Thursday, August 21, 2014

New Eng i Lend 2 or...

Yep, another musical selection for you. 



After New Hampshire we headed East into Maine. Our objective was to end up in Down East Maine. For those who do not know, Down East is the area as far East and North as one can go in coastal Maine. You can go further North, but you cannot go any further East in America. Acadia is part of Down East. We did not go there since about 80% of all the vacationers to Maine head there. We were looking for slightly quieter venues.


We stayed in Eastport at the Seaview Campground and Cottages. Typical of most private campgrounds, and just about all in Maine, they pack you in. There is zero privacy from your neighbor. For a matter of fact, the way you are stepped up the hill, you get a clear look right into your neighbors window. The place is spotless however and is a very nice base to see the area from.


We got the primo spot on our loop. We looked out onto the bay. I still have not figured out what the draw is to watching the tide flow by, but we and many others spent a lot of time watching it go by. Up here they have the largest tidal changes in America. It happened to be the Super Moon while we were there so the usual 27 foot tidal change was increased to 28 feet. 


Low tide...


About 30 minutes before high tide. At high tide all of the beach was gone. You see none of that rust colored beach. Unfortunately over the four days I never saw absolute high tide. I saw 6 low tides, but never a full high tide.


It got very low I might add.


The sunsets were spectacular.


That is O Canada you are looking at. Our phones had to be completely turned off while up here. They kept welcoming us to Canada and requesting we put an international plan into place.


I tried to catch a sunrise, but I seemed to sleep in every morning. Those who know me, know, I rarely sleep in. As I type this the sun is yet to come up.


For entertainment we had movie night at our trailers. Beth purchased a projector that attaches to the computer. We watched a number of Wes Anderson movies. Moonrise Kingdom was a huge hit. Even though the kids went around and invited everyone in the campground, no one joined us. Oddly the next day they would wander by and tell us how cool it was. 


13 years ago Beth and I took Ava to Maine. After becoming disillusioned with the the Great North Woods, we headed to the coast where we liked the landscape so much better. Some hippies told us about a cove we needed to check out called Jasper Beach. We followed their loose directions and found it. Much like the cove in Moonrise Kingdom that the main characters claimed as their own, we thought we had found our own little spot on Earth. We had always wanted to return. The way the waves come into this cove tumbles and polishes the rocks much more than other areas. Upon this visit it was much easier to find since Jasper Beach is all over the internet now. There are even videos from the place. There is now a big sign on the road and a parking area. 


Though the beach is still tumbled, polished rocks, the green ones that were so magical are almost non existent. You barely see any green jasper at all. There were also many black ones with bright red banding. Those too are all gone. The cove we had all to ourselves was now shared with many other families, eating their lunch and searching for those special rocks.


Did I mention the sunsets were spectacular? They were.


Did I mention we watched the tide flow in and out. We did. A great deal.


We took a little hike at West Quoddy Head. This is as far East as you can go in the continental United States. Some on Cape Cod argue this fact, but Cape Cod is actually not a cape, it is an island. There are other islands that are part of USA that are further East than Cape cod anyhow. I think it is all bragging rights. 


There are a number of trails in the park around the lighthouse. They are well worth the visit.


Here you find quintessential Maine costal landscapes. 


Yeah, I have gotten into the selfie trend. 


The forest on the hike is where you find native garden gnomes. They are fast creatures so you only catch glimpses of them darting through the forest.



That point you see is the furthest East possible. We ventured out to the tip. Unfortunately it was close to high tide and we missed going further East by 25 feet or so.


Out at Greens Point people build these rock cairns. Some believe them to be fairy houses. I have no idea where these notions come from.



I passed by this boat a number of times. It is in in Pembroke. I found the name of the town, and the name of the boat to be an interesting match. Maybe I am reading too much into it.


We tried to visit this museum twice. It was never open. Unfortunately little museums like this get little visitors since they are never open because they get very few visitors and therefore they can never be open. I am a sucker for museums like this. I wish they were open more.

One more post to come on our trip to New England.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

New Eng i Lend… 1 of...

We did a world wind tour of New England last week. I bet you want to read about it. I am going to make a musical recommendation as I usual do. This video has nothing to see, it is a great listen however. Substitute North Adams Mass for North Ontario and the lyrics work perfectly…



Our first destination was to meet up with Mistral Blue and Family. 


North Adams Mass. MASS MOCA. People thought our Airstreams were part of the display. I saw numerous photographers snapping away. They are rolling works of art. I really should keep track of the thumbs up I get while rolling down the road.


There is this Airstream as an installation. I can see the confusion. 





MASS MOCA is a really cool place. They took an old mill that was abandoned and turned it into an Art Museum. The people of Massachusetts did a great job of it. Wicked cool space!


The scale of the building allows for some massive sized works to be displayed.


Unlike the National Gallery in DC, you never feel you are being watched while you look at the art.


Big works abound.



I was captivated by this artist. The painting is done on see through curtain.



This guy is really OCD. He is seriously obsessed with mathematical formulas and rhythmic patterns.


That is colored pencil directly on the wall.


The entire mill complex is an art space. My favorite space was the boiler house. 



At the top of the boiler house was that Airstream installation you saw earlier.


An excellent use of a 1970's unit.


Someone drank a lot of beer to harvest all those labels.


At first I didn't like these pink things. They seemed to grow on me however.


Shiny, shiny, shiny. I am always attracted to shiny things.



North Adams Mass is a really great place. From here we went to The White Mountains. 


No one in my family had ever been to the top of Mt Washington. I was tempted to tow Anna up but we decided to take the Cog Railway instead. I must interject that the cost to ride this train is exploitive. We paid, but I think they take advantage of the visitors.


The ride starts off easy enough.




At some point the grade turns to 37.5%.




Make note of the sky. It was blue with light wispy clouds when we bought our tickets. Half way up, the clouds started getting thicker.


Those are named after dead Presidents.  The clouds are thickening up nicely now.


At the top we found a long line of people waiting to pose with the pile of rocks they call the top. I was not willing to wait our turn. 


So we posed 6" lower than the peak.


During the 45 minutes at the top a storm blew in below. There was a storm behind that rainbow. The temperature at the top went down 20 degrees in about 20 minutes and the wind picked up by about 20 mph. I am glad the train took us back down when it did.


In the next post we venture into Maine.