Maine - Acadia National Park, Part I

Shortly after i entered the state of Maine I knew I was in love... Why? Because one of the first stops was at a small bakery along the road in Mexico, Maine, where they made all Gluten free goodies! I had to stop! I purchased 2 freshly made muffins - one strawberry and the other apple cinnamon. I ate the strawberry one in about .01 seconds - it was amazing. made with fresh strawberries. I saved the other for breakfast the next day. The couple who own the bakery were very friendly and we talked briefly about gluten free travelling and how we always just end up eating salads when in doubt. They were great!

So, back to Maine...where to begin.. well, I don't know if I mentioned this in my earlier posts, but one of the many reasons why I really enjoyed New Hampshire was because the entire state seemed to smell like a Christmas tree. The good kinda Christmas tree, not the cheap kind. The one that makes you want to drink cocoa and wait for santa kind. So when I got to Maine, specifically when I got to Acadia, I found a little piece of awesome when I got to the shoreline and smelled the lovely smell of the ocean mixed with the happy smell of Christmas trees. It was amazing. for a long time I just sat and enjoyed the gorgeous view (the skies were so blue on this first day), relaxing and soaking in the amazing smells around me. After the few grey days i had in New Hampshire, I really enjoyed the sunshine, even if it was a bit chilly!

I walked along the beach trail for a bit and admired the many views and then hopped back in the car and went around the loop road for some more views before driving up Cadillac Mountain. There are about 6 different trails I could have climbed to make it to this point, but I totally cheated and drove instead (not to make same mistake as Natasha... ; ). After this we drove to Bar Harbor and walked around a bit. There were SO MANY dog friendly stores in this town! i'm going to blame the reason i spent so much money in this town on the fact that I was so greatful these stores allowed me to bring my pooch inside, therefore i felt i needed to be a patron of their wares. Yea. thats it...

After spending a million dollars on a bunch of useless crap (lots of stickers...), i walked along the wharf and found Steumans - which i had found in my Dog-friendly travel book and we got a nice picnic table by the water. As I waited on my food, I caught up on my post card writing for my co-workers and I fed Oreo yummy doggy biscuits (although she had had about a million of them in the stores where everyone offered her treats and hugs -- and she only gave hugs after they gave treats -- my dog is really a whore).

I ordered my very first lobster. I have, in all my 35 years on this planet, NEVER eaten lobster, not even in parts. So I ordered my first one - a whole one...I felt comforted by the fact that my menu included lengthy instructions and my waiter was very friendly and said he'd help me out if I needed it, so I felt relatively safe. I was a bit nervous, thought.

When the lobster came I got so so excited i spilled my butter bowl everywhere. My waiter graciously told me i had committed a my first party foul... but kindly brought me another. He gave me some brief instructions and I went to work. I am proud tos ay that i ate the whole guy - except the green "brain goo" or intestinal poo, whatever it is they refer to as a "delicacy". Not for me, thanks. bleh. In the process of eating the little guy, I also broke my little lobster meat picking fork. I hid it in the midst of my lobster remains so it could be buried along with the corpse, so as not to have the waiter put me down for my 2nd party foul...

I felt full and satisfied with my first day in Maine. After this we headed back to camp and immediately crashed out. Stomach full of the little lobster.

Oh, and there are a few cool things about this place... Thought this pic was pretty cool:

New Hampshire, Part II (Land of Waterfalls)

My second day in New Hampshire can best be summed up in photos. the morning started out being quite beautiful and I was thinking it might not be grey... After stopping at a cute coffee shop in North Conway, I headed down the Kangamancus highway. I wanted to do the whole loop in one day so I settled for a series of small hikes seeking out waterfalls and other points of interest. No super big hikes, yet, but still getting alot of walking in. Most of these places are just off the road or within a mile of the road. Pretty nice stops:

I wanted to dive into these beautiful green pools of water, which would really have sucked since it was about 50 degrees. But they were so pretty and i was mesmerized by the colors and the granite rocks below (I'll spare you my photos of small random chunks of granite and basalt lines and geological nerdy stuff I spent far too much time staring at, as well...

Ok, one geeky point of reference - the photo below you can see the basalt dike running through the granite - that somehow resulted in this geological feature (do not understand the science, but was none-the-less fascinated by the basalt dike)...

The last of the beautiful blue skies for the day -

My feet. Just for fun...

Below is the Basin area. We were not allowed to go to the Flume area - which is the big Varsity type "flume" falls because dogs weren't allowed. Wasn't going to pay to see something cool unless O could come, too. So the rangers directed us to the Basin area - which is the JV flume falls. They were still pretty. We hiked up a ways and caught a few other cascades and waterfalls....

I saw some other falls, but am really just tired of sitting in this coffee shop waiting for the photos to upload. Mostly because I am really anxious to get to Maine. So I just added a few more. This next waterfall was randomly up an old road that now serves as a bike path (i think - although I didn't pull my bike out and ride it -- was too lazy and it was wet and drizzly)...

This cascady thing was right beside the road - It was a cheater falls. no walking involved. There were a few of these. This place is full of waterfalls!!!

After all the driving we headed back to north Conway where I spent too much money. I talked to some cool shop peeps and heard all about their mud games (annual footbal game played in a mud soaked field) that I will be missing on saturday(today) and I found a small little Crepe place that had gluten free crepes (the lady was super nice and we talked about gluten free diets for a while). She also had a patio that was dog friendly so O and I had some dinner while watching the sunset. Oreo had a doggy Whoopie Pie. These Whoopie pies are apparently big here. I have seen them inquite a few places but have yet to find a gluten free one. Oreo enjoyed hers immensely. The nice lady also brought her some water.

This is the owner of the place - making me my special gluten free crepe. It was absolutely delicious, too. I actually squeezed out the last of the chicken and broccoli stuff and just ate the crepe. It tasted bready and its not often I get to eat these types of things. It was a great carb loaded dinner :) I headed back to camp and crashed.

My crepe, wine and sunset:

Now I'm heading to Maine!!! : )

New Hampshire, Part I (Creepy Kid Parks and Shiny Objects)

New Hampshire is also a very beautiful place. The White Mountains are truly impressive (far more so than the Green Mountains). All of these tourist towns around here remind me of really small pigeon forges. Within my first 20 miles of NH I passed a Santa Land fun park. There are several of these creepy little children's Parks around the White Mountains. Not sure what thats all about, will have to ask my friend Matt when I get back - he is from NH.

I found my campsite at Dolly Copp Campground. Not too bad, but no island to myself... I set up camp and went exploring. First order of business - Mt. Washington. I wanted to drive my car up to the top (this is apparently some sort of feat for they have stickers you can put on your car as if to brag about it). But it was closed due to the weirdo weather (half rainy, dark and cloudy/half blue sky sunny and rainbows). probably not a good time to be at a high peak... So i settled for finding some waterfalls.

I stopped at a ranger station and bought a pass and the guy at the desk gave me some directions for a few of the trails. Again, I need to remind myself to stop listening to college boys when they say - oh its just a ...... he said i could take this trail and meet up with the other one so I didn't even have to move my car. It was "just a mile". okay. lets go. Trailhead says 1/2 mile to the pond and apparently it was another 1/2 mile to the falls, but there was no indication on the sign that this was to be the case..

Trail turned out to be super rocky and gnarly (especially when towing a dog on a string) -- it was more like a climb and all the rocks were wet from the rain so i wasn't exactly having fun. I comforted myself by saying we would just walk back along the highway to the car - thereby alleviating my having to repeat this less than enjoyable trail... I ran into another hiker going in the other direction - he had hiked up to the summit (which was beyond the magical waterfall). I asked if a waterfall were ahead and he said he didn't see one - but there was a trail that went out to the highway. okay. thats probably it. We discussed the gnarliness of the trail and he said he was almost tempted himself to take the highway back - but thought 1 more mile wouldn't be too bad. he was obviously one of those wirey dudes who hikes 15 miles a day -- but he was really nice. I got excited about the possiblity of being at the end until i got to the river and realized the trail CROSSED the river. Not creek, not stream, not gently flowing brook - a RIVER - one you would paddle. I tried to find a crossing place that was alittle more "calm" after having a little bit of a fit over the fact that dude failed to mention this part, I took off my shoes, folded up my pants and stepped down into the water - probably would have made it, too, but Oreo said "Ef a bunch of that" and took off away from the river. I tried to forge my way down the side of the river to find it, but fell twice in a small creek, banged up my shins and my elbows, cried like a 5 year old girl, pitched another fit and started huffing back toward the car via the trail from hell. I said screw it to the leash. if some ranger wanted to give me ahard time at this point - I dare him.

I was just thinking of how I was going to approach the youngin who led me down this path when BAM. Shiny object...I found mica coming out of the rocks along the trail. Huge chunks of it shining - muscovite. I am that much of a dork. I sat down and admired the rocks with the minerals eroding out - there was quartz, too. I took a few pictures and completely forgot about my banged up body, the fact that my clothes were soaked and it was getting colder. Nevermind the idiot boy back at the ranger station - I found mica. Thats it - case is closed - I am the worlds biggest nerd.

After this I had to go to the stupid falls - by car, that is, just out of pure principle. Turns out they were just below where we were supposed to cross the river. I'm kinda glad O refused to cross, if she had gotten swept up in the current - she would have gone right over them... So I am glad she put her tiny little nasty dirty foot down and refused to go in that river (she got a little muddy on the hike and is no longer white). But the falls were quite impressive. I was much happier traversing down the 475 hand cut stone steps the CCC had built to access the thing.

The actual falls were quite beautiful...

After this i headed to North Conway for some dinner and a much needed glass of wine (my treat for my heinous hike) . No sense in going back to camp when its rainy and cold.
So as i am typing this, I'm sitting in a nice Thai restaurant- sipping a glass of Merlot and listening to a douche bag try to impress some girl at the table next to me. I think they are on a first date - or early date. The kind where you ask lots of questions about your beliefs, philosophy, etc., feeling the other person out. Its these sorts of experiences that i dread as a single person. I guess I should secretly be wishing them well - but instead I'm wishing the guy would shut up because it really does sound like a douche. He just keeps going on and on about himself and barely lets her get a word in edgewise. Run girl run!

Another waterfall i saw:

Will continue my 2nd part of New Hampshire later. I'm out.

Vermont

I cruised around the eastern part of the Adirondacks in the morning and grabbed lunch at a lake side restaurant in Lake George that actually had GF stuff on their menu. They also let me have Oreo on the patio. I had some delicious hot wings and relaxed by the lake before taking off to Vermont. Vermont is similar to NY in that its surrounded by beautiful mountains with amazing farms everywhere you look. I found my campsite--a small one maintained by the Corps of Engineers. The couple in the registration office were SO NICE! They let me upgrade to a lean-to (on account of my tent issues) and didn't even charge me! Then they loaded up some extra firewood for me. I just love the people up here - everyone is so nice!

I found a nearby hardware store where I bought some seam sealer (the one in my tent had solidified as it had been hanging around for over 10 years, some kinda spray to make anything waterproof, and a tarp in case the previous 2 were crack-pipe dream and waste of $8. Interestly enought the guy at the hardware store and I chatted for a bit and he went on and on about how warm it was going to be the next day (which is today - which its about 60, grey, raining, and CHLLY). We talked about the Dragon (129) - he is a motorcyclist and was down there this summer riding it. Interesting how these things come up. But anyhow - I stopped and picked up some meat and headed back to camp. I made Kabobs! Since I'm kinda a nardo - I managed to burn all the tips of my fingers trying to cook these things on the fire. But it was worth it, who really needs feeling in their fingertips anyway... I slept like a baby in my warm dry lean-to!

I drove up Hwy 100 through the middle of Vermont and stopped at a few places along the way (including cute coffee shop with Wi-Fi I wrote about earlier). I just have one question for today. What is it about gift shops, moccasins, and fudge?? Why do these things ALWAYS seem to come together? And how did this phenomenon become so pervasive (I think we saw it out west last summer). I'm curious. gonna have to research the history of fudge & moccasins when I get home. And I always thought it was a Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg thing...

Makes me want some leather footies and fudge, eh? Here are some other interesting stops along the way:

Other than that Vermont was very uneventful. It was beautiful, though - I saw several towns and villages i would love to live in some day. Its the kind of place where I could buy a cool old house and run a cute little shop out of the barn in the back and retire happy. I will just have to put it on my list of possibilities.

The Adirondacks (a.k.a. NO Bertha Portage)

I didn't like them at first because they seemed so ridiculously overdeveloped and until i got to my campground - i was beginning to be disapointed. It was lake country with lots of motorboats and marinas and I felt like I'd somehow ended up back in TVA territory. But then i got past all that crap and scored the BEST campsite (atleast for a state park) EVER. I had the spot at the head of an island where 2 rivers meet. no one else was in the surrounding campsites so we had the place to ourselves. The first day I was so tired from all the driving and so in love with my campsite - I decided to chill out at camp. and it was glorious. I built a fire and finished my book and relaxed to the sound of the rivers around me. I have really improved my fire making skills on this trip and have perfected the perfectly roasted marshmallow. Thats right, i said perfect twice...they are that good.

The next day I drove 2 1/2 hours to the Moose River Outpost where I rented a recreational kayak-- that I shall from here forth refer to as Big Bertha -- and paddled down the Moose River with Ms O. Big Bertha got her name because she was as long as my canoe back home and as heavy as my car. After we were dropped off at the put-in, we paddled past all the others dropped off with us and had the river to ourselves - which was good, since I talked to myself the whole time about how much fun it was to maneuver Big Bertha around the hairpin turns of the tiny snake-like river that wound through the grasslands and woods. Then we had to portage her. For those who don't know what that means? its when you have to get out and tow your boat because the water is to treacherous. Treacherous was a stretch for the rapids we had to pass, but I could not IMAGINE boating them with Big Bertha. We would have surely died.
So the portage....because of Bertha's size and my obvious weakness, the guy at the outpost gave me a set of wheels to make the 1/4 portage easier with the barge. He made it seem so easy (p.s. never listen to the 100 pound college boy when he says its no big deal). It was a big deal. coudn't seem to keep big bertha on the wheels as we traversed the narrow path that apparently required the 4-wheel drive version of the paddle wheels, not the ones I was given. I pitched a short fit and finally figured out how to get her back to the water and we were off again. It was much smoother after that. I rewarded myself witha cool t-shirt and some stickers. The guy at the outpost was super nice and actually invited me out after work to hang out in town, but he didn't get off until after 8 and my campsite was over 2 hours away so i declined. I don't know if this place is just full of nice people - or if I just attract more friends being alone with a cute dog. Either way - I haven't felt alone at all. But do find that i willl talk to just about anyone. But this is good for a girl who used to be so shy.

This is me and O sitting in an Adirondack chair. In the Adirondacks. Of course we had to do that. Duh.