Motoring with Magdelana....a moose tour in Maine
Dan and I met on line-both divorced, single parents, and I do not remember for the life of me what pictures I used in my profile (upon asking, Dan says it was one of me meditating on a large rock on Magnetic Island in Australia-this was from trip I took to see my daughter, wearing a borrowed shirt and a pink cowboy hat) but I do remember clearly Dan's was a photo of him in the creek that was across from his family home in Stony Creek NY. I still remember this picture, him connected to nature, bandanna on his head, smiling through his beard. I remember saying to a friend I think that could be a guy for me. 6 years later here we are married and headed to Maine to celebrate that fact, that our handfasting is still tied and our hearts are still linked, and my ideal of him has proven correct, we share a great love of nature, and being in the woods, in natures beauty.
Our trip started, of course. with a long drive up the coast, a drive in which we chose to listen to Anthony Bourdain's book "Kitchen Confidential", Mr. Bourdain is another love we share, he represents to us that love of experience, of hedonism and respect for other cultures, and he was a little rough around the edges which endears him even more to us-his presence on this planet will surely be missed. After a 10 hour drive we arrived at Acadia Bay Inn in Sullivan Maine, it was after 10, the time that the inn has a " no noise" policy so we felt like sneaky teenagers sneaking home after a night of debauchery on the beach (flash back to my teenage years with my dad and his alarm clock that he would set to wake him if I wasn't home on time!). Our room was amazing and comfy, but the view we woke to made it even more spectacular. The inn serves breakfast on their back deck in warm months, and pictures cannot do this view justice. Sitting on the easily accessible beach, high on a bluff, you look out over an expanse of the sea dotted with smaller islands (many of which are privately owned and people's homes), little inlets, and boats anchored slightly off shore. It is incredibly beautiful. In fact the whole region of Acadia which is a national park, is incredibly beautiful. My dear friend Bev, who's father retired in Maine, had remarked before we left that this is part of what she loves there, all the little ocean nooks and crannies. Looking out over the ocean at the little islands you can find more shades of green that I thought was possible, just layers of islands, distance and sea. We spent that first day driving around Schoodic Point, reading on the beautiful porch, and having afternoon cocktails. Now those cocktails? Angie and Todd make a bloody Mary that is a meal in itself, they do an amazing job making you feel at home and cared for, and Schoodic Park is a part of the Acadia Park, that is about 10 minutes from the Inn and is driveable or bikeable, and has nice little pulloffs to stop and take a photo, or sit on a little isolated stretch of beach. Angela and Todd were nice enough to tell us about some little known areas which we never got to...there is just so much beauty, that we ran out of day.
We found the little ferry terminal that had the ferry to Bar Harbor and planned that for the next day, renting bikes to take around the island. The girl manning the ticket booth recommended the Pickled Wrinkle for lunch, which we found and loved, I actually was wishing I had heard this phrase before and called us the Pickled Wrinkles instead of the Gray Nomad, but alas....wasn't meant to be! What is a pickled wrinkle? Well according to the sign on the table "...large carnivorous sea snails aka whelks....lobster fishermen find wrinkles in their traps...in tough times wrinkles helped to feed hungry Maine families. Pickling was a great way to preserve the protein packed morsels..." Dan was a fan, I am not.
The Pickled Wrinkle and the ferry are in Winterharbor. Of course you can always drive to Bar Harbor, but the ferry is such a nice diversion. They also offer an educational ferry ride to see nesting puffins, which until I took this trip, did not know lived in this area (there are also otters, fox, mink, moose, bear and all sorts of birdlife here, the sounds of seagulls are so comforting to me). We hopped the ferry with our rented bikes to explore that part of Acadia national park near Bar harbor eventually ending up around Eagle Lake-which was gorgeous, although the small hill they said you go up is very very long in my opinion, and proof that I need to work harder on my quads! What the ferry ticket girl failed to tell us was that you don't just hop off the ferry and ride! Bar Harbor streets are reminiscent of Key West streets, narrow and full of shops and people! So the info booth man directed us to get to the center of Town "the Village Green", and there is an Island Explorer bus that will take you and your bikes to the Carriage roads, you also need to buy a park pass for $15 for day ($50 for an annual pass).
The Carriage Roads which include Eagle Lake and Jordan Pond, were built in the early 1900s (1913-1940) by John D. Rockefeller Jr., these roads consist of 57 miles through the woodlands, and cars are not allowed on them. Hikers, bikers and horses with riders and pulling carriages use these roads, and the horse have the right of way. I have read that you can also take horse drawn carriage rides, board your own horse and there are stables with horses for your use. You can download a map to the Carriage roads at acadia.ws.
The next day we kayaked from our beach at the Inn, Angie and Todd knew who to call to rustle up some kayaks, life jackets and oars...we locked them up the night before and after another lovely yummy breakfast headed out to sea. Now we all know that things look closer than they really are.....and the wind was against us, but we found our little island, with no one (we thought) but little fish and pretty birds and spent an afternoon picnicking on sandwiches we got at the local deli. There is something to be said about time in nature, quiet, no one around but you and your sweety, birds singing and diving around you...a perfect day! Upon our return (and during our afternoon cocktails) we remarked to Angie-does anyone live there? Yes...do they mind people being there?! Nope as long as you don't leave garbage, and there is also a Pet Cemetery (remember Steven King lives in Maine) and the scene where the Gage is killed was filmed near by! As you drive you notice alot about Mr. King, we passed his favorite radio station too. We were headed to Moosehead Lake the next day, so for dinner we drove into Bar Harbor for dinner and had an amazing meal at Mckay's Public house-sitting outside under the twinkling lights, made me want to head back to Key West to be honest!
One of my quests was to see a moose, so we booked a tour with Northeastwhitewater and our Guide Ted was fantastic! So incredibly knowledgeable about the area, and the wildlife. We gathered water, the others in our group, and loaded into a van and headed to First West Branch Pond, about an hours drive from the shop. We learned that it gets to be 40 below there in the winter, so if we do, in fact, decide to find our moksa here when we are done being wandering Sanyasins, it will be more on the coast where the winters are slightly milder! On the way to the Pond we saw our first moose, female, having her dinner of aquatic plants, apparently they love the ditches since things grow there, and it is easy access for them and their long legs. We loaded into canoes, and were instructed that just like if we were hunting for our dinner, we were hunting for sightings, and photos and we must be quiet, and stealthy. We were lucky enough to be the canoe that Ted rode in, so we got a little extra knowledge! But he was great at keeping us all together and safe - although the pond is quite shallow so our instructions if we tipped was to stand up! We saw one more female beautiful moose, the ratio is 20 to 1 (female to male) since the males are allowed to be hunted. According to Wikipedia moose in the area outnumber humans 3 to 1. We also saw beautiful Loons and their babies, and a beaver families lodge. On the way back to base, we learned a lot of the land in the area had been owned by logging companies and have names like this pond, mountain 1 etc. We looked for food after our canoeing and had dinner (and lunch before that at The Stress Free Moose , never disappointing, and had poutine reminding us of our first anniversary in Montreal! Breakfast the next morning was at Kelly's Landing watching the planes take off from the lake. Moosehead lake is The largest lake in Maine resembles the antlers on the great male moose-hence its name.
Deciding to break the drive up a bit more before we had to pick up the furry boys from the kennel, we decided to stop for a night in some amazing cabins I found on Instagram- The GlenWilde, it was everything we expected and needed. Located off the road, are little bungalows that are amazingly beautiful inside. There is also long tables in the center with beautiful stringed lights and BBQ's to encourace and welcome communal dining and relaxing. Unfortunatlye it was raining so we didn't get to spend too much time out there, but we did have a quick chat with the owner. He has been slowly rehabbing these bungalows, being a designer in the city he has an amazing knack for this. My bungalow was the small house I have always wanted. The shower was the best we had the whole trip with a gorgeaus bathroom, a loft to sleep in and a small kitchen. We spent our alst night sipping champage on our screened in porch.
And Magedelana? She is my beautifully fun mini cooper, she gets us where we need and she serves as a great contrast to nature in photos, as one of our instagram friends pointed out, being a bright orange and very unnaturally colored!
To see more photos please click through the slide show below or head to our instagram page.
