5th Annual Trek Up Champlain Mountain

OK, can we say "sore"? Yesterday, we took our 5th annual trek up the mountain. Needless to say, we took a wee bit longer to get to the summit this year.

The skies were a beautiful blue and there was still lots of color on the trees, however, when we got out of the car at the base of the mountain, the wind was whipping about quite a bit. Nonetheless, we put on our windbreakers and with hoods up and a determined attitude, we headed up onto the trail.

The reds of the maples were all but gone, but many shrubs still held their color and lots of rock cairns marked the trail

We stopped frequently on the way up, not only to catch our breath, but to turn around and take in the beautiful vistas

No, Dear. It's still quite way up to the summit. H here, checking his GPS and realizing we still have about 500 feet to climb. Oh my.
Some of the rock formations were gorgeous


Yes, Dear, we have to climb that rock ledge and no, that's not the summit!


Yay!!!! We made it! 1058 feet elevation and the view is nothing short of spectacular!

Our house is way over there across the bay
And so another annual goal has been reached!

Life is good (and windy) up on Champlain Mountain

More Stuff

As promised yesterday, here are a few more photos from this past week.

Why bother with cute little kitty toys when Spike is so enthralled with a plain old paper bag?

A nice rain brings out the mushrooms for one last hurrah before frost and cold set in.



My Christmas Cactus has difficulty telling which month it is. I guess I should be calling it the Halloween Cactus as it is in full bloom right now.

Early morning light behind the maple tree just glows

One of our favorite photo spots in Sorrento. I think we could just sit there all day long if we weren't so intent on getting our 3.2 mile walk in.

Just Stuff

Giddy's Muse has departed for sunnier climes today, avoiding the chilly, gloomy day here. However, she doesn't know what she's missing - a luscious, lazy day sitting next to the wood stove with my feet on the ottoman knitting or reading. A day where I can feel absolutely not guilty for just sitting on my tush all the live long day. What a rare treat!

Soooo, no need for clever repartee today, just a few recent photos to share with my blogger friends. Enjoy.

The full moon day before yesterday was quite spetacular. I tried getting several shots, but this was the best I could do.
The "boys" have settled in nicely and are getting along quite splendidly. Watching them play brings smiles to our faces every day.

I put the autumn decorations on the front porch the other day. Not that anyone but us can see them, but then, hey, we're important too!
The sun gleaming through this golden poplar caught my eye.


I have more to share, but Blogger won't let me post them right now, so stay tuned.

A Tour of Acadia National Park

Yesterday was a beautiful day (they all are here in Maine!).

Our dear friend, who is the Superintendent of the Carriage Roads in Acadia National Park, took 8 of us on a tour of the Carriage Roads.

The day dawned with blue skies and only a wee bit of haze, but just enough to take the edge off the brilliance of the leaves which were in peak color. We rendezvoused at the Carriage Road on Eagle Lake, a serene sight in the early morning light.

We piled into the van to begin our adventure, criss crossing roads to take full advantage of the many lovely bridges, built by hand and hard work in the early 1900's by Mr. Rockefeller, who later donated this lovely bit of paradise to be enjoyed by all.The colors and vistas were beyond description and the ooh's and ahh's continued for the entire trip.


This gate house caught my eye.I spied this mushroom hiding among the rocks and grasses.

We spent about 4 hours touring, with a couple of breaks to take pictures and stopping for coffee to go along with the pumpkin pecan muffins I had baked to keep our hunger at bay until we could get into Bar Harbor for a fun lunch at Geddy's.

A wonderful time was had by all and we got home just in time to look out on an early autumn sunset.

Thanks so much to our friends who think enough of us to invite us to share and enjoy this wonderful gift. Oh yes, thanks also to Mr. Rockefeller for donating the land for the enjoyment of generations to come.

Road Trip to Grand Lake Stream

Our trip began at Pennemon Pond in Township 26 at the camp of our friends. (Mainer's call their lakeside cabins *camps*) It was a beautiful day - a bit warm for October. The foliage color was high, but not quite yet at peak.
We started out on the dirt logging roads that criss cross the entire state. Good thing we had the Maine Gazeteer with us or we would have been woefully lost! The Gazeteer is a very detailed road map showing all the major roads as well as the tiniest dirt roads all over the State. We were in some pretty remote back roads on our way up to Grand Lake Stream, a small village noted for its many Maine Guides and fly fishing.


Monday is the beginning of Moose hunting season, so we passed quite a few trucks full of hunters scouting out possible places to hunt come Monday. We had hoped to spy a few moose ourselves, but only with the intent of shooting them with a camera. Alas, we spotted nary a one, with the exception of this poor fella, who had obviously been there quite some time.


Our trip, however, was graced with such beautiful vistas and color that we really didn't miss not seeing much wildlife.



Along the way, in a really remote part of the drive, we came upon this sign. Mainers are ever enterprising and this bit of advertising caught our eye and gave us a chuckle or two.

These beverages are being kept cool by the constant drip of an ice cold spring. How clever is that?
Sodas are sold on the honor system - yep, that still works up here in the north woods.

I thought this was an ingenious way to keep the cookies out of the critters reach, however, I'm sure any really enterprising raccoon could figure out how to get them.

We came upon this huge field of asters and I couldn't stop taking pictures.


This bumblebee didn't have to travel far at all for his dinner.

Upon return to our friend's camp, we were treated to a late lunch of yummy pot roast with roasted root vegetables and salad, fresh from their garden and a lovely Chardonnay to toast the day.

And so ended a perfect day. Life is soooooo good.

Road Trip to Greenville

Yesterday, H and I packed our cooler and left bright and early for a road trip up north to the village of Greenville on the southern shore of Moosehead Lake. It was a beautiful day for a drive and the leaf colors were much farther along in autumn splendor than those here on the coast. H and I enjoy driving on the routes less traveled rather than freeways, as there is always so much more to see. The tiny villages along the route are charming in their quaintness and architecture. In Guilford, we came upon an old covered bridge. How New England is that? Of course, when we stopped for photos, we noticed a marker and a bit of information about the original bridge which had been destroyed in a flood back in the late 1800's. It was rebuilt and the new bridge was destroyed again in 1957. Historic minded, stubborn Mainers rebuilt the bridge yet again, this time with some serious architectural reinforcements. Let's hope Mother Nature lets this revival of a beautiful landmark last a very long time!

We didn't explore Greenville as much as we would have liked as we felt the need to get home to check on the newest member of our family, our newly adopted kitty, Sluggo. Spike, the cat who adopted us a few weeks ago has brought so much joy into our lives and we felt he would probably like to have a companion to share his life in our home. Sooo, being the real suckers we are, we headed to the local animal shelter in Cherryfield, about 20 miles from us. Now, as H mentioned, we were just going to *look*. Right. As soon as we entered the cat room, which housed about 20 cats of various colors, sexes and ages, this little black and white one latched on to us. His little purring motor was going non stop as he wiggled his way in and out of our legs.

The other cats looked on nonchalantly and one other pretty little calico came over to have a sniff or two. But, too late, our hearts had already melted over this little fella and our *look* turned into love and a subsequent adoption.

Spike, was not as enthusiastic about the newcomer as we were and the anticipated hissing and growling was poor Sluggo's welcoming. But, we are taking things slow and today was a much better day with the two almost playing together. They were spotted sitting side by side looking out the sliding glass door at the squirrels raiding the bird feeder. I got the camera out, but too late as they had already gone to their separate viewing corners.

The saga will continue later!