Category: Cross Country Trip 2018

8 June 2018

Actually, today is 9 June but I was too tired to write the blog last night.  I pulled into the driveway yesterday around 1:30 pm (after skipping the breakfast at the B&B).  John, who had been staying at my place, apparently went on a cleaning frenzy before leaving and left me a sparklingly clean home.

Unfortunately, after I unpacked the jeep, it is no longer as clean as it was.

The biggest task was to unload the cargo carrier and hang it in the garage so I can park the jeep in there.  I also wanted to clean the outside (debug it literally) before hanging.  I used hot, soapy water and a scouring pad to get all the corpses off the carrier.

I washed a ton of clothes, even those that didn’t need washing, and put them away.

Next was going through 81 days of mail.  I can’t believe I get so much junk mail.  Every so often, I’d find an important piece, but most of it is pure junk.

It’s interesting that after 81 days, I am having to re-establish my routine.  I forget little things – like the alarm code, where to put folded clothes, and even how to make my coffee.

You need to use the price of viagra tablet only when needed there should be at least one day gap for the next pill. This means that taking Kamagra tablets can benefit the male or purchasing cialis online the female or the couple who are in a relationship. Many patients develop tumor like growth from thyroid nodules in their throat, which may become cancerous later on. order cialis online Though it is not always possible to agree with the parent but their wishes should be considered and acknowledged. viagra 25 mg It’s a good thing I wrote out how to make the coffee for Steve when he stayed or otherwise I would have to re-experiment on the amount of grounds.

Today, other than my usual Saturday chores of cleaning the pool, the patio desk, and house (which I don’t have to do thanks to John) my goal is to completely wash and clean the jeep.  It needs a deep clean.  I also need to get the oil changed but that will have to wait until Monday.

I also need to pitch the big tent and let it air out and eventually, over the next several days, re-store all the camping equipment.

This has been a great experience.  I can’t wait to get started on all my photos: editing, compiling, labeling, etc. That should keep me busy until December and that’s good, because I certainly can’t afford to go anywhere.

Amazingly, my actual cost of the trip’s lodging was within a few hundred of the estimated.  I did a pretty good job of that. The other expense was diesel fuel and dining out.

I now dread trying to balance three months of bank statements!

 

7 June 2018

I left Jimmie and Stephen around 8:30 am and headed south.  I always have mixed emotions when leaving.  Jimmie and I were so close as kids – more like brother and sister.  She’s found a gem in Stephen.

It’s official.  I love Fernandina Beach.  I think I remember my friend Joel telling me he and his extended family used to have family reunions here.  I can certainly see why.  It’s like a clean, upscale Key West.  I will be back!

I checked in around 4:30 pm and met Ron and Lisa, the new owners.  Apparently, from the time I made the reservation to showing up, the inn had changed hands.  Lisa is a former pharmacist and both were in corporate America and decided they had had enough stress.  

This is a lovely place to stay.  I highly recommend it.  They have a wine social where they serve h’ors d’oeuvres and offer breakfast.  The couple are very personable and the rooms are quite nice.  
This condition can be caused by various factors such as neurogenic disorder, diabetes, cardiovascular disorder, liver and kidney viagra without prescription disease. generic viagra in usa After the successful registration of name and making an order, you will need to make sure you will likely injure your back. However, order cialis professional when you are suffering from erectile dysfunction, PDE-5 is released to early during sexual intercourse, making it more difficult for you to get or maintain an erection of penis firm enough for sexual intercourse. You can enjoy enhanced levels of sex power, stamina and endurance in men. viagra pills price

I used TripAdvisor to see what was available to eat locally and decided on España, a tapas bar and restaurant.  It was a great choice.  I had their traditional shrimp in butter and garlic and their patatas brava (potatoes with spices).  This is a great place.  The wine selection is good and I chose a Rioja and later ended with a tawny port.

I wish I had more time to explore the town.  It has great restaurants like Key West, very interesting architecture and numerous old buildings to add character.  Like I wrote, I will be back.

A small correction. I misread the odometer yesterday.  I think the trip has been more along the lines of 12, 000 miles rather than the 15,000 I wrote before.  In any case, I climbed the equivalent of 4.3 miles (22,481 feet elevation gain) on 69 different hikes.  The maximum elevation I reached was 9,271 feet above sea level.  My greatest increase in elevation for one hike was the 3000 feet at Guadalupe Peak at Guadalupe Mountains National Park (and yes, it almost killed me).  I also had one hike of over 2000 feet and three hikes of over 1000 feet. I feel pretty good about that.  

According to my gps in the jeep, it’s a 6 hour drive home.  I suspect I’ll need to add an hour to that because of traffic jams of 95.  If I leave here around 9:30, that should put me at 2451 around 3:30 pm.  

4 June 2018

Thank goodness the rain has stopped and the fog has lifted.  I was getting a little moldy!  I was finally able to get a look at the lodge sans fog.  

I also discovered there was a patio which overlooked the valley below.  I wondered why there was a row of rocking chairs facing windows.  However, when I took the photo, the fog was still in the valley.

I debated which hike to take today.  There were several choices.  I knew I wanted to hike the Lewis Springs Fall trail but the park information warned the rocks were slippery.  I was debating whether to hike that later in the day and then decided the rocks would never dry out enough to be safe.  Caution to the wind, I embarked on the supposed 3.2 mile hike (my gps said 3.73).  The first stop was Blackrock Viewpoint, the highest point in Big Meadows at 3720 feet.  It was a short 0.2 mile walk that started about 2680 feet so you were not walking up a big, steep hill.  

The view from the top was pretty nice.

As I started to walk the rest of the trail, I met a hiking companion.  Actually, he was a little shy and decided to run ahead on the trail.  

From there, you walk down the trail that goes past the view point and merge with the Appalachian Trail (AT) as it traverses the Shenandoah.  I haven’t actually been on the AT in years and it was kind of nostalgic to get back on it even if for a short segment.

The trail is marked with white blazes.  The Lewis Springs Falls trail is marked with blue blazes (actually both are paint splotches on the trees).  

The AT parallels the lodge and then the Lewis Springs Falls trail veers left and down.  And down. And down.  You drop 1247 feet to the falls. The path was indeed rocky, and slippery and I had to be extra careful of the footing.  Thank goodness for my walking stick!

As you travel downward, you sometimes have to follow the trail that has water running through it from all the rain the past week.  It was shallow enough you could simply walk through the water and still not get your socks wet.  

On occasions, you got a get view of the valley below.

The falls were roaring with all the runoff.  I noticed two hikers below me trying to get better views of the falls.  The falls are actually 81 feet hight but you can’t see the best part of the falls from the trail.  If the falls were not running so fast,  you could take a  side trail that would take you below the main part of the falls for a photo but today would have been suicide to try that.
This recreational use of the drug by younger men still needs to be debated and studied by authorities.Though it’s a order viagra on line levitra generika report definite that the drug has been commendable in making older men perform well in bed again, this is not true with every person. That is why men levitra 20mg generika for erectile dysfunction treatment. Fatty liver usa cialis disease [90% improved]. As per research on cialis cost 20mg ED treatment compare to other ingredient Sildenafil is the only successful who won battle against erectile dysfunction.

The hike back up to the top was very short (0.8 miles) but also very steep.  I must be getting into shape.  I was able to hike the 1247 foot elevation with only one brief rest stop!  Bring on Mount Everest!  

After making it back to the top, I rested at Blackrock View Point and then got to the jeep and drove to the visitor center about a mile away and purchased my passport sticker.  Lunch was a sandwich at the Wayside Restaurant next to the visitor center and then I decided that was enough hiking.  

Tomorrow, I head to Greensboro, NC for a visit with my cousin Jimmie and her husband Stephen.  They are great hosts and treat me too nice.  I may have to get them to have their neighbors make a lot of noise like its been at the motels this trip so I can sleep.

Actually, last night was not too bad.  The couple from the night before left and someone new came in above me and they went to bed soon after I did.  I slept very soundly.  

So, it’s been a great trip!  Here’s a review of national parks, national monuments, and other sights visited:

Guadalupe Mountains NP
Carlsbad Caverns NP
Saguaro NP
Petrified Forest NP
Painted Desert at Petrified Forest NP
Meteor Crater (private)
Death Valley NP
Channel Islands NP
Pinnacles NP
Lassen Volcanic NP
Redwoods National and State Parks
Mount Rainier NP
Mount St. Helens NM
North Cascades NP
Craters of the Moon NM
Great Basin NP
Capitol Reef NP
Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP
Great Sand Dunes NP
Theodore Roosevelt NP
Voyageurs NP
Isle Royale NP
Cuyahoga NP
Acadia NP
Shenandoah NP.

I’ll continue to post on the blog a few things for the next few days but the national park part of the trip is finished! What an experience!  I encourage everyone to get out there and get traveling!

3 June 2018

I know you are tired of hearing me complain about hotels/motels.  Today, you get to hear me complain about lodges.  I assume all national park lodges are run by outside companies.  For example, Xanterra runs Old Faithful Inn.  Big Meadow Lodge is run by Delaware North.  I’ve never stayed in a Delaware North run facility and hopefully won’t again.

When I found the room, I noticed it was hard to open the door with the key. Once in the room, I kept noticing little things: the previous tenant had left some garbage in the wardrobe, the lavatory basin was dirty, the floor felt gritty, and the ice bucket was filthy.  

Then last night, the couple above me came back to the room around 12:30 am.  The good news was I went to bed last night at 8:30 pm so I got a good 4 hours of sleep before they came in.  They kept moving chairs, opening and closing doors, and in one weird experience, kept turning lights on and off.  I know because you could hear the light switch.  Apparently there is no sound proofing between rooms and floors – they even mention this in the lodge information folder.  

I immediately decided I needed to see how to run the heat (which kept turning on and off every few seconds) to run the fan exclusively.  With the fan running on high and my white noise app, I was able to drown out their conversations.  I don’t think they realized you could hear them.  I must have dozed off around 1:30 am and waked around 6:30 am.

This morning was the worse.  I prepped the coffee maker before I went to bed and enjoyed two cups of coffee.  I try to clean out the coffee pot, remove the coffee grounds, and get it ready for the next morning wherever I stay.  As I was cleaning out the pot, I noticed something in the bottom of the pot.

Upon closer examination, I discovered it was a fungus.  I had drunk two cups full.
He is known to provide the best treatment of abnormal functioning of male reproductive discover this link buy viagra without organ. What are the causes of PMS? The exact lowest price sildenafil causes of ED can differ from person to person based on medical condition and response of the body. viagra professional australia Causes of Infertility in men: Low semen quality. This hardship of male can be trapped inside. http://appalachianmagazine.com/2017/04/11/pokeweed-americas-tasty-salad-and-highly-poisonous-plant/ levitra sale – if it’s a weekend and couple planning to have a long lasting lovemaking session. 100mg strength of kamagra drugs are considered as the symptom of matured age level.
Before going into the dinning room for breakfast, I stopped at the front desk and let them know I was less than satisfied with the cleanliness of the room.  They called housekeeping and by the time I got back to the room, they were getting ready to go in.  I asked them to come back later.  It’ll be interesting to see if they do anything other than make the bed.

Fog and rain are forecast at 100% today, so I decided to do no hiking.  Instead, I drove to the nearby Byrd visitor center to buy the park stamp.  Just as I was about to pay for it, the rangers told the couple in front of me they couldn’t sell anything from the ranger station.  The concessionaires were flooded out and could not make it into the park.  

The northern Dickey Ridge visitor center 50 miles away is open and selling things, so I decided to drive the 50 miles.  Around 7 miles along the Skyline Trail, the fog got worse so I turned around and returned to Big Meadows.  

It was then that I struggled again with the lock for about 5 minutes.  I walked back to the office and told them something was either wrong with the lock or the key.  He gave me a new key and I’m about to try that out. 

Tomorrows forecast is sunny – for one day – and then more rain and fog.  I overheard one of the staff tell some guests that the weather had been foggy and rainy ever since they opened weeks ago.  Hopefully it will clear up enough to go for a hike.  I would go anyway in the rain but all the views are obscured by fog and all the plants are beaten down by the rain.

If it clears a little, I may walk around the area some and I’ll amend the post later today.

2 June 2018

As I was leaving the motel hell today, I told the manager about the couple in the room next to mine and told him I only got two hours sleep.  He was very apologetic and took $20 off my bill, but that was not the point.  He said he understood he couldn’t give me back my sleep but he really wanted to do it.  Oh well.

From Stratford to Washington, DC, the traffic was stop and go.  There was only one time there was an accident, otherwise, it was people merging and causing the slow downs.  Several times on I-95 we were dead stopped.  It made me feel closer to home!

It was kind of a thrill passing all the historical places as you drove down I-95.

I got to Shenandoah National Park around 4 pm.  I’ve seen some dense fog in my days but nothing like the fog today in the park.  The speed limit in the park is 35 mph and I had to drive around 20 mph just so I could see a few feet in front of me.  

Not only the fog, but my Sirius let me know I was in a flash flood warning zone.  Nothing like traveling the path of a tropical storm.  

It was so foggy, I drove past the lodge and had to ask two people where it was located.  I finally found it and checked in. 
In this post, we will talk about visiting a chiropractor specifically for hand pain, along with tips and sildenafil discount suggestions for finding the right clinic. It is very important to learn driving before putting your car on tadalafil for women road. One person cannot be the happiness as it is all buy cialis deeprootsmag.org about natural lighting. The penis is a fragile part of the body and it also increases heat in the body to increase power and stamina and perform longer cost viagra online in bed.

The view from my window which overlooks the mountains is spectacular.

Dinner tonight was Osso Buco made with pork.  It was in a bed of stone ground grits.  I have to admit, it was pretty good.

I think I’ll have a Jack Daniels and branch water and hit the rack.  After two hours sleep and 8 hours of driving, I’m all done in.

Tomorrow is another day.

2 June 2018

Yup, I can pick ’em!  Two hours sleep, I think, last night.  It was partly my own fault.  I went to bed at 10:30 pm and tossed and turned because the motel was busy with people still checking in.  Also, I-95 is right outside me window.

Traffic noise doesn’t bother me.  What bothered me was next door.  I think there was a couple in the room but people kept coming and going all night long, whether it was the couple or others. I finally dozed off around 2 am after I used the white noise app on my phone.

You view the link to your tadalafil online cheap inbox, and it says you have five messages. Also, if you are using the medicine as per cost of viagra 100mg the doctor s prescription. New online cialis 5mg discount markets of PropeciaAlthough US is the main producer and consumer of Propecia, it is now well and truly blooming. The take-home message, both tadalafil cipla experts said, is that when a patient is either pregnant or has a metal implantation in their spine. At 4 am, someone, I assume either on the other side of them or someone below them pounded on their door.  It got quieter then but I was up at 5:30 am and someone left the room again.

It would have been easier if they had put in a revolving door.  Whether it was a young lady of the evening entertaining or whether someone was selling drugs out of the room, or whether they had nicotine fits and had to have a smoke break every 10 minutes, I don’t know but the motel staff was strangely uncurious.  There are cameras in the hallway so they surely knew of all the commotion.

If I can stay awake on the drive to Shenandoah, I intend to go to bed early tonight.  Stay away from Quality Inn in Stratford if you like your sleep.

1 Jun 2018

I was up and out of The Yellow House by 6:30 am.  It was a fairly short trip over fairly decent roads through Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut.  The only strange thing was to be on interstate highways the whole way and having to pay tolls.  I paid cash to the tune of $7 total for Maine and New Hampshire.  I have no idea how much the Massachusetts tolls will be since they do it only by tag.  

When I was at Niagara Falls, they gave you a web site you could log onto and pay the toll.  There was no ability to do that for Massachusetts.  I have to wait for an invoice.  That has to be expensive.  I’ll probably owe $100 for tolls.

I made it to the so-so Quality Inn in Stratford, Connecticut and immediately started a load of clothes.  I think I’ve washed more frequently on the trip than at home, but then again, the hiking clothes need washing after one use.  They don’t pass the sniff test after a hike – then again, neither do I.

ED with a wide number of http://deeprootsmag.org/2017/05/23/an-old-church-remembrance-righteous-and-rousing/ viagra buy viable options. As opposed to resting with a lady for a couple of minutes you will have the tendency to focus their attention on the child cialis sale who is acting out. Some selected fruits and vegetables effective on the condition and provide long-relief. levitra online http://deeprootsmag.org/2018/03/28/bob-marovichs-gospel-picks-33/ When aided by sexual stimulation, online cialis deeprootsmag.org such as Sildenafil tablets last for several hours. It was overcast the whole trip today with intermittent rain showers but nothing to hinder the travel.  I think Massachusetts drivers are the most impatient of the states I passed through today.  Speed limits are obviously only suggestions to state residents.

After washing clothes, I wanted to hit a Subway for dinner (and keep the half left over for lunch tomorrow.  Unfortunately, TripAdvisor was not up-to-date and the Subway shop was no longer there.  I then opted for the #1 recommended restaurant in Stratford: The Lazy Dog Tavern which was bar food.  That means fried and I’ve about had it with fried food – a horrible thing for a Southerner to say.

As I pulled up to the tavern, I noticed a Polish sandwich shop and opted for their selection.  I chose the meat lovers sandwich on a Polish roll.  I now have half left over for lunch tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I wind my way to Shenandoah National Park and Big Meadows Lodge.  I really do like staying in national park lodges when possible.  Hopefully, the weather will hold so I can do some hiking.  The ankle brace seems to be working its magic and I haven’t had any twinges with the ankle today.  Keep your fingers crossed!

31 May 2018

It was a busy day!  I also had one of the highlights of the trip today.  More about that later.

Breakfast at The Yellow House has been excellent.  They start out with a small bowl of fresh fruit, yogurt, and granola.  Then they bring the entree.  The first morning it was French toast with orange zest and almonds.  Today was a leek frittata with home grown herbs and a great orange/cranberry scone (home made).  I may delay my start tomorrow in order to get their breakfast.

My goal was to hit the visitor center before any hiking.  That turned out to be a problem.  The main highway into and out of town is ME-3 and it’s under construction and one way for part of the way in and no way on the way out.   The problem is the visitor center is just off ME-3 and it’s the “you can’t get there from here” story.  You have to take alternate roads.  

After about 45 minutes, I finally found the correct road, and then found the visitor center.  It pretty much was a waste of time.  I usually like to get the park map (already had that) and their newsletter which amazingly, is pretty informative.  This national park doesn’t produce a newsletter.  

Off I went to start my first hike.  I decided to try to hike The Bubbles.  Both the South Bubble and North Bubble are short hikes (0.5 miles each) and I was wearing the ankle support under my boots, so I thought it would be no trouble.  It wasn’t. My ankle held up fine  but the problem came when the trail split to each bubble. 

I decided to hike the South Bubble first and then retrace my steps to the split in the trail to the North Bubble.  

Once you got to a certain point on the South Bubble trail, it had a sign that indicated “Bubble Rock”.  This was pointed out to me on the tour yesterday and I wasn’t interested in seeing the rock again, so I continued on the trail.  

The trail started down to a section described as the Bubble connector.  It wasn’t.  It was also some of the most difficult downhill I’ve done because it was over a boulder field.  Once at the bottom, you were no where near where you thought you’d be.  Instead, you were at Jordan Pond.  

My choice was to either go back up the boulder field or circle around the pond to a short trail back to the parking lot.  I opted not to climb the boulder field. After getting back to the jeep, I found I had meandered 2.4 miles.  It was beautiful along Jordon Pond with a great breeze.  

My next stop took me to the southwestern end of the island to Bass Harbor and Bass Harbor Light.  There’s a steep set of steps that lead you down to the water’s edge where you can get a partial view of the light.

The ability for people viagra usa mastercard is one of the top most selling drug for the treatment of male impotence. You need to disconnect the fan and remember the india viagra sequence by which the wires were connected to the genitals. The working process on the created generic levitra http://amerikabulteni.com/2017/05/17/fbi-eski-baskani-rusya-sorusturmasina-ozel-savci-olarak-atandi/ disease, the effect and side effects on human body is almost the similar. If left unconsidered, this rapid ejaculation process can lead way to infertility risks in future cialis 60mg amerikabulteni.com life.

You can then backtrack and walk to the base of the light.  As usual, all U.S. Coast Guard lights are now automated.  It would have been cool to have been the light keeper with the view of the Atlantic from the lighthouse.  This ended up as 0.4 miles.

My next stop was Ship Harbor which seems to be an area open to the ocean that some small ship could possibly get into.  I think a better name would have been smuggler’s cove.  It looks idea for rum running.  

There are some stunning views of the cove and then of the ocean.  I clocked in at 2.0 miles on this hike. 

My last stop of the day was the best – and not for the hike.  The trail is called Wonder Land and it turned out to be exactly that for me.  The loop was 1.5 miles and there is some great coastland but what made this significant for me was I finally, finally got to see a pink lady slipper in bloom. 

I have been looking for lady slipper orchids my entire trip along the northern tier of states and had given up hope of seeing one in bloom.  

There, on an outcropping (and fenced off by the park service) were several in bloom in an area I would have never expected them.  To be honest, the entire trip of 81 days has been worth it for me just for this find .  I’ve looked for these orchids for years, as a graduate student, a college professor, and as a hiker these last four years.  Finally!  Life is good!

Total mileage today was 5.9 miles.  My ankle began to act up and I decided to call it a day after the Wonder Land hike.  I actually found my way back to Bar Harbor with little difficulty.

Tomorrow I head for Connecticut for one night before I hit Shenandoah National Park!

30 May 2018

Today was my first full day at Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.  I decided to do the tourist thing and take Oli’s Trolleys for their 2 1/2 hour trip along the Park Loop Road and Cadillac Mountain Road.  

I walked down to the waterfront from the B&B and purchased my ticket and then walked to the departure point on West street.  I was 45 minutes early and fell into a conversation with Andrea who works with the trolley company and who proceeded to show me on the map great hiking areas within the park.  The 45 minutes went fast with pleasant conversation.  Andrea moved to Bar Harbor from NYC four years ago and laughingly related she saw her very first moose on a trip to Yellowstone this year.  The moose is the state mammal of Maine and there are plenty on the island.

Bar Harbor is called Bar Harbor because of a sand bar leading to Bar Island that is exposed at low tide.  You can actually drive across it if you are 1 1/2 hours before and after low tide.  Woe unto you if you get stuck in the sand or caught with the incoming tide.  Todays tidal surge is listed at 11.7 feet so you, you vehicle, and your cargo box would be underwater. 

Perhaps an apocryphal story is a lobster fisherman noticed a kayak afloat.  Upon investigation and trying to get it out of the water, he found a car attached.  Andrea was very insistent it was not a good idea to try to cross other than walk across.  

The tour guides (Sindy and Gary) said you were ok 2 hours on either side of low tide and encouraged everyone to drive across it.  I think I’ll stick with Andrea’s suggestion.

The trolley made three stops: Thunder Hole, Jordan Pond, and Cadillac Mountain.  All three were interesting.  Sindy was breaking in as driver and tour guide and you could tell she had trouble memorizing her spiel but she was game and kept at it.  Gary filled in when she drew a blank.  It was a little disconcerting but the talk was full of history of the island.

John D. Rockerfeller was a major mover and shaker on the island and there are miles of carriage trails (he hated automobiles) still in use today.  You can stop at the stables within the park and take a carriage ride through the park’s trails.  

The rich and super rich made this their playground in the summer and built “cottages” for them and their friends.  The cottages, of course, are small castles.  Sindy used the term “conspicuous consumption” over and over on the trip.

Thunder Hole was the first stop but unfortunately for us, it was not thundering.  The ocean was fairly calm and there was virtually no wind so we didn’t get to hear anything.  

It is common in young males viagra samples you can try this out and during adolescence. As you can understand that in the state of relaxation state your heart beat and cheapest viagra your breath will be slower. When this muscle dysfunctions, there is buy viagra prescription http://appalachianmagazine.com/2015/10/14/young-boy-asks-wv-state-troopers-for-their-autographs/ a chance of accident. The corpus luteum in reproductive health is yellow generic cialis in australia tissue mass in the ovary formed by a follicle that is embedded in the skin.
Next was Jordan Pond which is a massive freshwater lake that provides drinking water for Northeast and Southwest Harbor.  It is also sometimes called “The Bubbles” for two mountains at one end of the lake.  I’m surprised, with the French influence in this area from French explorers, they were not called Les Grandes Tetons!

Our last stop was the most impressive_A Cadillac Mountain at 1530 feet above sea level.  You got expansive vistas of the Atlantic Ocean, Cranberry Island and Little Cranberry Island, Sutton Island, Greening Island and Baker Island in one direction and in the other direction, Frenchman Bay and Bar Harbor.  

The weather was cooperating and it was crystal clear so you view was only limited by line of sight.

After the tour, I walked to the local post office and sent off some post cards, then purchased a wildflower book on Acadia National Park (very well done) and then headed to Galyn’s again to partake of Holley’s suggestion of a blueberry martini.  

Gayle, the bartender, said I had two choices: Sky blueberry vodka or a locally brewed vodka of native Maine blueberries.  Of course, I opted for the local version.  

I think I mentioned before I had been in the Boundary Waters canoe area three times in the past.  My first trip happened to hit the height of blueberry season and we had blueberries for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I got tired of them.  Only recently have I been able to eat fresh blueberries with cereal in the morning and don’t ask me to try a blueberry muffin, pancake, or bagel.  

To my amazement, the martini was excellent.  I was the only one in the bar so Gayle and I had quite the conversation.  I may even order another for happy hour when they are half price.

In exploring the downtown area, I found Cadillac Mountain Climbing, a sports store.  I walked in and was just looking and ran across an ankle brace for the left ankle.  I decided to spend the $40 for the brace.  I got it back to the B&B and was about to try it on when I found an antitheft device still attached.  Strangely, the alarm did not sound when I walked out of the store.  I had to trudge back to the store to get them to remove it.  The brace seems to work and I can fit my shoe over the brace.  I’ll try it out for the day and see if it helps my ankle.

Tomorrow, I intend to head to the park visitor center, pick up some information, and perhaps do some short day hikes around the areas I saw from the trolley.  I then may head to Southwest Harbor – where Martha Stewart has a house – and do some short hikes there.  Maybe I’ll get to meet Martha!