Finally...sun!

Now I understand why people love it here so much in the summer. Perfect weather today after a dicey few weeks. 72 degrees and sunny...so we went on a family ride in Acadia National Park today around Eagle Lake. An easy 6-mile loop around the lake on the park's carriage paths. The kids did a great job with the hills and Diane had Molly in tow on the tag-along. We had a picnic on the lake today and couldn't have asked for a more ideal setting.




Later in the afternoon I took a quick solo ride around the Amphitheater Loop carriage path and caught some great views of the Cranberry Islands. The carriage paths are such a great use of the park lands and gives incredible access to the park that would otherwise not be accessible by most.





It really was a relief to finally get a break in the weather. There is so much to see and do here, but the cold, rain and fog was starting to limit us...Tomorrow looks good too so we are going to try to squeeze some more of the park in before the rain returns and we have to head home later in the week.

4th of July in Bar Harbor

We drove into Bar Harbor for the Fourth of July parade. A small parade but lots of candy for the kids from the parade participants. Afterward, the town put on a picnic and served hamburgers, hot dogs and lobster. The highlight was clearly the lobster races they were holding over 24 individual heats. Had never seen anything quite like it. The weather was pretty good for the day.

Made it into Bar Harbor for fireworks last night. Rain was almost a factor... However, in the picture below, picture if you will, the skies a little darker over the harbor and a dazzling light show and a daring escape just before the rain kicked in. It really was a spectacular setting to see the fireworks over the water and something about 4th of July in New England was special too.

Boston in the rain...

We decided it might be a good idea to ride out the fog and cold and make our way down to Boston on Tuesday via Freeport. Freeport, by the way, was pretty awesome as far as outlets and shopping goes. The L.L. Bean flagship store is there and so are a couple of key other outlets. A little chilly, but a shopping mission accomplished. Made it to Boston and had dinner in the North End (Giacomo's for those interested...excellent) and grabbed pastries at Mike's Pastries. Cannoli's and cookies on the street! Wednesday was chilly and foggy but we ended up taking a Duck Tour which gave us a road tour of Boston and then went straight into the Charles River to complete the tour. A view from the Duck below.



(By the way, a huge shout-out to my friend Mike for ALL the Boston recommendations!) The rain kicked in and we spent most of the day in the Museum of Science. We finally made a run for the hotel (got soaked), but took the opportunity to ride the T. Dinner that night was in Faneuil Hall Marketplace at Durgin-Park. Very good meal. Would have been nice to have better weather, but...