More Bar Harbor and to Boston (Lowell actually)

On Saturday we went to Bernard and the west side of the island. I had forgotten to take the battery with the camera, so we don't have any pictures that day! We did a tour around the island, visiting Southwest Harbor, Northeast Harbor, and driving back around to Bar Harbor. We also had a chance to walk to Bar Island, an island just off Bar Harbor. You can walk there during low tide, but during high tide, the passage is covered by many feet of water. Most of the islands and bays look very different during high and low tides.

Sunday we had the camera again. This time we went on a trip outside of the island, visiting Deer Isle and St9ngington. Stonington is a small town on the end of Deer Isle and is a lobster working town. Very different feel than Bar Harbor. Picture below shows part of the dock in low tide.

We also took a photo of the boats on the harbor.

We grabbed some ice cream and lunch on the way back to Bar Harbor, where we hung out for the evening.

The next day (today), we decided not to go back to Bar Harbor, but hung around in Ellsworth for breakfast. We got back to the airport and took off for Concord, NH. It was a bit cloudy, so on the way out, we took some pictures of the Simpson's house and some scenery.

The photo below shows Mount Desert Island.

More clouds and scenery photos.

After a short flight with a tailwind (groundspeed of 207 miles per hour!), we landed in Concord, New Hampshire. We god a ride from a very nice electrician who overheard us needing a ride to the capital bulding. The pictures were our 20th capital!


After a quick hop to Nashua airport, we rented a car and drove to Ari's house, where we are staying until we go home.

Kayaking etc

We arrived in Bar Harbor airport and drove to Dr. Simpson's house. It took us a bit of time to find it (the GPS in the car came close, but we did eventually find the house using the directions Dr. Simpson provided). The house is very nice, and we wasted no time getting to sleep. The next day (Friday) we started by going to Bar Harbor, a nice town and not too crowded this early in the season.

We hung around, eating and shopping, and during the evening, we decided to go sea kayaking. Pictures are below:

Next: Saturday and Sunday.

To Bar Harbor

On Thursday morning, we left Toronto on a trip to Bar Harbor. Jennifer had joined us, so there were three of us flying. Our first stop was in Albany, where we cleared customs. In a small plane, you taxi up to the customs office and wait in the plane for them to come by. We were escorted into the customs building where we showed passports, answered questions, filled out forms, etc. It is similar to the regular customs, only we didn't have to get our bags.

Albany, the capital of New York was our 17th capital, and a photo of Hannah in front of the capital building is below. There are also some very interesting government buildings, including the one that looks like a flying saucer (we don't know what the building is for). The FBO in Albany international (Millionair) had a Jaguar as a crew car! We drove to the capital building, took the pictures, then ate from the roadside food vendors. We drove back to the airport and then off to Montpelier, Vermont.

The flight to Montpelier was nice, with some mountains to look at, although Hannah read while under a blanket and Jennifer slept. Montpelier is a very small airport, with no taxi service or other way to get to the capital. There is a small restaurant at the airport, so we eventually got the head cook to give us a ride to town to take the picture. The town is very small, but nice, lying in a valley with a small river. We stopped for ice cream (the home of Ben and Jerry's) and then back to the airport.

The flight to Augusta was also uneventful (Jennifer was awake most of the way), and the Augusta airport and FBO was very nice, loaning us a car to take the pictures (19th capital!).

Finally, we flew 20 minutes to Bar Harbor airport, grabbed a car and drove to our place, Dr. Simpson's house (THANKS!) near Hancock, ME. Next post: Adventures in Bar Harbor and nearby towns!

To Toronto

The weather was great for the start of our trip and we flew to Springfield. We had a pancake breakfast at the airport and borrowed a car to go to the capital. We were also told that Lincoln's toumb was in town, so we decided to stop there also. The picture below is the Illinois capital building (our 16th capital). The picture below that is of the Lincoln statue in front of the capital building.

The next stop was Lincoln's tomb. The four photos show the memorial, Hannah in front of the statue in front of the memorial, the entryway of the toumb and the toumb itself.

After Springfield, we tried to get to Lansing, MI but thunderstorms kept us from getting there. Instead, we stopped in Ann Arbor and grabbed some lunch while waiting for the storms to pass. We called customs by phone before we left and flew to Toronto City Center airport, on a small island directly across from Toronto. The photo shows Hannah on the short ferry ride from the island.

Dan went to the ICCR meeting while Hannah waited around the hotel room and read/watched TV. We did get a chance to go out to lunch and dinner and there was a 1/2 day out on the island as part of the conference. Jennifer flew in on Tuesday night, so Hannah and Jennifer got to hang out on Wednesday and do some shopping and sightseeing. Next post: The trip to Bar Harbor!