Acadia hikes

When you work long hours every day, you don't realise, how much stress and pressure you have in your life. Until you go on a holiday and can relax. At the same time your immune system is relaxed too and so it happened, I had a bad cold during our holiday. Apparently there's even a name for it - leisure sickness. People who know me, know that I don't give up easily and hate being ill, so I was trying really hard to carry on.
Our first hike was around Jordan Pond. The route was well marked and it was impossible to get lost as it literally followed the banks of the lake.

Maurice found a walking stick

Jordan Pond

On west side of the lake (I think) it was nice and even foot path with some bridges. The nature is just so amazing there. We saw a few trees that had found their end through beavers' teeth, huge blueberry plants and numerous little squirrels. And of course the autumn colours!

Foot path

Beaver's job

Those chewed stumps reminded me of Estonia again as beavers are quite common there. They can turn to be quite a nuisance for farmers when building dams and flooding the fields. But for us nature lovers it's just nice to see that they are around and enjoying themselves.

Breaking point

Coming to the end of the lake the scenery or our path changed drastically. Instead of even footpath we now faced huge rocks and you had to find your way through or over them. I think that was actually Maurice's favourite part of the hike. While I was struggling with my low energy levels due to my cold, he was running and jumping from one rock to another, making funny noises. Later on during the holiday he kept saying that he wants to jump on rocks, but couldn't find any as good as here. 

With the best hiking companion

Where's the path?

Just when we got used to the rocks, our path changed again. This time it was wooden boards. In order to save the moss and other plants, they have built a board path and ask people to only stay on it. I guess it also gets quite wet in certain times of year. Some of the boards where being replaced and then we had to take a little detour through the forest. It was good timing if not late for changing them as quite a few of the boards were quite wobbly. We didn't have any problems but as we were trying to take pictures of little squirrels a family approached us. A man stepped on the board, it lifted up behind him and hit the lady in the shin, so that she fell off the boards, head first. My nurse instincts kicked in, but there were so many people around her already and luckily she was ok, only narrowly missed a huge rock. I really need to start carrying some first aid kit with me as I had nothing with me.

Squirrel 

                                                               

Wooden path

We had a few very rainy days, which we spent in museums, bowling, driving to bigger near-by towns and eating. I was hoping that having a rest like that would help me recover from the cold, but it only got worse. Eventually I gave up and bought some medication. I have no faith in them and I don't think it did but I just got to the point where I had to do something. 

Our bowling experience was quite interesting.  It was called candlepin bowling. The balls are much smaller than in traditional bowling and there are no finger holes. You throw three balls in one frame and the pins are slimmer too. We quite enjoyed it. 

 While visiting a book store, we looked a book about Maine and there was a section of must do things. One of them was trying Moxie. We tried to find it and when we finally did, Maurice refused to even taste it. I was brave - how bad can a fizzy drink be? Oh, how wrong I was! I don't know what was in there, but I urge you to learn from my mistake and not to try it!:) 

I'll write a few words about Bar Harbor - the little town where we stayed. It really was a small town and I think if I was ever to visit the area again, I would like to move around a bit more. There is so much to see in that area, but the distances are quite big. Anyway, Bar Harbor is situated on Mount Desert Island. A very popular place for tourism. It was end of season now and there were a lot of people still around, few cruise ships etc. I don't know what it's like in summer time. The town probably survives thanks to tourism, so it has loads of places to eat, shops, churches, cinemas and of course hotels, inns, motels. They also do boat rides and we wanted to go whale watching - one of the main reasons we came, but unfortunately it was cancelled due to bad weather. 

Geddy's  - Maurice's favourite eatery

Geddy's inside

The time has stopped

Town green

You can walk straight from Bar Harbor

Shore Path in Bar Harbor

Pumpkins are very popular

It's getting cold

There are a lot of Moose in Maine, but they don't tend to like Mount Desert Island. We were really hoping to see one. And one day when driving, I saw it crossing the road in the distance. I only noticed it when it was nearly in the bushes, so could only see the dark back side and because of the height I'm pretty sure it was a moose. When I was a child, I saw a lot of moose and they were quite dangerous when driving. I spent my summers in the countryside while mum and dad drove to town to work every morning. Occasionally they would take us with them and on those early mornings, before we were on a motorway, there were moose on the fields, enjoying their breakfast. So it's not like I haven't seen them, but if you have such an opportunity to see them again, you want to use it. We even thought of driving to Greenville - a town, where there are many moose around it. But it was 3 hour drive one way, so may be next time.

I thought I can do my writing in two parts, but it seems that I can't. So there will be third part too. Stay tuned!:)