Sunset over Frenchman Bay
The morning of August 25 was wash, rinse, repeat.
(The following exchange appeared erroneously in the previous post because my note-taking was faulty.)
I went to the window, opened the sash, and pulled two of the small screen fasteners inwards.
"What are you doing?" Jack asked, somewhat alarmed.
"Taking out the screen," I said, as I turned it sideways and moved it into the room. I stashed it between the desk and the wall by the door. "I'll put it back before we leave."
The view, such as it was, would be much better without the mesh in the way.
There was a gull next to the owl again as we ate breakfast outside.
I hadn't noticed the warning sign before.
Rickety rode down from Atlantic House to join the five of us at the top of the Inn's driveway. We were on our gravel bikes. We went down to West Street and crossed Route 3, climbing a hill to get to Duck Brook Road, where we entered the carriage roads.
We took the Witch Hole Pond carriage road, which passes two smaller ponds before Witch Hole. We stopped for them all, of course.
I remembered a beaver lodge from years before. Now it was abandoned and overgrown. The only affordable real estate on the oh never mind.
After finishing the loop, we turned south towards Eagle Lake, with a pit stop at the parking area. I had to admire this e-bike cruiser because it looked so old-fashioned.
We went around the west side of Eagle Lake, following the Tri Lake Loop that appears on the carriage road maps.
When we got to the top of Jordan Pond, I pointed out the rock face on the North Bubble where Heddy, Ginger, and I had stopped on our failed attempt to reach Bubble Rock two years ago.
Our Jeff stopped to chat with a rider on a rented Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop e-bike like the one he was going to get for our road rides tomorrow.
We were about to start again when riders coming our way told us a carriage was behind them. We waited for it to pass.
The driver noticed our jerseys. "Princeton Free Wheelers!" he called out. "I'm from Hunterdon County!" I wondered which part he was from, the part that likes us or the part that hates us.
In the back seat were three dogs.
I blew past an intersection on the way to Jordan Pond and got scolded for not waiting. Mea culpa. Not everyone had the route on their GPS, it turned out.
Now we could see the mountains we couldn't see two days ago.
Turning south from Jordan Pond, we crossed Park Loop Road next to a grand carriage house.
We stopped to regroup at the top of a small hill.
When we reached the intersection of the Day Mountain carriage road, which wasn't on our route, I asked if anyone wanted to add six miles with climbing. Only Heddy did, so we didn't. "The surface is bad again," I said by way of excuse. "I went up in the spring." I wanted to save my legs for Cadillac anyway.
Our last lake was Bubble Pond. There was a cyclist by the water when I stepped down to take pictures. "I think this is the prettiest one," she said.
After that, we crossed Park Loop Road again, and then it was a straight shot up the eastern side of Eagle Lake. I stopped the group twice at the northern end for pictures.
Our Jeff and I agreed that one, the carriage roads were more crowded today than they were two years ago; and two, that there were so. many. e-bikes. The best I could figure was that e-bikes must be cheap enough to buy in bulk for rentals now, and they must be in high demand. It was good to see so many folks out there, though. And most of them were well-behaved.
I flubbed my own route by turning off the carriage roads at the Eagle Lake parking lot instead of following the gravel back up to Duck Brook. This mistake made everyone's GPS go haywire as it tried to get us back onto the carriage roads at every opportunity. The chaos ended past Duck Brook Road as we plummeted down Eagle Lake Road back into town.
Now, see how much better the view is without that screen in the way?
I swapped wheels back to the road set quickly and easily, but I was still nervous. I am every time I have to re-seat a rear wheel.
Jack, Rickety, and I met at Bar Harbor Beerworks for lunch. I usually go after my Cadillac ride, but a giant soft pretzel and a sour beer is good after any ride. We sat on the open roof level. Heddy and Ginger spotted us as we were finishing. I went with them into the shops to walk off my lunch.
Later, I sat by the water on the Shore Path again.
The air was clear enough for me to see the Egg Rock lighthouse.
In the spring, I got a closeup of the container next to the breakwater. It was loaded with rocks. It seemed more empty this time.
I slid down the wall to walk on the rocks.
I had to hoist myself back up. Someone roughly my age asked me if I needed help. "Nope. Thanks," I said, and popped over the top, surprising myself a little. Yeah, I'm 60, but I do push-ups and stuff.
On my walk back to the Main Inn, I spotted a monarch.
I suggested Blaze for dinner. Jack had noticed that they'd opened a dining area out back as a separate pizzaria, which is where we ended up sitting. Because the concept was something new, the server went to great lengths to explain all the different pizza styles available. After much deliberation, we all chose, and we were all satisfied, except Jack. His looked inedible and it was. Steer clear of their South Shore style. Gross. It was cheezy crust swimming in greasy cheese.
Rickety and Cheryl found us, and we offered them some of our pizza.
To make up for his lousy dinner, Jack decided to go to Parilla, the bar half of Havana, for a glass of Yqem. While he was doing this, I went back to the pier with Rickety and Cheryl for some more sunset pictures. The three of us left before the bill came in order to catch the sunset in time.
Hi, Maggie!
Cheryl had remarked on these clouds as we were on Main Street at the top of the hill. "They'll be gone by the time we get there," I said, but I managed to catch the very end of the show.
This winch is used to haul lobsters off the boats and into refrigerated trucks. I have photos of that happening somewhere on my hard drive.
Heddy and Ginger made their way down to the pier as the light faded.
Jack, having finished his Yqem, found us in Agamont Park. He'd seen the line at Jordan Pond and hadn't tried going in. After Rickety and Cheryl left, he tried again, came back with something, and we sat in the dusk facing the water for a while.
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