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So Monday night’s sleep was quite nice until those damn cleaning people woke me up by knocking on the door at the ass crack of dawn. Those “do not disturb” signs never seem to mean crap. I grabbed some of the free continental breakfast before hitting the road again. Of course, on the day that I am leaving Maine, the weather is gorgeous outside.
I didn’t have to drive too far to Portsmouth, New Hampshire where I was meeting my ever-talented buddy, Rob Sylvan and his lovely wife Paloma for lunch. He also gave me what he calls the “nickel tour” of downtown Portsmouth. It’s a cute little town. Rob is a NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) Help Desk Specialist and you may have seen his column “Under the Loupe” that appears in every issue of Photoshop User magazine. Rob is also writing the book Lightroom for Dummies that will hopefully hit the bookstore shelves shortly after Lightroom 2 is released. You can even pre-order your own copy at Amazon if you so desire. Rob is also a member of iStockphoto and you can check out his portfolio here.
After leaving Portsmouth, I headed to Nashua, New Hampshire to see my good friends Matie and Dave who I haven’t seen for quite a few years. I met Matie when we worked together at Fort Irwin Training Center for the U.S. Army in the Mojave Desert of California for two years as wildlife biologists, primarily doing natural resources conservation and studying desert tortoises…and sometimes doing archaeological work…and sometimes avoiding the flying ordnance. We shared some good times together and it’s hard to believe that we’ve known each other for 10 years! Man, how time flies! Matie and Dave had a cute son who is now 22 months old and quite a smart cookie! He’s definitely going to be a sports pro in the future…you should see him work that hockey stick!
Matie has been boxing for at least a few years now. When they moved to New Hampshire last year, she found West End boxing gym in Lowell, Massachusetts that she goes to a couple times a week to spar. She was planning to go on the night that I was visiting so I had the opportunity to tag along with her! I was thrilled because, though I’d photographed a boxer last year, I’d never been in a boxing gym and this gym was like something out of the movies. We drove up to this huge old unmarked warehouse and went inside. The fluorescent lit gym held two boxing rings, a load of bags, and other workout equipment…along with a couple handfuls of extremely buff and sweaty boxers.
Matie’s sparring buddy is a man named Frenchy. He’s…well…French and fights in the Lowell, Mass area. He has a youtube page where you can view some of his fights as well as sparring with Matie.
It was pretty cool to see them sparring because it’s another thing that I’d never seen. I wish I wasn’t such a shrimp (or a wimp) because it kinda looks fun. Talk about a quick way to get in shape! Matie is one of the most tough girls I know and also one of the sweetest and most interesting. I realized that I don’t get to see my long-distance friends enough. And I also realized that I have some of the coolest friends in the whole world! So thanks to my friends (new and old) who made my trip worthwhile and fun despite the crappy weather. Even though I didn’t get many photos, I had a lot of great experiences and met a ton of great people in such a short period of time.
I drove back to Philly yesterday from Nashua. It didn’t take too long, but I got stuck in a really bad traffic jam (shut the car off and parked) in Connecticut that was the result of a very bad accident. A car ended up in the trailer part of a tractor trailer. It was not pretty. As a result, I got stuck in the beginning part of NYC rush hour traffic.
I returned my rental car today and picked up my own car that was in the shop to get fixed. Dropped a small fortune to get the air conditioning system replaced, but I guess I can’t complain too much since I’ve had the car for almost 7 years and haven’t had any major problems until now. Of course, now that I say that, something else will probably happen. And I got home and somehow my shower is broken, too. It never ends.
Monday pretty much sucked. My second night of camping was not the greatest. I finally managed to fall asleep after the tick fear incident, but then I woke up at 1 am to what I thought was some large scary animal making noise not so far from my tent. That large scary animal eventually became the noises of a man and a woman having loud sex in the campground. And yes, there were other people camping in the campground, too.
Just as I had fallen back to sleep, I woke up to a torrential downpour and thunder. Water was slowly beading and running down the inside walls of my tent. Whatever. If I was going to get wet, I might as well sleep until that happens. When I woke up, it wasn’t raining, but there were small pools in the corners of the tent and the outside of my sleeping bag was wet from what I think was just a lot of moisture accumulation. The inside of my sleeping bag was still pretty cozy warm and dry. A hot shower felt so great.
I got word that there was a pink lady’s slipper blooming in one of the sites, but I didn’t get to see it. There were beautiful wildflowers throughout the campground.
After hearing that the weather forecast was rain and thunderstorms for the next two days, I figured that it might be in my best interest to stay somewhere warm and dry for the night. It wasn’t raining yet, but still gloomy, gray, and cold. I headed out to get some food, but got a call informing me with the latest news on my car that is in the shop. What was initially a small air conditioning problem had turned into a huge air conditioning problem that pretty much involved overhauling my whole A/C system and replacing most of the parts….now costing me a LOT more that originally told. Great. That put a damper on my day and thought I should stay overnight outside of Mt. Desert Island where it was cheaper. But since it wasn’t raining, I decided to take a drive around to some of the recommended areas of Acadia while I could.
My first stop was the Wild Gardens of Acadia, which is located in Acadia. I love plants and this was like going to a botanical garden, but strictly the native flora of Acadia separated into the various ecosystems that can be found throughout the park. As always, the bog flora was my favorite, but the mosquitoes were quite active as they are in all bogs. Fortunately, a lot of the other insects were pretty inanimate due to the cold weather so I was able to snap off some shots. I probably could have spent the whole day there just taking photos of the insects that I saw, but I wanted to get on to see other areas before it rained.
And for those who don’t know, I’ve had an interest in ethnobotany for a while and sphagnum moss is one of my favorite plants for that very reason. It’s a common ground cover in the wetter areas of wetlands and bogs and is a staple for the micro ecosystems that thrive in those environments because it retains water really well. If you ever see some when you’re out hiking, you should pick some away from the ground and squeeze it. You’d be amazed by the amount of the water that these plants can hold! For this very reason, the native Americans actually used sphagnum moss as diapers for their babies.
I drove to Thunder Hole. Located along the southeastern cliffs of the island, Thunder Hole is a small, naturally created cavern that creates a loud thunder sound and large splash when the waves rush in and force air out. However, during low tide, it’s not as dramatic so I didn’t get to see or hear “Thunder Hole” at its best. Nevertheless, the coast is still quite beautiful.
I took some time to explore the rocks and check out the nearby tidepools.
The plants in the tidepools were amazing, but there wasn’t a whole lot of marine life. I imagine that I would have seen more if I had the chance to check out the other nearby areas, but it started to rain and my equipment was getting wet.
I headed off of Mt. Desert Island and drove a good distance to Portland, Maine where I stayed for the night. I was excited to see moose crossing signs along the drive. And I saw a huge eagle nest on some electric pylons.
And here’s a suggestion for future traveler’s: I’ve always seen those little discount hotel coupon books at the highway rest areas, but never really looked at them or used them until this trip. The coupons are generally only good for one night and walk-ins only, but if you decide to take a last minute road trip and you want to stay at a hotel, there are some really good deals in there!
First of all, I finally added some photos to the Day 2 post.
My first night of camping on Saturday night was awesome. It was cold, but I loved it and slept like a log for the most part. I woke up a couple of times because my sleeping bag was so warm that I was sweating. I showered and the prepared to leave. The showers and bathrooms at the campground were awesome and so clean. I don’t think I’ve ever been at such a clean campground before, but then again, the peak season really hasn’t begun yet.
I knew that the forecast was showing rain, but I was preparing to go explore Mt. Desert Island and Acadia…and take some photos. Well, right as I was about to leave the campground, I got to chatting with some of the guys from the campground. The one man, Scott, was hosting the 10th annual Acadia Birding Festival. I had heard that the birding festival was happening, but didn’t know exactly when. Just so happens that it was happening while I was in town and yesterday was the last day of it. They were going on a whale/bird cruise yesterday and Scott had taken me under his wing to take me along on the cruise. Thanks, Scott!
I had to be in Bar Harbor for the cruise so I decided to grab some breakfast before heading over. I had pancakes with Maine wild blueberries. yum!
There was a group of about 8 of us who were going on the cruise that was being led by Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company. It was a pretty large boat for a whale watch. This was the fifth whale watch I had been on (3 in California and 2 in Alaska), but the first one I’d been on here on the east coast. In the past, I’d seen an amazing Humpback whale display in California that probably no whale watch could top. And I’d seen Orcas (killer whales) in Alaska, which is supposedly pretty rare. But I was really excited to see other possible whales and sea birds that I hadn’t seen before….with a group of Maine birders who knew what they were looking at.
We no sooner go on the water and saw a bald eagle. We saw a humpback that has been identified as Gemini who has been spotted in the area every year since 1977. He hung around our boat for a while so we saw some tail displays. We also saw a North Atlantic right whale in the distance, which was really cool, and I guess also rare. We also saw a bunch of seals and porpoises.
We passed Egg Rock and lighthouse, which is supposedly a good breeding ground for pelagic birds.
We reached Petit Manan, which is a famous breeding ground for puffins and other sea birds. And yes, I finally saw a puffin. There were hundreds of them and it was amazing! We couldn’t get too close, but close enough that you could spot them and they’d fly right by the boat. So cool! I was so excited about seeing the birds that I forgot to take a photo of the really cool lighthouse at Petit Manan.
I’ve been keeping track of the birds I see and here is a list of many of the birds that we saw on the trip yesterday:
On the way back from the watch, it started to rain and it was so incredibly cold. I’m glad that I brought my rain gear along because it definitely came in handy yesterday. I knew that camping was not going to be fun.
I ate some lunch food and then went to meet up with the bird festival folks for a social gathering at the Museum of Natural History that’s located at College of the Atlantic. I met a few of the other people who were organizers for the festival and also Maine birders. Everyone was so nice and though the weather was crappy, I had a fun day.
I had some time to kill before it got dark so I decided to take a quick drive around the Acadia park loop, which I hadn’t done yet. Although it had stopped raining, it was still really cloudy and cold. I took a drive up Cadillac Mountain, which offered some lovely views of the Island. Took some photos of some plants along the way, too. The day was capped off by seeing a Pileated woodpecker fly right in front of my car and land on a rock outcrop right next to it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough to stop the car, grab the camera and get a shot…but I was really thrilled because I had never seen one before. Some things are best left captured in the memory than in the camera. Unfortunately, my memory is like a sieve these days.
As it got dark, I headed back to the campground. It had stopped raining, but everything was wet and cold. I had wanted to have a campfire until I realized that there were little tiny bugs all over EVERYTHING. I freaked myself out thinking that they were ticks (not deer ticks, though), but I now believe that they were just spiders. Still, I hate ticks and I hate spiders so the thought of having either all over everything forced me to go inside my clean, dry tent and warm sleeping bag.
And speaking of ticks…I forgot to mention that the other day I heard two people talking after a hike. The girl says to the guy, “So we saw a snake and a tick. Maybe the snake ate the tick? If the snake ate the tick, I’d feel so much better.” …and while that whole statement is rather silly, I have to say that I can’t disagree. I’d feel better, too. Did I mention that I hate ticks? yeah. But other than the little spiders last night, the bugs haven’t been bad at all. There were mosquitoes every once in a while, but I wouldn’t say that they were bad.
Today I drove to Mt. Desert Island. I decided that I was going to camp tonight. I got a campsite at Bass Harbor Campground, about a 10 minute walk from Bass Harbor Lighthouse. I set up my tent and everything I’d need and then decided to go get some food. I was starving after not having any lunch.
The guys at the campground recommended a lobster pound in Bernard called Thurston’s. I’d only eaten lobster like 3 times in my life. The first time was in Bar Harbor, Maine when I was too young to remember. Anyway, I got a fresh huge ass lobster, but had no idea what to eat. So I asked some guys sitting next to me what were the good and bad parts to eat. The one guy came over and gave me a pro lesson on how to shell, clean, and eat a lobster. I love eating crabs, but this seemed a bit different. What I do know is that the lobster was damn good. Some images that were taken from and nearby Thurston’s…
I chatted it up for a bit with them and another guy sitting nearby. And then I talked to some people from Florida. And then some people from Ohio. It’s funny how I can spend months in Philly and go places and no one will speak a word to me. I go on vacation and people are always chatting it up. I don’t know if it’s because everyone is on vacation, if I’m some random girl who looks lonely in some tourist spot, or if the people in these places are just friendlier. It’s probably combination of all three. Anyway, I had a blast there just talking to the people.
I went to Bass Harbor Head Light afterwards, but it was sunset and not the best lighting for photographing it. So I’ll go back tomorrow morning if I can. The trail to get there was pretty cool!
I decided that my sweet tooth was calling. I hadn’t had any sweet goodies for quite a while so I decided to treat myself to some ice cream. Met some people from Hershey, PA there.
Back at the campground now, which I have to say is really nice…and only $20 a night! They also have free wifi. There were some mosquitoes today, but I wouldn’t say that they’re too bad. Tonight could prove to be a different story. It’s cold for camping…in the 50s. But I kinda like it this way. Anyway, excuse me now while I go start a campfire and relax like it’s my vacation….
I hardly got any sleep last night. The people in the room next door were really noisy well into 3am…and then again at 7am. I drove across Massachusetts, stopping at a Target to get bug spray and (forgotten) socks. I got stuck in three traffic jams, which delayed my time getting out of Massachusetts. It was a quick drive through New Hampshire and then finally I made it to Maine! I have to say that my rental car has been getting awesome gas mileage.
I jumped onto Route 1 soon into Maine. My first view of the Maine coastline was York Beach…
…and then onto see the Nubble Lighthouse in Cape Neddick. I passed a super awesome campground right along the water in Cape Neddick. I would have loved to have stayed there, but I figured that it was in my best interest to work my way further up the coast so that I can make it to Acadia. I knew I wasn’t going to make it there today.
I drove along the coast and through some other coastal towns including Kennebunkport. As the day went on, I decided that maybe I should get on the highway and go to Portland. I went to see the Portland Head Light at sunset.
When I arrived, there was a red fox running around in the park. It was the second red fox I had seen today. It was playing in the grass for a little while. So frickin cute! Then it ran almost right past me to grab a dead groundhog and ran away.
I was going to leave and go look for a place to stay for the night before it got dark, but ended up chatting with a woman named Suzanne from Atlanta who was driving around Maine to check out the lighthouses. We both decided to go check out the Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse, which was also nearby.
It was getting dark and we decided to get some food together at the seafood joint next door. I had a lobster roll and it was tasty! She was heading north tonight for another two hours and at this point, I still had not found a place to stay. I was hoping to camp tonight, but since it was already dark, that was out of the question. I decided to head north where hotels were cheaper. So I’m staying in Freeport, ME. I got to see lighthouse beacons at night tonight and that was really cool.
I checked out weather.com today to see the forecast for Acadia and Bar Harbor. When I looked the other day, the forecast looked amazing. Now it looks like crap. Rain, rain…every frickin day for like the next week. Talk about raining on my parade! This could definitely put a damper on my idea to camp in Acadia. Glad I brought my rain jacket and pants! Now wishing I would have brought my waterproof boots, too. Crap. Oh well.
All I have to say is that I fell in love with Maine the minute I saw the lighthouse and rocky shoreline. It looks like someone transplanted the lovely central coast of California here on the east coast….within driving distance from home. Why haven’t I been here before? It is gorgeous. The ocean water is crystal clear and I saw scuba divers on a couple occasions today. And it’s amazing how deep in the water you could see!
I can’t wait to get to Acadia. All I know is that if Maine didn’t get so cold in the winter, I would move here in a heartbeat.
…and I drove a lot. I drove about 400 miles today…about 8 or 9 hours. I was originally going to take smaller highways, but changed my mind this morning. I knew that if I did so, I would never get to Maine because I’d want to stop and take photos of everything I saw. So, larger highways, and a quick route it would be. Quick route, being relative, of course.
I left from my parents’ house and headed north through central Pennsylvania and into New York state on Interstate 81, which is quite possibly worse than driving on the Schuylkill Expressway in Philadelphia. Today I had a man tailgating me less than an hour after I was on the road. I couldn’t go any faster than the people in front of me and he got pissed when I put on my brakes. So when I moved over into the next lane, he got in front of me and cut me off and slammed on his brakes in an attempt to try to make me wreck. I also saw an overload truck driving a huge ass yacht doing about 80. And I got cut off by two RVs. Yeah, not a fun experience. I won’t be going that route again.
I drove through Bighampton and Albany. I was originally planning to go through Vermont and on to New Hampshire, but the GPS has found Massachusetts to be the fastest route so I went with it. I would really like to see Vermont at some point…I’ll save it for another trip.
I wasted a good hour trying to find gas and a place to lay my head for the night. After finding gas, I felt exhausted and just grabbed a nearby hotel room in Lee, Massachusetts, which is in western Mass in the Berkshires. It’s a cheap hotel and clean enough for me to be content. I refuse to have another hotel episode like I had in Barstow. It was late, but I was hungry and found a little French-American bistro called Chez Nous where I had dinner.
I’ve always heard people talk about the Berkshires, but I’ve never actually been here. The trees are amazing. They are tall and very straight and just picture perfect. On the hillsides amongst the trees, there are some of the most gorgeous bogs I’ve ever seen. They are spotted with the skeletons of standing dead and decaying trees and a healthy growth of aquatic plants. I can’t even begin to imagine what the amphibian population is like in these places because it looks like it would be heaven.
I don’t know where I will end up tomorrow. I just want to get the hell to Maine already. I was a trainwreck before I left on this trip. And there were several times throughout the day when I contemplated turning around and going home because I’d just about lost it. But I’m holding out and hoping that Maine will offer some kind of blissful state of tranquility that I desperately need. Or maybe I just need a beer…or ten.
If you came for the photos, I’m sorry, but there are none.
The heat was horrible in the last week. Even with my A/C unit running, my apartment was sweltering hot. On Saturday, I thought that I was going to lose my mind for various reasons. I talked on the phone with a friend who just recently took a trip to Mt. Desert Island (Acadia National Park) with his girlfriend. After hearing about Maine from about four people in the last month and yearning to go….I suddenly felt as though I needed to go right now. And go, I would.
The unfortunate thing is that the air conditioner in my car had broken and I needed to take a rental car. Well, after three ridiculous futile attempts to get a rental car, I decided that maybe it was a sign that I shouldn’t go. I was frustrated and decided that I’d get my own car fixed and then decide what to do. So Monday morning, I drove my car out to a VW dealer in the suburbs. They weren’t sure if they could look at it that day, but were going to try. They tried…and the machine to check my air conditioner broke just before they could check it. Lovely. Just my luck. So then I drove it to another dealer not too far away. They would look at it on Tuesday. They called me on Tuesday and informed me that it was an electrical problem and they needed to order the part, which would be in on Friday….3 days later….postponing my trip even longer. But then there was hope! The wonderful VW rep suggested that I could rent a car from them at a very inexpensive price. Aha! So to make a long story even longer…
Today I took the train to the suburbs where a VW courtesy car picked me up. Not just any courtesy car, but a brand new shiny Volkswagen GTI. I got to drive it. I’d never driven a turbo car before and it was fun! It made me briefly want a new car…until I remembered how nice it is to not have a car payment. We returned to the VW dealer where I got my rental car. It was not a fancy turbo GTI, but a Toyota Yaris. Not that I’m complaining. It will get good gas mileage, which is key for my trip.
Upon my return home, I took care of some last minute things, prepared my cat, and we were on our way. I drove out to my parents’ house because my cat is staying with them while I’m gone. He really likes it at their house and it’s cooler here for him. Besides, last week he had to go to the vet for a sore eye. Poor little buddy. He seems to be ok now.
Last week, I did something impulsive and bought a Nintendo Wii with the Wii Fit. I don’t know why I bought it, but I did. I do have to admit that it is fun…and the Wii Fit is definitely a workout. Well, I brought it for my parents to use while I’m away. They laughed their asses off at me trying to hula hoop my ass away tonight, but I didn’t get to see them do the same–not fair! However, I can see that they’re going to become addicts and they’ll have a Wii of their own and like 10 new games by the time I get back.
Anyway, I leave tomorrow morning. The route that I plan to take goes north through central Pennsylvania and New York so I will see a lot of territory that I haven’t seen before…a bit different than the drive north out of Philadelphia, which I’ve seen on a few occasions now. My ultimate destination is Maine, although I hope to stop in New Hampshire at some point during my trip. I don’t plan to drive the whole distance to Maine in one day. I’m intending to camp for most of the trip. Nothing is planned, there’s no itinerary….I’m just going with the flow and whatever happens, happens…and that’s exactly the way I like it.
…I saw a scarlet tanager. It flew right over while I was driving on the Schuylkill Expressway. Hence, no photo.
Those are some of my own Polaroid SX-70 manipulations above.
Although most people are already aware, Polaroid plans to discontinue the remaining lines of the Polaroid films this year. Type 600 and Spectra are among the most used Polaroid films. There are many of us out there who have found this distant groundbreaking photographic technology to be useful, fascinating, and incredibly beautiful over the years.
The latest news is that Ilford/Harman Photo has expressed an interest in Polaroid film. Their initial statement included that while they were hoping to work with Polaroid to continue production of the film, it is cost prohibitive to meet the declining demand. Now, Ilford/Harman Photo has sent out a survey to Polaroid because they are interested in feedback…so perhaps there is hope after all.
I am including the email from Ilford/Harman and the survey below. If you so desire, please take the time to complete the survey and email it back to them at the address below. You can also fill out the petition to Save Polaroid Film!
Dear Polaroid user
My name is Judy Wong and I am the Marketing Manager for ILFORD PHOTO.
Thank you for contacting HARMAN/ILFORD PHOTO regarding the ‘Save Polaroid’ campaign.
ILFORD PHOTO is very interested in your views on Polaroid.
To that end I have compiled a short questionnaire (below) to try and gain a better understanding of what it is about Polaroid that users particularly love and I should be very grateful if you could spare the time to complete it.
Please rate your responses to statements 1 to 7a (I love Polaroid because…….) on a scale of 1-10 (where 1 is high and 10 is low) and complete questions 7(b) and 8, number 9 is optional. If answering number 9, please be as precise as possible.
Question
1. … it allows the capture of spontaneous and instant images
2. … I like the feel, smell and tactile nature of a Polaroid print
3. … I prefer analogue to digital technology
4. … I use it as a proofing tool
5. … I like the size of the image it creates
6. … it allows me to print real b&w silver halide images from the negatives
7.(a) … I like the quality and look of a Polaroid image*
(b)* (Please describe what it is that appeals to you about the look of
Polaroid, eg its use as an artistic tool for expression)
8. What would you use to replace your current way of working when the supply of Polaroid film eventually runs out?
9. Any other comments (please be brief and explicit)Please reply to this email address (Jane.crossen@harmantechnology.com)
Many thanks for your time, it is much appreciated.
Regards
Judy Wong
© 2007 andipantz.com
