How can it be day 10 already?! And dad’s last full day here?! The past week has flown by as always, but every day is so precious and memorable, I couldn’t ask for it any other way (except to stay for another week!).
We had planned on taking the ferry to Winter Harbor this morning at 9, so we were up early to make sure we had time for breakfast and to get our tickets (it’s first come, first served, no reservations so we wanted to make sure we weren’t scooped by a large group or cruise passengers). We stopped at Morning Glory and we each got a sticky bun ecase there really wasn’t anything else for breakfast! We wandered down by the pier and sat on a stone blck right across from the Margaret Todd pier.
It took a while to get our tickets. a woman hopped in front of my father in line as he was getting his wallet out and it took her over 5 minutes to get settled. Then it was our turn but we never got tickets. Eventually soeone retrieved them from the printer for us. bizarre. But all went fine and we enjoyed a beautiful 45-50 minute ride across to Winter Harbor. The sun was out and it was already feeling hot, even on the water. We passed Egg Rock, some red nuns and green cans (Rich likes those names!), Ironbound Island (no bald eagles today) and Winter Harbor Lighthouse on our way tot he ferry terminal on the opposite shore. Seas were a little rough/bouncy passing through Mount Desert Narrows but not too bad. Dad wans’t looking green so I consider that a success.
When we arrived at the Winter Harbor terminal, we intended to wait for the Island Explorer bus which would take us around to various points on the island. The bus wasn’t there yet, so the ferry passengers hung around, some on benches, Rich and dad standing, and I took a walk over to some rocks along the shore to see if I might find an unlisted survey mark.
Whiel I was looking at the rocks I heard something behind me that sounded like … a loud fart. OK; I assumed it was someone zipping up a backpack. After a minute I returned to Rich and dad. I heard the sound again. Looked at them with a raised eyebrow. They both went oh my god, this woman on the bench keeps leaning to the side and letting out these huge farts! They said she did it three or four times. It was so completely bizarre. She looked neat, clean and normal otherwise. I just cannot fathom what was going on. We were torn up about it for ther est of the mornig. So freaking funny!
e spent almost two hours at Schoodic Point, resting, taking photos and watching the wild waves as the tide came in, and eating our littel wedge of Lamb chopper cheese. Dad enjoyed the cheese as well. Basically just lazing around getting lots of sun. The bus came by around 12:15 and we took it to the trailhead for the Anvil Trail. Rich’s feet were sore and he wanted to play on the rocks here so dad and I di soe of the trail. We only had until about 1:30 because we wanted to be sure to be beack for th bus when it went by. We ended up not having enough timeto complete the trail to the head, but we still had an excllet itme. The first third of a mile or so goes over the Anvil, a steep little nubble and a very rooted and rocky trail going over it. Hard to follow at times but not too bad going up. The trail then levels out a bit past an overlook (that we skipped on our way out but investigated on our way back). We got within 0.3 miles of the head but had to turn around at that point because we had to be back for the bus. We even got a littel lost heading back down the Anvil because there are many false trails leading here and there and very few blazes. Good thing I had a tracklog we could more or less follow. We made it back by 1:30. A minute later a bus came by! Dad had disappeared to the rocks thinking he had 15 more minutes and Rich and I couldn’t figure out what was going on. The bus driver explained that he was only going for fuela dn woudl be back aroundn to take us to the ferry terminal. He was - about 15 minutes later than expected, but we got back just in time. “The” woman (ms. toot) sat right in frot of dad on the bus! He said he didn’t notice any strange sounds or smells that time.
The ferry ride back was awesome as wel. With the sun so intense and me with no hat or sunscreen (foolishly) I wore my fleece top over my head for most of the day. I’m sure it looked ridiculous but it basically worked! We got really close to (find the name of the islnd) on the way back and enjoyed seeing al the sea caves, crags, thunder holes and loomgin cliff faces. Ironboud island thsi time featured a deer and two osprey.
Dinner at Rosalie’s was excellent as always. We tried a calzone this time (Ok, not to bready, but not as tasty as the pizza). The pizza was excellent as always with a perfectly crispy crust … why can’t we get this at home?! We were just finishing our food and enjoying what remained of our beers when I heard Rich say “Oh no, not Scranton!” Apparently the people in the booth behind us and at the table right in front of our booth were originally from our area. The two couples talked for a few minutes and then the couple in the booth behind us left, and we started talking to the couple at the table. Turns out the mans cousin is Rob Rave, a “personality” in our area who owns a business and does a lot of goofy tv commercials and segments on the various news shows. Celebrity aside, the couple also come to MDI these same two weeks each year and have been doing so for many years. We talke for a long while about the various trails on the island and some of the interesting hidden things we’ve found along the way.
Dad wanted to take a run through Cadillac Mtn Sports tonight. We didn’t see much of interest although i flipped through the postcard book I’ve seen before to remind myself of the MDI postcards I still want to search for. We took a look for those awful meat bars but they didn’t have any (sold out? or thrown out?!). Then it was time for dessert. Dad ended up with butter pecan from CJs while Rich and I went to MDI Ice Cream. Rich had the maple walnut (super creamy and delcious) and I tried the blueberry mint. I have to say I liked it just about as much as the blueberry basil and blackberry basil! I know I really like both mint and blueberry but I couldn’t imagine how they would go together. Well, they do, very well! We sat on the park bench on this wamr night (dad stuck his foot in a peanut butter cup that someone had apparently dropped underneat the bench - at first he thought it was dog poo so at least it wasn’t as bad as that!).