distance from Ottawa to Toronto which I have driven to and back from in one day! The twisty, curvy, scenic highway demands many stops. Some of these stops include short hikes. Some longer. All of them require at least a photo or two or twenty to capture the beauty!

We started our trip at Cannon Beach on the North East Coast. The first day we made our way approximately 140 km! Yup - a full day driving and exploring and that is as far as we made it. The second day we started at Lincoln City and continued on to Florence - approximately 120 km - even less than day one. The third and last day we made better progress and drove the remainder of the coast - 250 km. We were so fortunate that the weather was in our favour. Apparently this is normally a coast that is socked in with rain or fog. We had beautiful sunshine and blue skies most of the day. The morning started out overcast or foggy but by noon the skies were blue.

I will provide more details on the places we stopped when we return home and I have more time but for now I will tell you that this trip was entirely worthwhile and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys exploring natural areas. I would, however, take a few more days to allow time to explore more of the areas. We normally like to check out the local shops and didn't have the time to do this with our limited schedule.

A few photos to share:

 

 

 

Signs of Spring

Yes - I do still have a blog that I occasionally post to . I really do enjoy blogging so I hope to get back into a more regular routine and post at least once a month!

We had a fairly mild winter this year and spring has made an early arrival. Dan and I have done a few field trips over the past few weeks that I thought I would share with you. The image on the left is from the beginning of March - we took a trip to the abandoned sawmill - Balaclava. The sun was shining brightly and melting the snow from the roof of one of the old buildings. The other images are from two of my favorite nature places - Jack Pine Trail and Mud Lake - except for the geese which is from the Chesterville area. We went for a drive yesterday searching for Snow Geese - they had been reported in the thousands in the area. No luck - but we did find lots of Canada Geese :-).

Dan and I are taking a small trip to Toronto for a few days. We have tickets to see the Toronto Raptors and will take in some of the sights around the city. I am looking forward to some time away. Temperatures are expected to hit highs of 21ºC by Friday! We are wondering if we should be packing out shorts LOL.

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).

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.