Today we’re going to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.  This was our sightseeing day so we were up early and eager to get going.  The forecast for the day was stunning, temperatures in the 70’s, not a hint of rain.  It indeed turned out to be an absolutely fantastic day, beautiful clear blue skies, temperatures in the mid 70’s and just a trace of a breeze.  At least that was the situation in Bar Harbor, however, when we returned home things were all over the place.  Seems back at the Pumpkin Patch the winds ranged between 20 to 30 mph.  Sure glad I left the awning stowed!

So we were off to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.  Right up front I will say we missed a lot.  Not for lack of effort but simply because the two of us just can’t walk like we used to.  But we made the best of it and we thoroughly enjoyed what we were able to see and do.  How I would like to go back again for another day.

So given our limitations we decided that the best way to get an overall view of the park would be to take a guided narrated tour offered by the National Park Service.

Our chariot for the day

Of course, Benny the Bison went with us.

Here is Barbara with our driver Santo

So onboard the bus and into Acadia National Park we went.

Regarding the park, some background which many of you may know already.  Acadia was first established as Sieur de Monts Monument in July 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson.  When Sieur De Monts National Monument was founded on Mount Desert Island its creators sought to protect the island’s stunning natural resources from development and to preserve them for public access. This was our first stop on the tour, the gardens that are at what is still known as Sieur De Monts.

Why was it dedicated as a monument?  The story goes because the President would have needed Congressional approval for a new national park, but his signature only was sufficient to establish a new monument.   In February 1919, the name was subsequently changed to Lafayette National Park when it became the first national park east of the Mississippi. It was not until January 1929 that it officially was named Acadia National Park.

The founding father of Acadia is a title that has been given to George B. Dorr.

George B. Dorr, a tireless spokesman for conservation, devoted 43 years of his life, energy, and family fortune to preserving the Acadian landscape on Mount Dessert Island.  Dorr, whose labors constituted the greatest of one-man shows in the history of land conservation, became the first park superintendent.

Today the park protects more than 47,000 acres, and the simple pleasures of ocean, forests, lakes, and mountains that have been sought and found by millions for over a century and a quarter are now for everyone to enjoy.

Proceeding along the park road this is some of the stunning scenery that we saw firsthand.

 

Our next stop was at The Jordan Pond House.

The Jordan Pond House traces its history from 1847. The first settlers conducted a logging operation. The original farm house was built by the Jordan family of Seal Harbor, for whom the pond and house were named. The Jordan Pond House was founded as a restaurant by Mr. Melvin Tibbetts in the early 1870’s.

Jordan Pond is a glacier formed mountain lake with a maximum water depth of 150 feet. There are steep inclines on the left and right sides. The water is exceptionally clear with an average visibility depth of 46 feet but this has been measured as high as 60 feet, the most ever recorded in the State of Maine.

The two mountains at the far end of the picture to the right are known as North and South Bubbles. The North Bubble, which you see as the left mountain in the photograph above, has the highest elevation at 872 feet. The South Bubble follows at 766 feet.

From here we moved onto what is known as Thunder Hole.  Thunder hole is where you go to experience the thunder of the sea against the rocky shores of Maine. On calm days you may wonder what the fuss is all about. But wait

until the waves kick up a few notches. Thunder Hole is a small inlet, naturally carved out of the rocks, where the waves roll into. At the end of this inlet, down low, is a small cavern where, when the rush of the wave arrives, air and water is forced out like a clap of distant thunder. Water may spout as high as 40 feet with a thunderous roar! Hence the name: Thunder Hole.  Unfortunately, today all it was doing was gurgling.

 

Finally, we moved on to Cadillac Mountain. At 1,530 feet, it is the tallest mountain on Mount Desert Island and the second highest point along the North Atlantic seaboard. (Mount Katahdin in Baxter Park is the highest).  From October 7 through March 6 of each year, it is the first place to view a sunrise in the United States.

Millions of years ago, the earth’s tectonic and volcanic forces pushed the land upward to form the mountains on the island. Then, during ice ages that followed, huge 1 – 2 mile high and slow-moving glaciers sheared off the top leaving the rounded off appearance we see today.

Largely composed of pink granite, it is covered with spruce and pitch pine forests, tiny sub alpine plants (such as cinquefoil), short gnarled trees, wild blueberries, and boulders of all sizes and shapes.

The road to the top is approximately 3.5 miles long.  At one time, a cog railroad ran to the top of the mountain.  The Green Mountain (now known as  Cadillac Mountain) Cog Railway was a narrow gauge mountain railway built to carry tourists to the top of Green Mountain where there was also a hotel.

At the end of the 19th. century, Maine’s tourist industry was developing rapidly. The islands off the coast of Maine were popular attractions and the possibility of a cog railway to the top of Green Mountain was first explored in the late 1870s. The railroad was finally constructed in 1883.

The line operated during the summer season and for the first few years was successful. But tourist numbers declined and after the 1890 season the railway ceased operations.

Here are some pictures from the top of Cadillac Mountain.

From Cadillac Mountain, we came back into Bar Harbor for a quick-lunch before heading home.

 

 

 

So that was our day.  Fantastic in all ways.  We had a great time, traveling together, hand in hand, singing our song.  Yes, we missed quite a bit but we also saw more than we probably would have if we had done it on our own.  So for now I’ll say goodnight to everyone.

As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for movie night, then our evening prayers and finally some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.  Thanks again for sharing our day with us.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

 

 

 

 

Going to the Rock – The Rock Church that is.  Since we’ve started traveling full-time, one of our frustrations has been finding a place of worship on Sunday mornings.  We’re usually never in one place long enough to find a church we feel comfortable.  So we made it our mission this time to find a place to worship today and next Sunday.  Barbara put Google to good use and the Lord led us to a church that we were thrilled to find.  It is

The Rock Church in Bangor.  They have three services of worship on Sunday, one being at 9:30 am, which is our time, and they are only 10 minutes away from home.  To say that the service was packed would be an understatement, there must have been 200 plus at the service we attended.  Contemporary, causal, uplifting music and a meaningful message.  Thank you Lord for leading us to this wonderful house of worship.  We’ll be back next week, our last Sunday in this area.

As for the rest of the day,  we practiced the art of doing absolutely nothing.  Well, not quite.  I found more things to do and check on Graybeard.  Can I help it if I can’t sit still?  There always seems to be one more thing that needs attention.  This time several of the overhead cabinet doors were squeaking every time you opened them and that drove me crazy.  Time to get out the spray can of lubricant and take care of the problem before the hinges began to seize up.  Who knows what else I’ll find in the next few days!

Other  than that, we did some bookkeeping and other odds and ends but not much more.  Most of the day it was raining so nothing could be done outside.  The rain finally stopped mid day, the sun came out, and the weather for these parts is rather warm – like 69 to 70 degrees.

Tomorrow we’re heading over to Acadia National Park and one day this week we’ll probably also go to the Seal Cove Auto Museum that a friend of ours just tipped us off to.  Oh yes, there is also I can guarantee you a lobster diner in my future sometime next week!  To come all the way to Maine and not have lobster?  Perish the thought!

So the day is coming to an end.  I’m still trying to adjust to the fact that the sun comes up at 5 am but doesn’t go down until a little after 8 pm – meaning we still have 30 minutes to go before the sun sets.  My internal time clock is just a wee bit off to say the least.  We had another great day spent together on the road of retirement.  We hope you did too.  Let’s all always remember, paraphrasing another great public figure,

Only you can prevent your day from becoming other than what you want it to be

So that’s it for now.  As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for movie night, then our evening prayers and finally some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.  Thanks again for sharing our day with us.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

Before we get into a thing about our day, even before we get into the rest of our trip to the Cole Transportation Museum, a reminder for all of us to continue to lift up in prayer the victims, their families and all involved days ago both in the horrific school shooting in Texas; and, the equally horrifying school bus crash that occurred the same day in New Jersey.  So many lives impacted, so many lives forever changed, so many promising lives lost forever.  When will we as a nation have the courage to stand up and take whatever action is necessary to ensure that these senseless acts of violence never occur in our schools again?

Moving on, like so many other days before today, started off in slow-mo since we had nowhere to be and nothing much to do.  Hey, did you catch the Royal Wedding?  What pomp and pageantry.  I got up to put the morning news on and, of course, the wedding was the news and all the news.  So I sat and watched.  Must say I was impressed.  The Royal family really knows how to do a wedding.  But what was with the Queen?  Never a smile through the whole ceremony.  You would have thought she was going to the dentist!

Today, I finished up my monthly maintenance list and even found something new to add to the list – waxing the shower stall!  OK, so maybe I’m a bit over compulsive but if

if by waxing the shower stall it makes the water run off even better  thus preventing mold and mildew and preserves the life of the fiberglass stall itself, I say so much the better.  You gotta love it!

We also got our grocery shopping done today.  The cupboards were getting a bit bare but after a trip to the local Walmart SuperCenter they are full again.  Check one more thing off the to do list.

Back to our trip to the Cole Transportation Museum.  There is so much more that could and should be written about the founder of this museum but space does not permit.  Google the name of Galen Cole and I guarantee you will be impressed with the life and accomplishments of this great man.  A successful business man who built Maine’s greatest over the road trucking company.  A civic leader. A man dedicated to educating young people about our many veterans, their wartime experiences and their continuing needs here at home.

For a fact, one of the most important rooms in the museum is the veteran interview program room where school children are invited to speak with veterans of all wars about their wartime experiences and to feel history truly come alive in the process.

One 8^th grader Amanda Gifford who interviewed a veteran in 2004 wrote of her experience:  I went into the Cole Museum thinking this was a waste of time, but boy, when I came out of there I was truly amazed and realized just how lucky I am.  She continued If you have been taking life for granted, stop and think how fortunate you are.  Think about the rights and privileges you have today and who may have been responsible for you having those rights.

So now, time to tour the rest of the museum.  We’ll start with the fire engines.  My dad, when he was alive, always wanted to own one, I wish I could have purchased one for him before he passed away.

Some examples of transportation used by the early settlers of our country.

There was an exhibit of bikes of all sorts, shapes and sizes.  And above them several soap box derby winners from various years.

There was what I call auto row.

On display was a real rare find, a Stanley Steamer

There were the smallest of cars.

There were the largest of cars.  Anyone remember these larger than life automobiles?  How about cars with tail fins?  Things have sure changed, haven’t they?

Did you catch the wheelbase?  And how about the weight?  The size of many class B motor homes today!

There were examples of trucks from the early years.

And here I am at the wheel of this very same truck.

We can’t forget the motorcycles.

A special motorcycle on display.

A display of early gas pumps.

And check out the price of a gallon of gas on the Atlantic pump on the right above.

There was even an early, really early RV.

Did you catch the fact that this was actually used from 1946 to 1961?  1800 miles a year?

There was a row dedicated to the Coles Transportation trucks.

Here is one of the more famous trucks that was in their fleet.

So many, many things to see.  The pictures above are just a tiny sample of what there is to see. We spent a good 2 hours there the first time and honestly I could go back and spend another 2 hours at least.  Those who have visited before me, echo my sentiments with comments like:  This is the most neat and well designed museum I’ve ever been at and another said This has been just flat out amazing.

So we’re up to date.  The day is now done, night is here with the pitter patter of rain on the roof.  The park is full from one end to the other.  It’s been another great day.   We’ve done what we’ve needed to do, we’ve done it together, and we’ve enjoyed every minute of this precious day that God has given us.   We’re on the road of retirement and enjoying every minute of every day and every mile.  In closing a thought for all of us:

So that’s it for now.  As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.  Thanks again for sharing our day with us.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

 

 

 

So this morning was not all that bad.  The temperature was in the mid 40’s but with the electric heater on we were nice and warm.  Now tonight is supposed to be another story.  They have already issued frost warnings for Friday into Saturday.  OK, time for extra blankets.

Best news, though, was we had coffee, in the coffee pot.  The other morning when I turned it on, I tuned the news on, like I usually do, and waited for my coffee to perk.  That it did but all over the counter top!  I cleaned up the mess and tried again but no luck.  This time it just filled the strainer and would not run down into the pot.  This morning, the new coffee pot, we purchased yesterday, worked like a charm.  Ah, life is great.

Park is beginning to fill up which is expected.  Still plenty of spots, however, given the weather forecast which is for rain Saturday night into Sunday.  There is one group above us, about five, maybe six or seven trailers that are all part of one group.

So today, was monthly maintenance day.  Pulled up my monthly page of things to do and went at it.  This list keeps getting longer, and longer.  Of course, I don’t move that fast either.  Why rush when there is always tomorrow?  So tomorrow I’ll finish things up and be done until another month goes by.

Time to let everyone in on the secret.  Remember, yesterday Barbara had planned a sightseeing expedition but would not tell me where we were going.  Well, here is where we went, to the Cole Land Transportation Museum.

First some background of the man behind this museum.  At age 19, Galen Cole was a combat infantryman in WWII and lost his entire squad to a German tank gun.  Injured and lying in a ditch he made a promise to God that day:  If I survive this war, I will do my best to leave my community and fellow men better than I found them.

Galen did survive and when he came home he started working in and running a successful trucking company known as Coles Express.  He also became involved in numerous community minded efforts – helping to build a much-needed gym for the local YMCA, establishing a charitable family foundation that would help build public parks, baseball fields for children of all ages, a chapel at the Eastern Maine Medical Center, shelter for woman at risk, a home for boys in need, and the list goes on and on.

Along with everything else he dreamed of building a transportation museum that would be a tribute to the thousands of Maine land transportation pioneers whose dedicated work cleared, reshaped the land, and constructed the rail lines and highways that allowed the states development beyond its seacoast.

That museum is a reality today.  Construction began in 1988 and it opened its doors in 1990.  The whole 40,800 feet of the museum is now filled to capacity.  It is widely regarded as the largest collection of a single state’s transportation vehicles on public display in America.

So let’s get started and we’ll begin on the outside.  Several monuments catch your attention as you enter the parking lot.  The first are these two memorials, one dedicated to the veterans of WWII and another to the veterans of Korea.

The driver behind the wheel is the sculpted likeness of a childhood friend of Galen’s named Charlie Flanagan who was killed during the fighting overseas in 1944.

Then on the other side of the parking lot is this monument dedicated to the veterans of the Vietnam War.

One of the three figures depicted in bronze is that of a Marine name Eric Michael Wardwell, who was killed in Vietnam in 1967.

Moving now to the inside, this is what one sees immediately.  To say the least it is an impressive and overwhelming sight.  And this is just the first two rows of many!

 

This is row number one full of fire engines and snow plowing equipment.

To the right was the fun in the snow exhibit beginning with this

Imagine that, before there were snow plows they first rolled the snow so you could drive over it.  That must have been fun!

Before long, thought, there were snow plows.  Take a look at one of them I was able to take a picture of.  There were so many more I took pictures of but space does not permit but one.

Of course, there was also other equipment that was used when there was snow.

Switching from fun in the snow we move on to the rail lines

And where did one go to catch a train?  There’s even a complete train stain here in the museum.

Well, we have a long way to go but the internet is acting up so we’ll call it a night.  More to come tomorrow so stayed tuned.

So day is done and night is here once again.  The temperature is already falling quickly so we’re heading for the nice comfy, warm blankets.  We had another great day, traveling together, hand in hand, singing our song.  In closing, a thought for all of us taken from a sign on the front of the museum:

So that’s it for now.  As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.  Thanks again for sharing our day with us.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before