How can it be day 10 of our trip 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 9:00, so we were up very early to make sure we had time for breakfast and to get our tickets. Tickets are sold first come-first served-no reservations, so we wanted to make sure we weren’t scooped by a large group or hordes of cruise passengers. We stopped at Morning Glory and we each got a sticky bun because there really wasn’t anything else open this early for a quick breakfast! We wandered down by the pier and sat on a stone block right across from the Margaret Todd pier.
It took a while to purchase our tickets, and the process was a bit confusing. A woman hopped in front of my father in line as he was getting his wallet out and it took her over five minutes to get settled. Then it was our turn, and we paid, but we never got tickets. Eventually someone retrieved them from the printer for us. Bizarre.
But all went fine and we enjoyed a beautiful forty-five 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 to the ferry terminal on the opposite shore. Seas were a little bouncy passing through Mount Desert Narrows, but not too rough. (Dad wasn’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 hadn’t arrived 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 spot an unlisted survey mark.
While I was looking at the rocks, I heard something behind me that sounded like … a loud fart. OK; I assumed it must have been 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 said oh my god, this woman on the bench keeps leaning way over to the side and letting out these huge farts! They said she did it four or five 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 the rest of the morning. So freaking funny!
We spent almost two hours at Schoodic Point, resting, taking photos and watching the wild waves as the tide came in, and eating a little wedge of Lamb Chopper cheese that we had brought with us. Dad enjoyed the cheese as well. We were 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 instead, so dad and I hiked some of the trail. We only had about an hour, because we wanted to be sure to be back for the bus when it passed by. We ended up not having enough time to complete the trail to the head, but we still had an excellent time. The first third of a mile or so goes over the Anvil, a steep little nubble with a very rooted and rocky trail passing over it. It can be hard to follow at times, but it’s an easy hike going up. The trail then levels out a bit past an overlook (that we investigated on our way back).
We got within 0.3 miles of the head, but given our time constraints, we had to turn around at that point. We even got slightly lost heading back down the Anvil because there are many false trails leading here and there, and very few blazes on the official trail. Good thing I had a GPS 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 fuel and would be back around to take us to the ferry terminal. He was - about 15 minutes later than expected, but we got back to the terminal just in time. “The” woman (Ms. Toot) sat right in front of dad on the bus! He said he didn’t notice any strange sounds or smells that time.
The ferry ride back to MDI was awesome as well. 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 to shield me from sunburn! We got really close to one of the offshore islands on the way back and enjoyed seeing all the sea caves, crags, thunder holes and looming cliff faces up close. Ironbound Island featured a deer and two osprey.
Dinner at Rosalie’s was excellent as always. We tried a calzone today (it was OK, not too 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 local 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 sitting at the table. It turns out that the man’s 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 talked 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 Mountain Sports tonight. We didn’t find 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 on eBay. We took a look for those awful meat bars but they didn’t have any (were they sold out? or thrown out?!).
Then it was time for dessert. Dad ended up with butter pecan from CJ’s, while Rich and I went to MDI Ice Cream. Rich had the maple walnut (which was super creamy and delicious) 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. They do complement each other very well!
We sat on the park bench on this warm night to enjoy our ice cream and watch the various people strolling through the park. At one point Dad stuck his foot onto a peanut butter cup that someone had apparently dropped underneath the bench. It was messy, but at first he had thought it was dog poop, so at least it could have been worse!