Rousing ourselves early this morning, we hit the road shortly after 7 a.m. to go to Acadia National Park, the Park Loop, and Bar Harbor Maine. We knew we would have to leave the north part of the Island by 1 p.m. to head along Hwy. 1 along the Maine Coast to Calais (pronounced “Callous”, which Bob laughed about more times that I could count), the border crossing with Canada. Back to the DownEast area..............Acadia and Bar Harbor. We went up to the top of Cadillac Mountain which is the highest spot on the East Coast and the first part of the United States to see the sunrise. The island was named Desert Island by Champlain in the early 1600’s because it is bare of most trees and has a lot of rock with little cover soil. You can see how happy Bob is to be on vacation and seeing new territory.


After visiting the mountain, we stopped by Bubble Pond and then Jordan Pond. These are more beautiful small lakes than ponds that have been dug out of surrounding ground by glaciers many years ago.



We then shortly visited Seal Harbor, the Northeast Harbor and drove along Sommes fjord. One boat was out in the fjord checking his lobster traps.



Our final stop while on Desert Island was Bar Harbor, a very quaint town that brings to mind Carmel or Calistoga CA. it looks like a neat place to stay and then see the sights around the area. We enjoyed a Lobster Roll with fresh Maine lobster on grilled toast. We bought 1/2 lb. crab meat at the same place to eat along with way with a box of fresh strawberries. The crab was really great, mild and melt in your mouth like butter. Yum!

It was on to Calais and entering Canada. The border crossing was fairly quick. They wanted to know if Bob was an unemployed Terrorist and if I was his veterinarian accomplice. Since we weren’t, it was OK for us to be Canadians for a few weeks. We found a lovely beach and view of the Bay of Fundy at Dipper Harbor located about 18 miles west of St. John.


We rushed off to get in line for the ferry crossing from St. John to Digby NS. For some reason, the ferry left the dock about one hour before we expected. Later we found out that the time zone changed to one hour ahead at the border. A very good thing that Bob pushed us to be there early or we could have missed our ferry and lost the $178 it cost to take it. It is about 72 km across the Bay of Fundy (where the tide change can be 4 stories in itself). We will arrive about 11 pm at Digby and on to the B and B.

Tags: Bangor, Bar Harbor, Acadia Park, Canada, Nova Scotia

We traveled up I-95 this afternoon and reached Bangor Maine in 4.5 hours. It is not a very scenic drive since there is mostly just scrub trees alongside the road. It appears that the East Coast seems to favor not cutting plant growth alongside roads where in the West, we have a much better view of the countryside from our freeways. It is much nicer to view the Willamette Valley or the Columbia River Gorge than have the view blocked by trees.

Bangor seems to be a nice city with some large barn-like homes near the downtown. They look like they have a lot of square feet or would hold a number of apartments. It is difficult to adjust to the New England abruptness or crustiness, especially with servers at restaurants. It is no-nonsense business, “What do ya waaant” type of request and don’t interfere with their work. Bob asked tonight for Zinfandel and they said they had it. it was White Zinfandel and when he said he had asked for a red Zin, it was “Oh, you want a Chianti”. Different reality! Bangor is Paul Bunyon Country and also has a museum of The Maine. It is a shame we don’t have more time here. On to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor ME daytime tomorrow, a thunderstorm is threatening tonight.


Peirce Memorial to Lumbermen in downtown Bangor.

Tags: Bangor, Memorials

We are set to leave around noon for our drive from Quincy up to Bangor Maine. Before we leave the area, I want to mention the Stone Cottage at the Adams House. The cottage in the picture has about 14,000 books belonging to the 4 generations of Adams. It also has the desk of John Adams where he wrote many of his papers and important documents.

Tags: Maine, John Adams

Getting around early, we made the 10:15 tour of the Adams Historical Site in Quincy MA. The tour leaves from the National Park Service store at Hancock Plaza. The trolley goes first to the birthplaces of John Adams and John Quincy Adams. The houses are next to each other. It reminds me of The Alamo in that the houses and some lawn are right in the middle of many homes and businesses in a large neighborhood.

The Adams home is below where they lived after John Adams was Peace Envoy to France and Ambassador to Great Britain. There were many original antiques and paintings. The Stone Library was wonderful with 14,000 books belonging to the 4 generations of Adams. The desk John Adams wrote many of his papers and worked on the Massachusetts Constitution is there. This is felt to be the oldest, standing Constitutions in the world and the basis for our Constitution. You can feel the respect and awe for this document by the National Park Service guides and the public. One wishes that many in our current government and administration could have such respect for our federal Constitution. Instead of fund-raising, maybe some historical sight-seeing is in order.


“John Adams is an honest man, often a wise one, and absolutely at times, out of his senses.”
Ben Franklin, in Paris.

Tags: John Adams, Quincy MA

I could see a bright orange glow peeping through the gap in the curtains at 5 a.m. ET. I got up and looked out the window to see this beautiful sunrise over Quincy MA. We should be off to the Adams Historical Site today so it should be a new, interesting day.

Tags: Sunrise

We got started this morning by arriving at PDX shortly after 5:30 a.m. Our seats had been re-structured to where we had to be in the last row on the left side. Full flight. Time did seem to go quickly and it was a non-stop on Alaska Airlines. We landed with thunderstorms around and in the midst of rain and wind gusts. As wheels touched down, a big wind gust blew the plane sideways to the right. A new experience.

We caught the Blue Line Bus #66 to the Water Taxi/Harbor Express to Quincy. It was a fun ferry and an opportunity to take photos of a new area I have not seen before. Boston Harbor and the City (below).



The Boston Harbor Wharf near downtown Boston from the Harbor Express on the way to Quincy.

Tags: Boston, Air Travel

During the first week of June, we got a call from my cousin across the road asking if our dog, Adder, was loose. They had a black Lab-type dog in their yard. We could see him from our bedroom window. Over the next 36 hours, we kept seeing this same dog running up and down Berlin Rd. He was frantic and would not allow us to come close. We could hear buses and trucks honking at him along the road. Eventually, Bob and another neighbor got him to approach and they could put a leash on him. Over the following two weeks, he fit into our family and was neutered, licensed, vaccinated, and microchipped. His name is “Whirling Dervish”, “Dervish” for short, since he was so active and panicked when he joined us. Welcome to the family,“Dervish”.

Tags: Dogs

I love Scotland and the Scottish accent. I have been to Scotland five times throughout my life and have enjoyed every visit. Today we went to see the animated film, “Brave”. it was funny and full of Scottish accents. The characters were exaggerated yet adorable. It made me long to visit the Highlands where one can see the Lochs and the Glens. They had no sheep in the movie so it was not true to life in every manner. At the end, the heroine, Merida, reminds us that we must face our fear by knowing who we are and what we want in life. We must be brave!

Edinburgh Castle in September 2008.

Tags: Movies, Scotland

Today we went to the Powell-McKinney reunion at Providence Church. The founder of many Powell descendants and the Providence Church near Lacomb is Joab Powell. He was a well-known Baptist circuit preacher in Oregon. He, his wife Ann, and his children (14 in all) traveled the Oregon Trail from near Independence MO to this part of Oregon in 1852. I am descended through his third son, Peter (Nancy Cyrus) Powell, through Rachael Arminta Powell (David H. Peterson), through Goldie Peterson (Richard E. Wolfenbarger), through William E. Wolfenbarger (Edith Constance Wolfenbarger), then to me.

The church is now the Vineyard Providence Church and it makes a nice gathering place for the annual reunion. Inside the chapel, there is a lovely large wood cross with a draped red robe across it.

Tags: Family, reunion

Today I had to get up and get myself together earlier than usual since I was scheduled to do a Housecall at The Oaks Assisted Living Facility in Lebanon. Grayson is an elder gentlemanly cat who lives with a couple at The Oaks. He had been given to them by a friend who takes care of a lot of strays at her home near by. The friend is a client I visit to give medical care to her strays. When Grayson had been given to them a few years ago, he was visited a week later by the friend to see how he was settling in. The elderly couple described how Grayson took her around the home step by step to show her each of his bowls, his beds, and special areas. Aren’t we lucky that cats want to share their life stories with us?

Tags: Cats