Thursday, August 6, 2009

August 2009



Aug.31st we left this morning for the Millinocket, Me area as this is in the shadow of Mt. Katahdin. It was a pleasant drive up and we had a safe trip. When we went to check in at the CG it was closed for a short time as they went to the Post Office. We then went to do a Geo-cache and came across a great view of Mt. Katahdin across a lake, the mountain was about 25 miles away and is such a impressive sight. Just as we found the geo-cache and were leaving on some loose stones Jon said to be careful not to fall, at that same time Kathleen was falling; luckily only a little bruise and a slightly skinned arm. We got back and checked in to the CG and set up our tent and then proceeded to Baxter State Park. We walked a trail that took us to a lake at the base of the mountain and really got to see it up close. This is the northern most point of the Appalachian Trail. After that we went back into town to get something to eat and a few supplies for the tent. Since we have a summer tent we got a tarp to cover the openings and we heard the temps were going down tonight. Another good day of sightseeing.

Aug. 30th we usually don’t talk too much about work but, today was a really good day as we got to talk with several people that are full timers and or wanabes. Since today was a slow day and a lot of people just came in for information we had time for a chat with several of them. Then there was this one fellow that is the world is only for me and no one else cares, we all know the ones. He had a very high SUV and it was rather hard for the two of us to load a 120 lb. kayak on the top of it which we did and he didn’t even help to tie it down. On the return trip it was only his short wife and the two of us to unload it and we asked the wife where he was, she said that he thought there would help at the shop to unload it, which it is not and that he was at the Golf course. Now the Golf course is less than 5 minutes away and he would have been delayed less than 15 minutes. As well even the wife didn’t know how to open the rear door to get rest of the equipment out. He is just so worried about his wants that no one else mattered, including his wife. After work we got home and did a lot of packing for tomorrow’s trip.




View of the coast.














Aug.29th just want to catch up on what we have been doing over the past week. We were working last weekend when the tragedy happened at Thunder Hole. Reading the paper for the past week and hearing about personal accounts of the event, it seems like a rogue wave came ashore and washed about 20 people into the water. Sadly, a 7-year-old girl went under and was not found for a few hours. She did not survive. During the early part of the week we did a lot of repair on the MH, one of the main jobs was to finish up on the coolant system. We replaced all of the coolant and filters in the cooling system. We then replaced the hydraulic supply tank as the old one had a leak, it didn’t really leak that much but we were seeing more and more fluid on the ground. On Thursday we went to supper with our coworkers Ron & Shirley, since we all work at the same store and when they have off we work and vise versa. Because of this we decided to get together on Thursdays and have a visit and a night out. Today we only worked 4 hours as it had started to rain around 3 AM as TS Denny is making its way up the coast. Around 4:30 we went to Thunder Hole. When we were there before we never got to hear much of a sound, well that all changed today as the seas were rough and the tide was coming in. Today when we were there it was booming and we got some great pictures of the waves coming in. Where you usually stand was blocked off and that area was being covered with water. At the present time as we sit here it is pouring outside as we are as close to Denny as we are going to be. Even though it is wet outside we had a great day.

Aug 20th we met up with Jeff & Shirley and went to Grumpy’s for breakfast. This is such a nice setting which overlooks Southwest Harbor, plus the food is very good, after that we returned to our MH to get ready to go to work. After work we met up with Jeff & Shirley at Mainly Meats for dinner and enjoyed our last night with each other. We hate to see them go but we all have our jobs and we do cherish the time we have together.

Aug.19th we put on our hiking boots and along with Jeff & Shirley we hiked to Long Pond, it was a nice day for a walk, not to hot but just right. We stopped and munched on some blueberries along the way. In the afternoon we went on a tour at the Atlantic Brewing Co. We enjoyed this very much and although we didn’t buy any of their beers or ales we did buy some of the mustard that they are involved with making. Later in the afternoon we returned to our site and had a lobster cookout and just really enjoyed the meal, after that we just sat around the campfire and had a good evening. Another good day

Aug 18th as we awoke Jon was feeling great and we went and got some kayaks and went out to Eagle Lake. We probably did a good 5 miles around the lake and had a great time doing it. We were so lucky to see an eagle at the lake and to get within 100 feet of it; we didn’t want to scare it off so we gave him space and didn’t get any closer. After that we went to Beach cliffs for a short hike of about ¼ mile, the views are spectacular. We did spend a short amount of time here as it was up over 90 degrees again today. We decided that a dip in Echo Lake was the thing to do so we went swimming. After cleaning up and eating dinner we went out near Otter Point with some wine, cheese and crackers. Just another great way to end a good day, plus no one felt bad today.




Aug 17th we got up early and after getting ready and waking Jeff & Shirley we went up on Cadillac Mt. to view the sunrise, and a spectacular sight it was and to top it off we were one of the first along with the others on the mountain to see the sunrise this day in the whole United States. After that we had planned to eat at a restaurant in Southwest Harbor, but they were closed and we ate back in our own MH’s. Well we think that summer is here as the temperature went over the 90 degree mark. Jeff, Shirley & Jon had a tee time and played in the heat. On the back nine Shirley was getting to feel poorly as she was experiencing heat exhaustion, she did make it through ok and we finished up with no more problems. Later in the afternoon we all went to the Jordan Pond House for a light dinner and after that we walked some Carriage Trails to a waterfall. After starting our walk in the wrong direction we made a course correction and made it fine from there. During this time Jon was feeling quite poorly and we don’t know if it was the heat from the morning and or something that he ate. After the walk we did go Southwest Harbor to get a Blueberry pie, unfortunately they were sold out. We went back and visited with Jeff & Shirley for a while. It was a good day even at times maybe Jon didn’t think so.




Aug 16th this being the last day of work for this weekend we had a young fellow come in to rent a bike to go to the top of Cadillac Mt. We told him that most all of our customers ride the carriage roads and that since he was from Florida this is higher than any were in FL. Well he did the ride and took a picture up on top of the mountain and forwarded it to us and we are sharing it here. After work we brought one of the company vans back to the park so that it could be inspected the next day, Jon was confronted by the grumpy old man that works at our other store about the call we made for some help. Seems that he was upset by the way we talk, and it doesn’t fit well with him, can’t please everyone so Jon just walked away to defuse the situation. We then went to Jeff & Shirley’s site as they had prepared dinner for us. We enjoyed the visit and had a nice time till the bugs ran us away. Another great day.


Aug 14th as we returned from work we were happy to see that Jeff & Shirley made it here safely and we had dinner together. We threw a few burgers on the grill and started a fire and got down to some needed update on each other. We are deciding what we will be doing the next several days. They will be here for the next week and it is quite ironic that they got here a day after Mike & Sharon and Fox & Linda left. We were friend starved for several weeks we have some good friends here two weeks in a row. We have made friends all over the country but here in Maine it is a different story.

Aug 13th we meet up with Mike & Sharon and Fox & Linda at Grumpy’s in Southwest harbor for breakfast. We had a great time and we just enjoyed each other’s company, after spending time there we went to get ready to go to work, and they took off exploring the west side of the island. We did meet back up with them after work and then we followed them to the cottage that they had rented. We said our good-bys and went home as they were getting ready for the trip back to Pa. and De. It was a much needed friend’s fix as when Larry & Sharon left we don’t know many people at the CG. We do get together with Ron & Shirley but as they work the opposite of us we don’t get to see each other socially. We do try to get together at least once a week.























































Aug. 12th in the morning we just took it easy around the MH and did a lot of clean-up from the past few days. It was a good day to relax and sort of rest up for the afternoon activities. Later in the afternoon we met up with Mike & Sharon and Fox & Linda as we had a light dinner and then we went on a lobster boat nature cruise, it was on the LuLu. We started out to raise a lobster trap and when we got into the area we spotted an Eagle and within a few minutes it was accompanied by second Eagle, what a great sight as the two Eagles just roosted there as we took some pictures. After a talk by the captain on lobsters, and he did cover everything in the lobster field, it was very interesting and informative. From there we went out to Egg Island and saw a lot of seals in the area lying out on the beach. We also witnessed another Eagle coming to this island and all of the sea gulls went airborne as the eagle approached. As we were returning the captain told us some of the stories of the cottages on Mt. Desert Island. As we were coming into the harbor the sun was setting and it was the end of a wonderful cruise. We then went and had some dessert and visited with our friends at their cottage and after this short visit we returned to our MH. Another great day on the road.

Aug.11th we got together this morning at 9:45am for a ride on some of the Carriage trails, we had booked this several weeks ago and just thought it would be a great way to be able to get Mike out to the trails. Mike has worked for the last 22 years moving appliances, and at this time he has a lot of trouble just walking a short while and in the next month he is scheduled to have surgery. The Carriage that we were on held 12 people and was pulled by Joey & Rex who weighed in at about 1800 lbs. It was a 2 hour tour and we visited 5 of the bridges in that time. The bridges were built by the Rockefellers in the past 70 to 100 years ago and the beauty and construction is amazing. After that we went to the Jordan Pond House for a light lunch, here again we are so glad that Kathleen made reservations as the place was packed. Upon leaving we went to Thunder Hole and listened to some very small thunder as we might have been a little late and we probably would have needed a rougher sea, for a better effect. We then went to Otter Point and just sort of sat or laid out on the rocks and enjoyed the afternoon. Later we all returned to our campsite and we prepared and ate a lobster feast, beside the lobster we had corn on the cob from PA and cooked small red potatoes, what a meal. We sat around the campfire into the evening and just had another great day.

Aug. 10th we met up with Mike & Sharon, Fox & Linda a little after 8:00 AM as we went out on a Whale watching tour, Glad that we dressed warm for as we got out in the Bay of Maine it got rather cold. It was a rough ride as the seas were a bit higher than was expected and a lot of people on the boat did not have a good experience and probably didn’t care if they saw whales or not. We did get to see 6 different whales and a young lady who was in charge of tracking whales pointed out that we saw one that hadn’t been seen before, whales have different marking on their rear fin that can be used for identification, much like humans have finger prints. We also went to Puffin Islands and got to see about 100 puffins, we always thought that they were bigger than what they really are. Upon returning we went to the Jordan Restaurant in Bar Harbor and had something to eat. After that we did a little grocery shopping and they returned to their cabin to change. We did meet up again on top of Cadillac Mt. to enjoy the views from there; you can never get too much of this. After this we all went back to our campsite and fixed hot dogs and burgers and just spent the rest of the evening enjoying the time. We have good days and sometimes we have even better days.


Aug. 9th we got an early start today for work as we are excited that we have friends coming. Although we worked all day we met them for dinner after work and we just totally enjoyed the evening. It is so much fun on catching up on times that we were apart. We went to Rt.66 for dinner and after that we went to their cabin that they rented outside of Bar Harbor. We didn’t get home till much after 10:00 pm and at that time we were totally exhausted.


Aug 5th after going to the Post Office again we did some hiking in the area, one place that we went was up on the cliffs of Beech Mt; it is such a lovely area and the views are just fantastic from up there. We watched as the people below us were swimming in Echo Lake, we just don’t feel that the water gets warm enough for us to go swimming. We cleaned up our grill as that as well as everything else is getting a severe case of the mold, we completely stripped it down and did a good job of shinning it up. We also made contact with an employer about next summer’s job, more about that in the future as nothing but initial contact was made and anything in the future is several months out. Oh! And by the way we did have a few drops of rain today but not enough to settle the dust. Hey, wait a minute what dust, but it didn’t make it any muddier.

Aug 4th This morning we went into Bar Harbor and took a ride on Oli’s Trolley, it was only the one hour tour but we did get a tour of a lot of the old mansions on the east side of the island. It also took us to the top of Cadillac Mt; we learned a lot of facts about the area on this tour. After we finished the trolley we just walked around Bar Harbor for a while to get to know the area, even though we work here there are a lot of places we didn’t get to see, we are always asked a lot of questions about the area and we don’t have the answers. A lot of the reason for this is the fact that we had so much rain and on our days off we stayed out in the MH. We did some grocery shopping after that as to get stocked up for the next several weeks.



Aug. 3rd we just took it easy today and worked around the MH, trying to get caught up on some of our work and getting ready for our company over the next two weeks. We did some shopping at Wal-Mart, along with going to the Post Office. We went to the Legion for Supper as we usually try to do this once a week. They put on a supper three times a week and we like to get to one of them.