Sunday morning we got an early start and headed back over to the Jordan Pond House. We wanted to get there early, since I planned to do some more biking along the Carriage Roads and this is the most centrally located parking lot, but it fills up pretty quickly as the morning goes on. Trisha decided to take a break and stay in the RV to knit some more on her current project, and catch up on some of her journaling and correspondence.
By the way, before I go any further, just wanted to say that in the next couple of days I hope to be able to add a new page to the blog to showcase all the wonderful things
Trisha has knitted while we've been on the road. Have a bunch of pictures, but one of the things is something she made for our daughter's birthday today, so have waited until she opened it to post the pictures. So just a little teaser, especially for you knitters out there, to watch for the upcoming post and the pictures, as Trisha has done some amazingly beautiful work!
Anyway, I went out for an 18 mile ride along these gorgeous Carriage Roads and had a ball! It was a chilly morning, but we had been to the local bike shop and gotten some proper biking cool weather attire, so I was outfitted warmly and had no problems at all. Lots of good, long climbs on the sections I did and really got my heart rate moving. But, once again, the star of this show was the incredible scenery. Each day we were in the park more colors showed up and the sun was just right to highlight the glorious fall splendor of this amazing park. Was having too much fun riding that I just didn't stop to take any pictures, so just take my word for it--it was spectacular beyond words! Got back to the RV completely rejuvenated and buzzed from the ride--met a couple from Pennsylvania as I was just coming into the parking lot who wanted to ask about the route I had ridden and they just couldn't keep from laughing as they listened to me talk! When I greeted them like I do most folks we meet along the trails or elsewhere on this trip: "Where're y'all from?" They just hooted and said "We all are from Pennsylvania!" So we had a good laugh and shared some experiences about bike trails across the country--always good to get tips about new places to ride.
After that Trisha and I once again went over to the Jordan Pond House to have coffee on the upper deck overlooking the lawn where folks were enjoying tea and popovers--so much fun! We didn't linger, though, since we wanted to get back downtown so we could hike over to Bar Island. There's a rocky sandbar that separates Bar Harbor from this little island--according to our guide on the nature cruise earlier in the week, it's actually Bar Island and this sandbar that accounts for the name of the town Bar Harbor. Anyway, the sandbar is covered up by water for most of every day, except at low tide. Then there is a window of time from an hour or so before the actual low tide to an hour or so after low tide when you can safely hike across the sandbar to the island. This little island is now uninhabited and is a part of Acadia National Park, but for a number of years it was home to Jack Perkins, the renowned TV journalist from NBC and his wife. After his successful career on TV, he decided to leave this life and take an unprecedented step to get away from it all to reflect on life and his place in it. So he and his wife lived for a number of years on this little island, no one else around, with no electricity save that produced periodically by a generator, where he wrote poetry and developed as a photographer--indeed he now describes the books of poetry and photography he's been writing as "poetography." He was the featured speaker at the Craddock Center's Preaching Workshop right before Trisha retired and he was just wonderful. So we really wanted to see this place that provided him with so much inspiration for this new phase in his life. So we parked at the usual RV parking lot downtown, walked a mile or so to the water's edge, where we then hiked across the sandbar to the island, taking the trail up to the summit where you had glorious views of the harbor and of Bar Harbor. Then we found the remains of the little house where he and his wife lived--since torn down after he left. It was a remarkably hermitage sort of life for a number of years, but the little island is really beautiful, with fruit trees and lots of natural growth. Had a great time doing this and can't wait to let him know that we saw his former homeplace!
Another great day in this beautiful place!
Overlooking Jordan Pond from the upper balcony; wait staff preparing for the 11:30 opening of the lawn for tea and popovers
Bubble Mountains in the distance, with the beautiful blue sky and blue water of Jordan Pond
More pretty fall colored leaves!
As we pulled into the RV parking spaces, this classic '57 Chevy was just pulling out
The lovely patio garden of a private home by the water as we were approaching the sandbar
You can see the folks walking across the sandbar to Bar Island
Bright, warm afternoon, but still some fog/mist over the water in places--just a fascinating place!
Shot of one of the "cottages" of the wealthy industrialists who built these as summer homes back in the day
Some of the views as we were walking up past the beach on the island
Looking back down over Bar Harbor, the town and the actual harbor
Here is one of the boats like the one we went out on for the nature cruise earlier in the week
Sleek looking vessel
The old marker to Jack Perkins' little house
What's left after the Park Service tore down the house
The windows looked directly out over the harbor, with what was apparently a small porch literally hanging out over the edge of the cliff going down to the water
Some views out the front windows
Old chimney
Old road from the house back to the beach
Walking back across the sandbar
Another couple of the cottages--not too shabby!
By the way, before I go any further, just wanted to say that in the next couple of days I hope to be able to add a new page to the blog to showcase all the wonderful things
Trisha has knitted while we've been on the road. Have a bunch of pictures, but one of the things is something she made for our daughter's birthday today, so have waited until she opened it to post the pictures. So just a little teaser, especially for you knitters out there, to watch for the upcoming post and the pictures, as Trisha has done some amazingly beautiful work!
Anyway, I went out for an 18 mile ride along these gorgeous Carriage Roads and had a ball! It was a chilly morning, but we had been to the local bike shop and gotten some proper biking cool weather attire, so I was outfitted warmly and had no problems at all. Lots of good, long climbs on the sections I did and really got my heart rate moving. But, once again, the star of this show was the incredible scenery. Each day we were in the park more colors showed up and the sun was just right to highlight the glorious fall splendor of this amazing park. Was having too much fun riding that I just didn't stop to take any pictures, so just take my word for it--it was spectacular beyond words! Got back to the RV completely rejuvenated and buzzed from the ride--met a couple from Pennsylvania as I was just coming into the parking lot who wanted to ask about the route I had ridden and they just couldn't keep from laughing as they listened to me talk! When I greeted them like I do most folks we meet along the trails or elsewhere on this trip: "Where're y'all from?" They just hooted and said "We all are from Pennsylvania!" So we had a good laugh and shared some experiences about bike trails across the country--always good to get tips about new places to ride.
After that Trisha and I once again went over to the Jordan Pond House to have coffee on the upper deck overlooking the lawn where folks were enjoying tea and popovers--so much fun! We didn't linger, though, since we wanted to get back downtown so we could hike over to Bar Island. There's a rocky sandbar that separates Bar Harbor from this little island--according to our guide on the nature cruise earlier in the week, it's actually Bar Island and this sandbar that accounts for the name of the town Bar Harbor. Anyway, the sandbar is covered up by water for most of every day, except at low tide. Then there is a window of time from an hour or so before the actual low tide to an hour or so after low tide when you can safely hike across the sandbar to the island. This little island is now uninhabited and is a part of Acadia National Park, but for a number of years it was home to Jack Perkins, the renowned TV journalist from NBC and his wife. After his successful career on TV, he decided to leave this life and take an unprecedented step to get away from it all to reflect on life and his place in it. So he and his wife lived for a number of years on this little island, no one else around, with no electricity save that produced periodically by a generator, where he wrote poetry and developed as a photographer--indeed he now describes the books of poetry and photography he's been writing as "poetography." He was the featured speaker at the Craddock Center's Preaching Workshop right before Trisha retired and he was just wonderful. So we really wanted to see this place that provided him with so much inspiration for this new phase in his life. So we parked at the usual RV parking lot downtown, walked a mile or so to the water's edge, where we then hiked across the sandbar to the island, taking the trail up to the summit where you had glorious views of the harbor and of Bar Harbor. Then we found the remains of the little house where he and his wife lived--since torn down after he left. It was a remarkably hermitage sort of life for a number of years, but the little island is really beautiful, with fruit trees and lots of natural growth. Had a great time doing this and can't wait to let him know that we saw his former homeplace!
Another great day in this beautiful place!
Overlooking Jordan Pond from the upper balcony; wait staff preparing for the 11:30 opening of the lawn for tea and popovers
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