Papal intervention

Despite some weather in the area, we made great time and arrived in Philadelphia early, only to be immediately told by ground control to park beside the runway.  Today was the Pope's visit to Philly and we knew that he was scheduled to leave slightly before we arrived, but between our early arrival and some delays on the Papal side, he was still on the ground and this meant all planes were ordered to stop where they were.  By luck we were stopped adjacent to the Pope's plane and my window had a perfect view of the American Airlines jet the Pope had chartered as his motorcade drove up.  I watched them load (too far away to actually see the Pope), taxi away, and take off on one of the far runways.  Yet, we still sat there.  Apparently the Vice President was also at the airport having met with the Pope, and we were now waiting for Air Force Two to take off, which it eventually did in spectacular fashion on the runway only a short distance outside my window, in fact our plane shook slightly as it whizzed by.  Now we are rolling again . . . an unexpected ending to our trip.

Over the bubbles and through the woods

Our kayaking friends finally reach
the far shore of Jordan Pond.

One last chance to hike Acadia.  Our flight leaves from Bangor at 6pm, so we check out, store our bags, and jump on a park bus once more.  We head to Jordan Pond.  Not to have pop-overs, which sadly I will miss out on this trip, but to hike around the pond and over the Bubble Mountains beyond.  We set out on the pond trail and are surprised that it is almost entirely planks.  Not smooth boardwalk that would be handicap accessible, but two plank wide balance beams almost all the way.  The ground is not that rough, so I can only assume this is to prevent erosion.  For most of the hike we see noone save two kayakers who are fighting the wind and quite a few white caps in the pond next to us.  In fact, they may be losing the battle as we manage to keep up and eventually pass them as we walk . . .  It makes us grateful that we didn't go with "Plan A" today, which was in fact to rent sea kayaks.  We meet more hikers as we reach the far side of the pond, but quickly duck onto the side trail over the bubbles, two bulbous mountains that stand watch over Jordan Pond.  One of the Bubbles is home to the famous Bubble Rock, a perched boulder that has looked primed to fall over the edge for centuries.  The trail we are on goes up a saddle between the two and we also do the side trails to summits of both North and South Bubble before heading down the other side to Eagle Lake, and onto a carriage path that ends our journey at Bubble Lake just missing the bus by a 30 seconds.  So we got an extended rest as we waited 40 minutes for the next bus.  We roll back into town, catch up with Kat and Kathy (our friends from the Schooner picture) eat lunch at the Side Street Cafe for what TripAdvisor rates as Bar Harbor's second best lobster roll (#1 was closed today).  They were excellent and I doubt #1 could have been any better.  Out of time, we catch a ride to Bangor for our flight home.

On top of one of the Bubbles . . .
probably South Bubble.

Bubble Rock.

And we're climbing the staircase to . . .

With a handful of daylight hours to spare after the cruise, Bruce and I set out for a nearby hike.  We caught the Bus to Sieur de Mont and headed up Dorr Mountain.  The trail is almost straight up with a staircase carved directly out of the mountain's granite bedrock acting as the trail for most of the >1000 ft ascent (my fitbit registered over 100 flights of stairs during the ascent).  We reached the top where we got great views of the Bay (including the next cruise on the schooner) and of nearby Cadillac Mountain.  At this point it was nearing dark, so we weighed the several options: head down and back up a saddle to Cadillac Mountain where we'd have to hitch a ride (no buses up there), or three other trails that could return us to Sieur de Mont.  We opted for the North Ridge trail which ended up being a 30+ degreee decent through a boulder field, which very quickly left the ridge top onto the east side of the mountain where the sun had already set.  We somehow managed to avoid limb breakage in our dark stumble down and made our way back to the bus stop just as darkness fell at the base.  We took a brief tour of the gardens where I once again viewed the "bird home" that we first discovered back in 2004, and then waited in pitch darkness and building cold until the last bus arrived to take us back to town.

View from Dorr Mountain, including our schooner on its next cruise.

Schooner Cruise

Under sail.

Conference ended after lunch today.  We hooked up with a group of ten plus Delaware people from the conference and jumped on a schooner for a cruise around Frenchman's Bay.  A National Park ranger was along for the ride and gave us all the low-down on the islands and their stories.  Including tiny Rum Island, completely shielded from view of town and for which you can guess its role during prohibition.  Not many animal sightings, a bald eagle several hundred yards away, a pod of harbor porpoises, and assorted seabirds, but the cruise was nice and it was good to see one of these tall ships being preserved and manned.

Our group heading out to sea

Wandering the ocean bottom

I'm so bad at selfies!

Our conference is at the Bar Harbor Club.  Immediately behind the club is Bar Island, which at every low tide becomes attached to the mainland when the water uncovers a large section of seafloor.  I've never actually made it out there at low tide, so today when I noticed during a break that it was low tide I couldn't resist, so I slipped away and walked along the bottom of Frenchman's Bay in my conference clothes (very appropriate).  I envision a Rockefeller probably doing this same activity in a tuxedo at some point, today even in a polo shirt I'm definitely the most over-dressed person out today.  Mussels, barnacles and beautifully encrusted rocks are everywhere and despite my expectation, relatively little smell.  A nice escape for a few minutes.

Scooting Acadia

This morning Bruce and I got up early and were sitting outside a local outfitter when they opened.  We were picking up our motor scooters for a half day of cruising the park.  After a safety video and a brief checkout ride, we tore off at our governor-limited speed of 35 mph and headed for the Acadia loop road.  Since the park speed limit is 25, scooters may actually be an optimal way to see Acadia.  We drove the loop all the way around to Jordan Pond, stopping occasionally to soak in the views.  Jordan Pond restaurant was crowded as usual, so we grabbed some quick snacks in the gift shop and got back on the road.  We were warned at the rental place that Cadillac Mountain was not recommended, but up to us, so of course we took our scooters to the top of the highest mountain on the east coast of North America.  The ride was not bad at all, so not sure what they were worried about.  We enjoyed the views from the false summit (see 2011 post) and headed back down.  Realizing we still had plenty of time left, we backtracked and left the park visiting the towns of Seal Harbor and Northeast Harbor.  Before completing the loop and rolling back into town exactly on time and fortunately just before my gas gauge reached "E" (*wipes sweat from brow*).  Conference starts in a couple of hours, so lunch and a brief break and then off to work.

My noble stead.
I named him "Dunkey"

Cruising the loop.

Trodding the Beehive

Met up with my friend Bruce from work and jumped on a plane to Bangor, Maine this morning.  We're headed to Bar Harbor for a conference, but the Maine attraction is nearby Acadia National Park.  It is my third visit to Acadia and its one of those places I can never get enough of.  We made it into town just after noon and immediately made our way to the waterfront for a lobster lunch.  It would seem extravagant anywhere else, but we were far from the only ones doing it today.  Bruce got extra points for managing a lobster tail squirt that was so spectacular as to attract comments from nearby tables.  He was of course bib-less and got soaked.

Acadia has an excellent bus system which is absolutely free (sponsored by LL Bean).   Not only does it make it easy to see the park without a car, but it also reduces traffic and makes hiking easier as you don't need to do a round trip, but can do point to point hikes.  I think its a great model for all national parks, even if a corporate sponsor can't make it free.  Our waitress at lunch had recommended we do the Beehive hike, so we headed to Sand Beach and set out.  Beehive is a combination between a hike and a climb and several areas are traversed clinging to iron rungs mounted in the stone face.  The hike is fairly short but strenuous, and the views are definitely worthwhile.  Looking up from the ground it seems impossible to find a hikeable route up this face that wouldn't be a technical climb, but its there.  We took a brief rest on top and then took off on a hike around the Bowl and then to the summit of nearby Gorham Mountain before making our way back down to the coast and hiking back through Thunderhole and finally back to Sandy Beach; where we caught the last bus to Bar Harbor as the sun set.

The beehive from the base.  We climbed this face.

Still stinking of hiking and half-day old lobster (its a miracle we didn't get confronted by a seafood-loving Bear on the trail), we found a seat on the patio at Jalapeno's for excellent Maine-inspired (seafood) Mexican dishes.