Niagara Falls

Okay - final post from the Skinner 2019 summer vacation super trip.

We made it to Niagara with time to grab a dinner and then go find the falls which were only about 15 minutes or so from where we were staying. We had driven through some pretty strong storms along the way, and it was still drizzling when we got there, but Ian and I made the short walk from the parking lot we found (American Rapids) to the falls to see them lit up.

We then turned in to prepare for super tourism day.

For Niagara, we went full Tourist (with a capital "T") and got the super happy discovery pass, which got us into Cave of the Winds (which Leah wanted) as well as the Maid of the Mist (which Catherine and I wanted...Ian was indifferent).

We started at Cave of the Winds with an elevator ride to the bottom of the Bridal Veil falls, and got these amazing yellow ponchos.

I took another photo of the Cave of the Winds folks from the deck of the Mist of the Maid boat, below.

Leah had a good time on the Hurricane Deck (I think we all did, she was the only one foolish enough to go back in once I could pull my phone back out to snap some photos!).

We then beat the other tourists to an early lunch, and avoided the stupid long lines. While they ate, we then avoided more lines at the Maid of the Mist. They run things often enough that I think the lines are relatively quick, at least at anything other than peak peak season. Maid of the Mist is blue poncho. Ian and Catherine decided to admire the Canadian Horseshoe falls from the 1st story deck.

We then saw the movie at the visitor center, and then made our way to the aquarium. Niagara tourist quadrifecto!

Cheers,

Marc

Acadia, Day 5 and then off to other parts

I got up early on our last morning to go take some more sunrise shots, but from further south along the Otter Point peninsula.

I moved around to a couple of different locations, partly just to see new places, but also to avoid the millennial nerds playing loud music like we were at a rave or something. Dorks.

Once the sun was good an up, I headed back to camp where we took everything down, and reloaded the van.

We then hit the road to a little place in the northwoods of Maine. We went there so I could drive by Saddleback Lake on our way through the next morning. We got all the way there, and then the privacy signs turned me away. We were set to spend the night in Keene, NH, and the route I took had us pass through the White Mountains, around Mt. Washington and then along the Kancamangus Highway. Once past Concord, the GPS took us right past Keyser Pond where my Mom's side of the family would spend summers. It was fun to see how much the area had been developed.

After Keene, we made a long drive to Niagara where we played super tourist...

Cheers,

Marc

Acadia, Day 4

This was a BIG day!

First up, Ian, Leah, and I hiked up the Beehive trail. If you look closely at the exposed rock/cliff faces, you'll see the trail of people leading to the top.

The hike itself isn't terribly difficult - it has less than 1,000 feet of vertical gain, but it goes pretty much straight up!

It has iron bars sunk into the rock to help make the hike a bit easier, which was really very helpful.

And it only had a couple of sketchy areas - and sketchy only because the trail was pretty narrow in 2 or 3 places. Nothing bad without a fear of heights - both kids did great!

And here we all are at the top.

With the view looking south and east towards Sandy Beach and Great Head to the left with little Otter Point sticking out there in the right.

Later, we picked up Catherine and we took the kids for a horse carriage ride on the carriage roads.

Our two horses did a good job hauling us (and several others) around in the hot sun (we hit upper 80's low 90's while we were there - not what we were counting on).

Afterwards, we loaded up and made our way to Southeast Harbor where we ate at Beal's Lobster Pier. I had a delicious lobster roll that was pretty darn tasty.

And finally, we drove to Bass Harbor to watch the sun set at the lighthouse. From a photographic perspective, we were unlucky to be blessed with cloudless skies. So seeing there wouldn't be any color to wait on, I took a couple of photos different from what you'll see on postcards of the place.

When we left, there was a line of cars waiting for a spot in the parking lot. Glad we got there when we did, and even more glad we left when we did.

Cheers,

Marc

Acadia, Day 3

The next day I had an early start. I went back to the coast near Otter Cliffs and pointed my camera towards Monument Cove with the rising sun in the background.

I then went back to the campground where we enjoyed some breakfast before heading out for a short hike to find some of the bridges on the carriage roads. It was pretty warm, so it was just me on the hike, while everyone else stayed in the shade.

I made my way to Waterfall Bridge (which had no waterfall).

And then down to Hadlock Brook Bridge. Afterwards, we went in to Northeast Harbor to enjoy a nice lunch, and then back to camp for some quiet time. That evening, everyone came down to Otter Point to catch the Milky Way. We had taken part in a Ranger program the evening prior about the night skies - this was just the repeat attempt to take a better photo.

Cheers,

Marc

Acadia, Day 2

If you have been following along with our journey, you'll recall that we arrived at Acadia National Park the day before, and hiked down to the ocean. The next day, we drove to Jordan Pond, arriving well before the crazy hordes of vacationers got there (say 9 o'clock - not too early).

We hiked around Jordan Pond, hiking clockwise - taking the more difficult portion first, so we could have a nice relaxing hike to finish it out. It starts onto these elevated boardwalks - which I thought were pretty cool.

It eventually goes through a rocky landslide with some minor scrambling - everyone managed it. Once through the slide, the trail opened up onto a graded path, with two bridge crossings. The first a loon had set up its nest not 20 feet from the trail in full sunlight, with a beaver lodge about 10 feet further back from there.

We completed the hike around 11 o'clock and Catherine got us reservations for the Jordon Pond House restaurant for an early lunch. We enjoyed the popovers and the nice break. Afterwards, Ian, Leah, and I hopped on a shuttle and went to a trailhead to climb the Bubbles (the two rounded mountains, below). We climbed up South Bubble and then made our way towards North Bubble, but stopped short of the peak so we could catch the shuttle back to Catherine.

We stuck around for sunset, which the colors fizzled in the sky, but it was still quite beautiful. Afterwards, we drove to Otter Cliffs where I took some photos of the Milky Way (didn't turn out). Again, even though the photos didn't turn out, it was still pretty awe inspiring to see all the stars and the Milky Way overhead, with the tide coming up.

Cheers,

Marc

Acadia, Day 1

We're baaaack!

We just got home a little bit ago, and I am making my way through some of our photos. From our last stop, we had visited the Mark Twain house in Hartford, Connecticut and then traveled to Portland, Maine. From there, we made the drive to Acadia, and had some fun driving along the coast.

Once we made it to Acadia, we stopped at Sieur Des Monts to take a short hike on the picturesque Jesups Trail. It felt good to stretch the legs.

We then drove to our campsite (Blackwoods) and got everything set up. Since we had some time, we decided to hike down to the coast and see what we could find.

We hiked down to the Otter Cliffs and boulder beach.

I took the opportunity to set up the tripod and snap a quick family photo.

From here, we hiked back to camp, cooked dinner, did the dishes, then turned in. True to form, our Rainmaker brought a quick rainstorm that night, with a few distant rumbles of thunder, but everything was dry by morning.

More photos and stories to follow!

Cheers,

Marc