McGaffs On The Fly

On Wednesday we drove south to Wells, ME so that we could get in some day trips to check out beach life in that area. Our plan (loosely used verbiage) is to stay here a couple of nights while we figure out where our next adventure will take place. The unseasonably temperatures in the high 80’s as well as the abundance of tourists have made us rethink our ideas of going to the Outer Banks. We love being around people (well Joan does anyway) but the traffic is crazy.

There is a lobster festival going on in Charlestown, RI and if we can find an RV spot then that is “the plan”…for now.

We assumed that on a Tuesday there would not be much of a crowd but we were completely wrong because everything on the west side of Acadia was packed. Rather than fight the crowd waiting for a bus we drove to a remote parking area and hiked into the sightseeing area we just “couldn’t miss”…per Ranger Angie.

We parked at Brown Mountain Gatehouse and hiked the carriage paths to see Jordan Pond. The carriage paths were built by John D. Rockefeller so he and his buddies had a place to travel on carriages to get away from the hustle bustle of loud cars. Now it is primarily used for hikers and bikers…mainly bikers on electric bikes (at least they are half way trying!)

On the way back to the truck we “took the road less traveled” and hiked less inhabited paths. The beauty of Acadia is amazing and a trip we will be coming back to…sometime between September and October for less tourist we were told by the locals.

What we learned while eating our last lobster for a while…over 5.2 million lobster were sold in the Bar Harbor area last year. We better come back quick before they are gone.

Today we leave for VT, NH…or maybe Portland…or…I’ll let you tomorrow when we get there…

We made our reservations for Acadia with the required 2 month time frame and could only come up with 3 nights so yesterday we had to move. We were able to get on the alert for an additional 1 night but decided to drive to the Bar Harbor side and see what’s happening over there.

Our new spot is at Hadley’s Point Campground and we are now about 7 miles from Bar Harbor and 4 miles from the gates to Acadia. It is a very nice spot with flat RV pads, tents, a kids playground (shhhhh) and for only 50 cents you can get a 7 minute shower. Tell me we’re not moving up in the world!

Our time in Bar Harbor was pretty short but we saw all that we wanted. It’s a great harbor city with a lot of shops and restaurants with plenty of tourists. We decided rather than eat there that we would find one of the dozens of seafood restaurants on the way back and we did (after walking out of one because it was too loud…if it’s too loud you’re too old…uh oh). Our clam chowder and lobster bisque were “spot on” and a great way to end our night.

On to new adventures at Acadia in the am…more to come.

We spent our Anniversary Day like any other day by hiking and checking out all the great scenery around Arcadia National Park. First we took a nice 6 mile hike to Wonsqueak Harbor where we ate lunch then home to Little Al for a rewarding 30 minute nap.

Since we don’t have any shower facilities we thought we would run to the town of Ellsworth to use the YMCA. The plan was to do a little shopping followed by a hot shower then to have a great dinner in Winter Harbor. While Joanie was lost in shopping at a local store (ever heard of TJ Max?), I ran to the grocery store to grab a few items. Pulling up my map to find the YMCA I saw that they actually closed at 5pm, and it was already 4:45. I pulled Joanie out of the dressing room, told the attendant we would be back to buy the non needed clothes then made a dash for the Y. No problem, the lady at the desk was retired and had no where to go…”take your time, I’m in no hurry.” Another emergency averted…we’re on a roll.

We finished the night with a fabulous dinner at Treehouse Seaside Grill where we ate too much, again. Then back to Little Al where Joanie made me walk through the pitch-black campground trying to find the Milky Way in the sky. No luck…but it was fun looking.

Our short time “off the grid” was filled with terrorizing moments wondering what was going on in the world and how could we let ourselves get into this predicament. Good thing that we could walk 50 yards to the bano and get almost perfect reception, emergency averted. PS…nothing happened without us.

Our day started as a lot of our days with Little Al do, another repair moment trying to figure out why our outlets would not work and how were we going to be able to make coffee and charge all of our devices. And, as usual, I was able to repair the issue within a couple of hours, don’t ask me how but I’ve learned if you punch enough buttons good things will sometimes happen and in this case they did. Another emergency averted.

After taking care of our little issues, we drove down to the end of the park to the Blueberry Hill Trailhead and started our hike on the Anvil Trail. The trail is a 400’ climb that was billed at a round trip of about 3 miles, that is if you follow the blue paint on trees and rocks.

We, however, cannot seem to follow the color blue and somewhere where we were supposed to meet a merging trail…we zigged when we were supposed to zag. Yada yada yada…we ended up on a road and turned that little hike into around 4 miles. Fun times with the McGaff’s.

Tonight we eat steak and potatoes at the camp sight, tomorrow we will defeat another color coded trail. The beauty of Acadia cannot be put into words, we’ve already planned to extend our stay.

Things I learned on art day.

Maine is the first place that the sun rises in our country, that is why artists love to paint there.

There are 3 generation of Wyeth painters with 3 distinct painting styles.

Marc’s favorite artist of the 3 is Jamie, Joan’s is Andrew.

No matter how hard I try, I cannot appreciate all forms of art. If I can see a vision with some sort of images then I call it art. My ultimate verdict is decided on whether or not I think I could do it. I have absolutely zero art skill and if I could pull it off…not art. It is only my opinion and I’ve been wrong before.

It was a great day overall with plenty of walking, eating and drinking. We ended our time in Rockland by casually getting appetizers and cocktails before retreating to Little Al for a 9:30 bedtime and a long sleep.

On to Acadia today…we will be off grid for 3 days unless there is WiFi at one of the welcome centers.

It started with a conversation Joan had with Sheila on Monday night, “you are going to be in Andrew Wyeth territory, I love him.” That little conversation turned into an overnight plan on Tuesday, I mean after all how big of a state could Maine actually be…surely we could visit Andy on the way.

Guess what, it turns out the ole boy’s past painting locales were actually on the way and after another 9+ hour of driving we made it our first RV Park near Rockland, Maine (the art capital of Maine) for a 2 day stop. That, my friends, is how easy our plans come together…Joanie tells me where to go…and I go.

Tomorrow we visit the galleries…tonight we ate lobster like summer campers eating tater tots.

Update…just woke up to a nice breeze of around 60 degrees pushed through the trailer by our roof fans, turns out 9 hours of driving = 9 hours of sleeping. We are refreshed.

With no more than a plan of leaving by 8:30 to take a big chunk out of our 17+ drive north we left Newland around 9:30 with no other plan then to get to Acadia and figure it out from there. Oh well…0 for 1 on planning.

We drove for almost 10 hours and landed in Allentown, PA at around 8pm…6 states covered, not bad. Since it was so late we decided a hotel would be great for one night before we started our real camping adventures. It was a pretty nice drive with beautiful scenery along the way. Joanie even stayed awake to keep me company…I love that girl.

Plan 2…find a spot north of Boston along the coast to stay before checking in to Acadia National Park on Friday…I love plans.

Well, we’re still here. We moved Little Al to NC to be closer to us and although he no longer has a roof over his head he does seem pretty happy with the nice temperatures. He also seems pretty happy to hear that after all of our great travels west that we are going to finally take him east…far northeast.

In preparation for that trip we took our granddaughter’s on a quick 2 night camping trip about 10 miles away from our home to Roan Mountain State Park. We had a great time in the family oriented park and enjoyed the yelling of kids, non stop bike riding by our space, and perfect weather to enjoy playing in streams. Side note, I slept like a baby in my single bed cocoon…Joanie slept like a mamma ape with 2 spider monkeys rolling all around and over her.

After our trip I took Little Al an hour away to get the water heater fixed, seems that continuous pushing of the on/off switch is not good for the circuit board. On the way home I heard a loud pop from behind me that turned out to be a blown sidewall. Since I had zero cell phone connection I asked the kid playing the banjo the best route to find a tire shop then limped about 10 miles, stopping every 3 to fill up tire. NOW we are ready to go.

Leaving Tuesday for Acadia Nation Park, a short 17 hours away…more to come.

The last two days we did a little hiking on flat surfaces to give my tortured foot a break then looked for places to waste money on. Luckily there was a swap meet with plenty of c r a p to view, fortunately it was c r a p priced where we didn’t have to think about buying it.

We then attend two different wine festivals where we were able to enjoy wine tastings as well as some beautiful art. The last few days have been great for spending time outside and we have taken advantage of it. Our time at this campground has ended, time to head back east to…guess we’ll see when we get there.