New England Trip

This was our last day at Bar Harbor. We went into town in the morning to have breakfast at a popular little restaurant called “2 Cats,” specializing in eggs benedict, omelets, bagels, and other wonderful stuff. It turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, because our waiter seemed to forget us, and our food was served very late, having apparently sat a while on the kitchen counter. After breakfast, we stopped by a sculpture artist’s studio, and then picked up Wicket for another trip around the Acadia National Park loop road on Desert Island.

We stopped at an area that we skipped earlier – “Thunder Hole.” When large waves crash into a narrow cut in the rocks, the water compresses the air in the cut and results in sort of a thunderclap. You can feel the impact through the solid granite surrounding the cut.

We then found another great bluff to set up our chairs, enjoy a cup of wine, and read our books beside the surf. It’s a new discovery for us that we don’t have to keep moving constantly, but can sit still and enjoy one beautiful place for a while. We met some folks (one wearing a Clemson T-shirt) from Iva, South Carolina. Iva is a wide spot in the road just across the state line from Hartwell.

Along the loop road we met a couple who were interested in Wicket and said they also have a Shih Tzu. To our surprise, the same couple - Jim and Allene - appeared later, back at the campground, walking their Shih Tzu named Ethel (!) right beside our campsite. Ethel would have nothing to do with Wicket, who was beside himself with excitement about meeting her, and was much more friendly than he has usually been around other dogs. We stood around and swapped camping stories with Jim and Allene for a long time. They are from Tennessee, and we may catch up with them again in Mystic Seaport on our way south, since our travel schedules seem to overlap again there.

We will need to get a very early start tomorrow morning, because we have over 350 miles to drive, and part of it takes us past Boston on a Friday afternoon, where we are told to expect most of the population headed to Cape Cod with us for the weekend.