Day 7.064: Neither here nor there

I'm neither alone in Maine or home with the family in NY.  I'm actually in Connecticut, but for a very nice reason:

I've partied until after 11 o'clock and now it's WAY past my normal bedtime, so I'll just say a happy and tired goodnight!

Day 6.318: Popham Beach State Park

I'd decided for my first solo day in Maine yesterday to see something of the coast. On a Saturday in November, hiking a trail would mean making sure I couldn't be mistaken for a deer by bleary-eyed hunter, so I decided a beach was a safe option. I drove about an hour total - north then south again on the far side of Casco Bay - to an area of long peninsulas and islands known as Maine's mid-coast.

This is what I found:

Oh yeah!

I love that in photos you can't tell that it was crazy cold and windy - it really was that beautiful though.

I walked around for quite a while marvelling at the patterns in the sand made by wind and water - and then by the transitions between them.

There were islands just off shore:

One of them would have been accessible if I'd been willing to brave some cold sea water:

but did I mention that it was barely above freezing (if at all) and windy - so paddling was out of the question.

Until I actually did.

Yes I took off my shoes and socks and paddled over that stream.  I didn't actually stop to take photos while in the water though - I took those first while still shod. Shoeless time was definitely kept to a bare (see what I did there?) minimum.

Between that area and the low-tide-ish sea was an area of grasses which must be just above sea level at high tide.  There I saw a flock of today's mystery birds - they were doing circuits and I got a lot of quite decent photos but have still completely failed to identify them.

Anyone know what they are?

The only other live animals I photographed were of the domesticated variety:

Apparently only (mad) dogs and Englishmen go in the water in November in Maine.

I loved how the wind was exposing things in one place (sand dollar on a pedestal and the other top photo here) and burying things in other places (shell, lobster pot and dead crab).

As I was leaving, the tide was coming in - the largest waves washing over parched dry sand.

Apologies for the 23 photos.  If it's any comfort, I took a lot more than that!

Day 6.306: Mackworth Island

Our other site-seeing trip on Saturday was to circumnavigate Mackworth Island. The island is accessible by road over a causeway and a trail runs all the way around it.

This is a picture from a small 'pier' on the far side of the island from the causeway.

There were little beaches to investigate:

Fairies to build for:

Portland's answer to Fort Boyard to marvel at:

Mirages to squint at (for quite a long time):

And signs that show you that you must tidy up after your dog, no matter how well dressed you (or he) might be:

Day 6.266: The view from EWR

I did a lot of travelling for business in 2000 and although I'm not absolutely sure it was the first time I was there, it was that year that I first found myself in one of the gate-areas at Newark Airport from where you can look over at Manhattan.  At the time, the twin towers of the World Trade Center were the overwhelmingly recognisable part of the view.

Of course, for many years it has been their absence that has been striking in the downtown skyline. Now, the WTC is, once again asserting itself as the iconic part of the view - as I saw on my recent trip:

And, just because I'm talking about 1 WTC and because it's beautiful, here is some dancing from NYC ballet on top of one of the nearby buildings at dawn recently:

Day 6.261: That brings a whole new meaning to "flight"

Here's a few more clues to my location at the end of the week:

Anti- (or counter-) clockwise from top left:

1. No clue here - but look how nice my hotel lobby was!
2. A long-distance iPhone snap of the capital building overlooking one of the two lakes.
3. You can get a flight of local beers - AT THE AIRPORT BAR!
4. Less surprisingly, lots of options if you want to look like a Cheesehead.

Yes I was in the capital of Wisconsin ... you know ... oh it's on the tip of my tongue ... aargh what is it? ... ... ...  (yes  - I think that was an ellipsisis)

Day 6.250: At the service area...

On my recent road-trip, I stopped at a service area on the highway to buy coffee. As well as the normal items you could buy these:

I wonder if there is more than one state where you could see such a thing? I suspect maybe not.

Day 6.229: Do you want chips with that?

Our lighthouse visit back on Day 6.220 was to the Nauset Light. It was moved back from the rapidly eroding sea shore in 1998 and members of the preservation society who arranged that move were available to give us (and several other people) a quick tour.

The outside is the familiar image of the lighthouse from Cape Cod Potato Chips packets.  In fact, they recently paid for its smart new paint-job!  Inside is the impressive spiral staircase, a small watch room and you can climb the stairs to see the rotating light above.

The bottom left picture shows the staircase taken through a small hole in the metal floor of the room.  The bottom right picture shows Exile #4 with her "blinky pin" souvenir.

Day 6.225: Wild at the beach

I'm finally getting round to the photos (other than iPhone pictures) of our trip - sorry if you're already tired of hearing about it.

Our trip to the National Seashore on the Atlantic side of the Cape had the excitement of a sign about great white sharks. The warning: don't swim with seals. Our experience: seals everywhere just off the beach (but very nice to see).

We also saw cormorants, but no sharks.

We were probably in more danger when I decided to catch a huge crab in a small net on bay side of the island.  After we'd looked at it, I tried to let it go but one of its barbed legs was caught in the net.  I tried to free it with my fingers, it tried to cut itself free with its large claws.  Eventually, it left me to untangle it without too much fear of losing a finger and it immediately buried itself in the sand.  We saw several of these crabs do that - they are extremely efficient, just reversing in without more than a small vibration visible.

Even more amazing was to see a live horsehoe crab buried in the sand - no danger from that or the sea snails leaving impressive trails in the beds of the shallow pools.

Know what else is wild?  How far the tide goes out there.  Here's a picture from when we arrived a couple of hours after high tide followed by two from around low tide.

The middle one is looking back towards the beach pictured in the first one - and we were nowhere near as far out as we could have gone!

Day 6.224: Remembering our first castle (of the recent trip)

The beach we went to on Day 6.219 on the bay side of the Cape was very flat indeed and at low tide, you could walk about a mile straight out to sea without getting wet feet.

We had a blast building a sandcastle using the two-tone sand. Even though we had walked quite a way down towards the sea, it still seemed impossible that the tide would come in while we were there, then - quite suddenly - we realised it was right behind us and the destruction of our fortress began:




Here's one of the key moments in slow-motion:



This kind of thing just doesn't work at lake beaches - one of the reasons I love to go to the ocean!

Day 6.222: WHOI and home

We broke camp, said goodbye to new friends and left our campsite this morning.

Instead of heading straight home we took a detour to Woods Hole - pretty much the furthest point on the cape from Provincetown where we were yesterday.

It's a fascinating little place - the embarkation point for ferries to Martha's Vineyard as well as home to several marine research organisations including Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute where we planned to visit.

We found a parking spot, fed the meter all the quarters we could find, had a very nice lunch and then went to see the who/when/why/what of WHOI.

The top picture is the kids investigating a replica of deep-sea HOV (human occupied vehicle) Alvin - something of a local celebrity.  The bottom right is, believe it or not, a B52s Rock Lobster moment with a "giant clam"!

It was a very nice visit - short and sweet - followed by the drive home which was neither short nor sweet, but was at least uneventful.

Day 6.221: P-town

After a leisurely start including a nice cup of coffee-machine coffee with our new Canadian friends, we set off for our planned visit to Provincetown at the tip of the cape.

Random iPhone photos today: lunch (fish and chips, tacos, nachos and clam strips), the Pilgrim Monument, a mermaid on the beach,  a strange scene, Commercial St, and toasting marshmallows for s'mores. 

Day 6.220: Canadian/light

We had to break camp and move a couple of hundred yards to another pitch this morning (the penalty for making plans at the last-minute!). During the process we met the parents of the friends that Exile #4 and E5N1 had made and chatted with them for a while. My ear has got sufficiently tuned into a NE US accent now that I heard the things that the locals hear and imitate in Canadian accents in the conversation with these Ontario natives. I'd never really got what that was all aboot before!

After the new campsite was sorted, we had a round of the site's own mini golf and then headed out to Nauset Beach - mostly to see the lighthouse, but we managed some more sandcastle and wave-fleeing fun too. 

Today's random phone photos: going  down the lighthouse stairs and looking unhappy while the burgers were cooking (they were actually quite cheerful - if a little tired). 

Day 6.219: Breakwater Beach

We spent nearly all day (approximately 9.30 am to 5 pm) at Breakwater Beach in Brewster MA as a a glorious start-proper to our Cape Cod vacation - we were determined to get our money's worth from our $15 town beach parking permit bumper sticker!

I will have other photos when I return to civilisation, but for now here are some moments I caught with my phone: beach boy, hermit crabs in a bucket, flying a kite, a sand castle being swallowed by the sea and dinner cooked on the campfire (followed by s'mores - eaten faster than a speeding camera!)

Day 6.218: Camp sight

Here's a quick look at our campsite. Home for two nights. We arrived in time to do most of the basic set-up before dusk but we haven't done much looking around yet.

We had a fairly active journey with some sudden stops on the highway, some state troopers flying down the shoulder and, at one point a car engulfed in flames at the side of the road (I'm almost certain it was unoccupied). 

See you for vacation day one tomorrow!

Day 5.187: Departing, Acadians

Today was my parents' last full day with us on this trip and the first really rainy day since they arrived. We spent a good deal of the day at home playing some games and the like. We did make it to Five Rivers, but were driven back to the car by sudden-onset rain and some dramatic (if still reasonably distant) thunder and lightning.

Meanwhile, I'm still catching up on some pictures from last week.

This is some of what we did in Acadia National Park (except for seeing the animals I posted earlier): tidal pooling ("rock pooling" was not understood by the lady at the visitor center) at the beginning and end of the day including a spectacular splash when E5N1 went up to his waist in a pool and then panicked ending up emerging from the pool less one shoe - fortunately it floated; E5N1 and Exile #4 having fun at an event we happened upon run by one or two of the park rangers; lunch at a nice cafe (two of us had lobster); visiting a lighthouse; and looking at the steep climbs that the trails go up, but not attempting any of them.

It was a long and busy day.  I'm not convinced we got it quite right, but we all enjoyed it at least in parts.