BarHarbor Still!

Bald Eagle 150 yards away!

Penobscot bridge next to Fort Knox!

After finishing up Bryson's birthday we went in to town to visit Bar Island.  An island that is only accessable at low tide.  You literally walk on a sandbar out to the island during low tide and then you have to be off the island before high tide or your stuck.  We spent an hour or so turning over rocks and catching crabs and what we think were krill hiding in the seaweed.  From there we walked into downtown Bar Harbor to see the shops and get a little ice cream!  Kaylee has become quite the art lover and she really enjoys walking through the galleries looking at all the artworks.  When we do this, my job is to keep Bryson's hands and feet away from the art work as he loves to run his hands down the pictures and pick up expensive things! 

The next morning we met up with our friends Bob and Nancy in a little town called Belfast!  On the way to see them we stopped at a Walmart for some items and Karen ran inside while I waited in the car. While driving through the parking lot I happened across a very odd looking sport utility so I pulled up to take a look at it.  What I found was nothing short of amazing!  This "Over Lander" had a license plate from South Africa! I snapped some photos and found a map on the side of it showing there route around the world! I thought our trip was big!  I never got a chance to speak with the people driving this vehicle, because we were pressed for time and that would not have been a 10 minute conversation!  

We made it to Belfast 20 minutes late due to some poor driving/navigating, then had breakfast at a little diner right in town.  We then strolled through the town looking in shops and checking out the harbor for boats.  On our way back from Belfast we stumbled upon Fort Knox an old British Fort on the Penobscot Narrows. Its a narrow channel of water rich with history about a battle between  the American and British armies in which the Americans lost over 40 ships! We didn't have the time to stop and take the tour, but the fort and bridge were absolutely stunning!

That evening, we headed out to a local lumberjack show, a few miles from the campground.  On the drive over, I caught, out of the corner of my eye, a Bald Eagle sitting on the shore waiting for the fish to be swept out at low tide!  I jumped out of the truck and grabbed my camera with the zoom lens and headed down to the water.  The eagle was about 150 yards out in a marsh, but I managed to get some good shots of him sitting and then flying up to his tree!  I looked at Karen and said "That's why I bought the good lenses for the camera."  I guess its my way of justifying the expensive purchase of the camera and lenses!  Off to the lumberjack show.  We had a great time with the kids and they even got a chance to go up on stage and participate!  The lady in the picture is "Tina" and she was on the show "Survivor- Panama edition" but was voted of first!  

June 28th

I'm officially 43 years old today!  We got up at 3:15am to catch the sunrise at Cadillac Mountain!  What a beautiful morning!  The sun came up at 4.49am and I snapped 50 or so pics with the help of a fellow photographer.  The guy next to me had a serious camera and tripod setup with all kids of gadgets hooked up to it, then I show up with a hand held camera.  Almost like bringing a knife to a gun fight!  The guy was super nice and showed me a few pointers and in return I introduced him to the infamous Norman the Scooter Dog.  We chatted about our trip around the USA and when I went back to the truck for something the entire family yelled "Happy Birthday Daddy!" This in turn started a rally from the rest of the people at the mountain saying "Happy Birthday Dad!"  We left the mountain and took a drive around the park spotting deer and other critters along the way.  We stopped for breakfast on the way home, then I laid down for a little nap at 10:30am! What a great day.  I wonder what's for dinner tonight??????

Happy Birthday Bryson!

Bryson wanted to make sure he didn't get too big and that he could still crawl under the chair even though he was six.

Six years ago Bryson Christopher Cobb was born!  I have never cried so much or worried about someone so much as the day he was born!  Bryson was born 8 weeks early with a heart condition, jaundice, pneumonia, and a breathing problem!  It was the best of times and the worst of times depending on what the doctors told us day to day.  Fast forward six years and he is a happy healthy little boy. 

The week leading up to his birthday, we started asking Bryson what he wanted for his birthday.  He wanted a remote control car, a bag to put on his bike, so he could take his stuffed animals for a ride and to see the movie Cars2.  Staying in Bar Harbor, Maine we had few theatres to choose from and I didn't want to buy a cheap RC car, so we decided to go into Bangor and see the movie and find a hobby store for the car.  Karen found the one and only hobby store with RC cars around called King Mountain RC Cars!  After 1-1/2 hour car ride out in the middle of nowhere, we find the place and with crossed fingers I walked in and JACKPOT!  This little store had every kind of RC car you could of asked for!  I picked out the Grave Digger one because it is his favorite and we saw him in person at the Atlanta show.  Bryson never new we picked up the truck for him. He was watching a movie in the car at the time and thank God he can't read very well yet, because we were parked in front of the King Mountain RC sign.   From there we went to the Movies. 

When we came home Bryson and I baked his birthday cake.  It was a yellow cake with Chocolate frosting (just like his friend Chris's Cake, which he loved so much).  He even decorated it with his monster trucks.

The next day we spent driving his car around, eating cake and playing miniature golf, because he wanted to do that on his birthday also. We are so proud of him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

George Bush's summer home.

The Portland Headlight.

Showing the neighbors Norman's website.

Kennebunkport Blowhole.

Thunderhole!

 Acadia Park Shoreline

Drive through lobster shack!

Lupine flowers!

KENNEBUNKPORT AND FREEPORT

Today we ventured to Kennebunkport the weather was as beautiful as the town itself.  We strolled through the town looking at all the shops.  The kids got a nice lesson about lobsters at the local fish market. 

Our next stop was George Bush's summer house and a local blow hole at Walker's Point.  There is a place in the rocks, along the water, where the waves come in at high tide and fill in a hole, which causes the water to spray straight up out of the rocks.  We spent a good hour getting wet from the ocean spray and basking in the sun.  Time for lunch! 

We drove down to Cape Porpoise and found a little hole in the wall place right on the water and enjoyed some fresh clam chowder and hamburgers and hot dogs!  Even though the seafood is all around us you just can't beat a dog or burger when really hungry!  We headed home and realized we were about to pass the candy store Len Libby's we kept reading about.  We stopped in to see the world's largest Chocolate Moose on display inside.  He was 1700 lbs of Milk Chocolate.  Back in the car to head home....

The next day we went up the coast to explore more of the coast.  Maine has a lot of peninsulas, so travel is slow by the coast as we found out.  We wound up in Cundy's Harbor and happened across a small ice cream joint, (a staple in our days lately) right on the bay, which had a gift shop next door.  In the gift shop, I struck up a conversation with a nice lady who ran the shop.  She was a real salt of the earth type of person, friendly and knowledgeable of the Maine coast and her husband was a lobsterman to boot.  She told us about the weather patterns, lobstering, and any other questions we had about Maine.  She probably spent a good hour with us walking around the shop and then out on her dock to the lobster traps and letting the kids play with her black lab puppy.  Its nice to get out of the hustle and bustle and spend some time with a local who was as nice as could be! 

We finished the day off walking through the outlets in Freeport and visiting the original L.L. Bean Store - which was huge...it had four separate buildings for different departments and an outlet store.



BAR HARBOR


Its 55 degrees, drizzling and the wind is blowing! I can't believe its this chilly only a few days from July! Every time the wind blows a little stronger, the rain from the trees drop onto the trailer roof, reminding us how nasty it is outside. I have turned the HEAT on in the trailer and it works quite well if I do say so myself. We are in Bar Harbor, Maine!

Yesterday we went to "Thunder Hole" another blow hole on the ocean shore.  The waves were huge!  I would say some between 10-15 feet tall crashing into the shore line boulders!  I probably took 50 pictures and still felt like there were some good shots that I missed.  The cold waters are so clean looking and full of life!  We found a baby fur seal perched on the rocks but didn't have the camera to get a picture. We had soup and "popovers", one of Karen's favorites, at a place called Jordan's Pond restaurant.   The popovers were fantastic.   The rastaurant overlooked the "Bubbles" - two mountains that were formed by glaciers and look like bubbles, it was a beautiful view.  We finished the day driving through the park looking for deer! 

We have barely scratched the surface of this beautiful area and have already decided to extend out stay a few days.

Portland Maine!

 

 

Next stop Portland, Maine! We started out here with a very challenging camping site.  It looked easy to get into at first and then proved to be a little harder than expected.  We basically had to put the trailer into a 90 degree turn to shove it into its spot all the while the ground was very soft from the recent rain.  After unpacking Karen wanted to take me out for Father's Day dinner.  I think she was really craving some Maine lobster!  We went to a local place that was recommended to us and we both got the twin lobster dinners. One of Karen's lobsters must have been a little bound up because when she broke into him he was full of, well you know.  After trying to clean him out the best she could she said she was full and threw in the towel.  Later on in the evening she wasn't feeling so good and lets just say Karen won't be eating lobster for awhile.  The next morning Karen felt fine and we were off to the Portland Coast to see the sights. 

We started our day off seeing the "Portland Headlight" a very picturesque light house on Cape Elizabeth. We had a great time going down by the water with Norm and the kids, then we stopped at a little hotdog vendor right in the park for some lunch - Frank's Franks.  And yes his name really was Frank. 

After lunch we headed to another lighthouse and stumbled across a place called the Lobster Shack -right on the water!  Although we never bought any lobster at the restaurant, they had a great spot to sit right on the ocean, where the waves were breaking on the rocks. We just sat on the rocks for about an hour and relaxed!   

From there we went to Downtown Portland and walked through all the little shops and of course.... some Ice Cream!  After just one day, Karen and I realized we really like Maine and think it would neat to have a summer place up here!