2012 Big Truck Across the Northeast, Day 8

Day 8 - Rain.  For the first time of the whole trip, we dealt with some less than ideal weather.  The front moved in around 1am, and by dawn it was a light but steady rain.  It made for some crazy scenery, as we finally got to experience the 'Sea Smoke' that this label told me about a few nights ago.


Here is Jordan leading the charge to find the Sea Smoke.

There was something that just felt right about the weather, like the fishsticks guy was going to show up at any minute,

or even this guy, out of work since terrible '90s horror/comedies.



After some very comtemplative moments, and of course some rocks to climb on, we decided on a course of action.

Our plan was to drive roughly an hour 'down east' as the locals say, and arrive at the Schoodic (skoo-dik) Peninsula portion of Acadia National Park. There is a Scenic Byway and Schoodic Point, which we had heard was worth the visit. Whoever we heard it from, they were right.

On the way we stopped in Winter Harbor for lunch, and got some tips from the locals.  We have tried to frequent local Maine businesses (I know I've helped the local microbreweries...) as much as possible, and this one was no different.  It's called the Harborgirl Cafe and Emporium, and if the title makes you think it is anything but a down home restaurant, it is misleading.  Here is the entire operation - it was impressive and refreshing to see a steady stream of customers, and the owner could not have been more personable with everyone. 



This visit also confirms a pattern we have been noticing.  Since we entered Maine, pretty much every female over the age of 40 has adopted either the Judi Dench (lost most of you) or Pat Summitt (the rest) hairstyle.  Once such woman was working the gas station counter this morning when she pressed the wrong key on the cash register.  Her response?  "Oh, phooey." I want to live somewhere where agitation progresses this slowly.

Next up was the Schoodic Scenic Byway, and the weather was just starting to clear up as we entered the park.  This was our greeting.

One thing was very clear as we worked our way through the park.  No crowds, no buses, and just a general sense of undisturbed natural beauty.  Not to get all cheesy, but this to me is what national parks are meant to be - preserving the natural habitat of landmarks so future generations can be awed by them in person.  Sorry, just fell off the soapbox.

Our plan was to head straight to Schoodic Point, but this got in the way.

The last pic shows a ridge made entirely out of stones/rocks that get pushed there by the rising tide.  We thought it was made entirely out of rocks, until we walked on it.  About 3 feet in front of you, there are these little black spiders on almost every other rock. As you get close, they dart quickly under the rocks. The further out on the ridge you walk, the larger the spiders and the more there are.  Here's a shot showing them just before they hide.

Like any normal girl, Jordan wanted to help the spiders and put a roof over them with other rocks.



Meanwhile, her parents were having flashbacks to this terrible '90s horror (did it really count as horror with Jeff Daniels?) flick.

That ridge did serve as a pretty good backdrop for some other photo ops, especially since the rain had stopped, and if it weren't for low tide, I would have taken this pic from about 8' deep in the ocean.

Finally, on to Schoodic Point.  We must have spent close to 2 hrs here, and probably could have spent all day.  It is incredible, and we were seeing it on a relatively calm day during low tide.  Hopefully this clip works, as you get a sense for the waves, Cadillac Mountain as the backdrop on the right, and the huge rock formations that get continually beaten down by the surf.  

I didn't realize it,but while I was filming this, Kimberly got this shot of me and some of the breaking waves.

We took a billion pictures here, and again Jordan could not get enough of playing, jumping, running, etc all over the rocks.  It finally took a cleverly planned game of hide and seek to progressively move her toward the Jeep and tire her out to get her out of there.  This place was absolutely awesome, I cannot imagine it during high tide & stormy weather.

Here's a few random shots, one interesting thing is the darker strips of basalt the break up the pink granite.  Here's a link to someone saying that in much nerdier terms.  On to the pics...

Sorry, don't know how that last pic got in there.  Actually, I know exactly how it got in there.  If you think I can pass up the chance to reference Thunder in Paradise, forget it.  Happy Googling....

On the way out of Schoodic Point, we remembered one of the locals back in Winter Harbor telling us about a road just west of town that led to huge cottages built by 'old Philadelphia money', and that there was a church with a red door that had some rare and beautiful Tiffany stained glass windows.  I just kind of nodded, because when someone starts talking about fine crystal and stained glass, they sound like Charlie Brown's teacher very quickly.  It did sound cool though, so we checked it out.  Here are the cottages we saw.

....aaaand we found the church with the red door.  It just so happened that a local was there dropping something off, so it was open & Kimberly talked her way in to get a few shots.  We may be giving away a local town secret here, but they say these were donated back around 1905 and are quite valuable.  We'll take their word for it, here you go.

Ok, time to wrap it up. We made it back to the campground in time for my fantasy football draft (just like last year, on the road again), but not before stopped across the street at the local lobster pound to tear into this guy.

A pretty fitting end to our final night in Maine.  Tomorrow marks the beginning of our return trip, as we work our way west into New Hampshire.  More to follow.