Lakes, Lighthouses and Lobster

Let me tell you a little about the weather in Maine.  You never know what you are going to get from one day to the next.   I have been really cold, bundled up with sweats and double layered shirts and sweaters one day and stripping down to shorts and a tank the next.  The problem is the weather reports aren’t always correct so I’ve learned, I think, to bring a change of clothes wherever we venture out to.

For example, Thursday we ventured out to Acadia National Park to do a bit of hiking.

On our way over we stopped at the Penobscot Narrows Bridge near Bucksport.   It’s quite an amazing bridge that is over 2,000 feet long connecting Verona Island to Prospect.  It opened in 2006 and has an observation tower.

This is the Penobscot River going into the bay.

I knew we’d start our venture at the top of Cadillac Mountain.  It was overcast, in fact it was fogged in.  We observed that on the drive up.

Bruce was wearing a heavy sweater but it was at least 75 degrees without any wind.  I had to take my jacket off because it was too hot.  I have never been that warm at the top of Cadillac, especially when the sun wasn’t out.

Usually we are in Maine in late July when things are dry.   At this time of the year, there were mini waterfalls by the roadside everywhere.

We couldn’t see the harbor from the top of the mountain the fog was so thick.  We could see the fog moving about over the area sometimes obscuring people not 100 yards in front of us.

Bruce’s dad’s favorite place in all the world was Acadia.  When he died in 2014, we brought some of his ashes up to Cadillac Mountain so he could remain in his beloved Acadia.   I think of this big rock as a monument to this great man.

The park was extremely crowded today so we decided to go over to Southwest Harbor hoping to avoid some of the crowds and I also wanted to go to Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse.  On our way we stopped at this very picturesque area.

The Somesville Library was built in 1905 and is located on this lovely pond.

When we reached the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse parking lot we couldn’t believe our eyes.  We had to wait on line to get a parking spot.  In all the years I’ve visited this Lighthouse, most often in July, I’d never seen these crowds.

I wanted to climb down the rocks to get a different shot of the Lighthouse.  Not only is it a little sketchy for this old lady to maneuver like that, but it was made worse due to avoiding all the people.  However, we did manage to get a selfie.

 

And then I climbed down a little further to get my final shot before our assent up and out of this area.

A little seagull was sitting on a sea wall just waiting for me to take its picture.

We stopped at Thompson Island on our way off the island and slogged in the mud flats with my sloggers.

 

We met Bruce’s brother Michael and his girlfriend Kathy for dinner at Jordan’s.  I forgot to take pictures but I had a clam roll and cole slaw and Bruce had a haddock sandwich.  Then we all had ice cream and Bruce and I had nearly a two hour drive back to Camp McWade.

Some mornings are just lazy mornings and Friday was just that!

We spent the afternoon with some new found friends and then had a very restful evening.

On Saturday we went in search of lighthouses.  There are so many in the state of Maine.  I was reading in one of our Maine guides about Squirrel Point Light and they suggested to begin there.  So that’s what we did.  I put it in my GPS and after a two hour car ride we ended up across the river from it.

It was a nice view, but according to what I read, we were supposed to be able to walk the grounds.  So we drove on in search of the actual lighthouse grounds.  And found this old Congregational Church.  It was built in 1802.

We drove for quite awhile not finding the lighthouse so we stopped for breakfast in this cute little restaurant, Mae’s Cafe and Bakery.  We both ordered blueberry pancakes and bacon.

 

Our tummies satisfied, we began our quest again to find the elusive Squirrel Point Lighthouse and others.  We were able to see a lighthouse out a bit in the ocean.

This was after trespassing on private property, but for those who know me, those signs don’t usually hold me back if I need to take a shot.  We also found Popham Beach State Park from the opposite side of the channel.  We did drive around trying to find it on the right side but never found it.   There are also two historical forts, Fort Baldwin from the American Revolution and Fort Popham from the Civil War.  We may take another trip down here to explore the forts further.

After much ado, we finally found Squirrel Lighthouse – sort of.  It was a mile walk from the parking lot, through mosquito and tick infested woods.  And also the white tailed moth which in caterpillar stage apparently is eating the leaves off of oak trees and causing skin rashes in the local population.

 

Finally the lighthouse.

The once lighthouse keepers house and of course our selfie.

 

On our hike back I could see the Congregational Church across the river.

Next stop was a cute little lighthouse called Doubling Point Lighthouse.  It was up the river from Squirrel and well marked.

In order to get to this Lighthouse you have to walk across private property.  I am not sure if the people who live here are the Lighthouse keepers.

And of course I can’t forget the selfie! Or the blackberry bushes! Or the view!

We were on a roll now so we headed to Pemaquid Point Lighthouse.  This is the Lighthouse that is on the back of the Maine quarter.

We were fortunate enough to get here just in time to be able to climb to the top of the Lighthouse.  It was a spiral staircase with the last few feet a regular ladder.

There was a nice view from the top.

The light or lamp was interesting as well.

The rock formations around the Lighthouse were different then we have seen around other lighthouses.  The bedrock is hundreds of millions of years old and is studied by geologists.

It was a beautiful area to walk around and photograph.

And as always I love the lupine!

It was getting late and time to head back.  A lobster sure sounded good.  We found a little place called Captains Fresh Idea Restaurant.

The reviews on TripAdvisor were good so we figured we’d give it a try.  They do have 1 lb. lobsters but the bare naked lobster roll is 2-1 lb lobsters served on a buttered roll.  There is no mayo on it.  Just butter on the side.  So I figured I’d give it a try.  It was great.  Their cucumber salad was delicious as well.

Becky and Gary have owned the restaurant for 31 years.  Becky was friendly, the place was clean and food was good.  One bad thing – we were too full for dessert.

We arrived back at Camp McWade just in time to see some pretty twilight sky over the pond.

What a wondrous life!

 

#CaptainsFreshIdeaRestaurant  #PemaquidPointLighthouse

#SquirrelPointLight #MaesCafe&Bakery #DoublingPointLighthouse

#BassHarborHeadLighthouse  #AcadiaNationalPark