Day Fourteen – Boom, Whoosh, Ahhhhh!!!

Fourth of July!!  2016

Everyone is in town for the holiday, and, apparently, staying at our hotel!  When we go down to an early breakfast there are lots of holiday revelers.  We are lucky enough to find a table, though, and quickly eat and head out.  We’re going to walk down to the sand bar because Marilyn really wants a photo of herself on it. From our balcony it looks pretty close;  but looks can be deceiving! Turns out to be a good bit further.  We need a place to watch the parade, though, and we’re already downtown, so we stake a claim.  There are chairs lining the route, waiting for their owners, but we find one bit of curb that is empty and in the shade! Shade counts because it’s the first day that has been warm enough for shorts!  Have I mentioned that there is no humidity up here and mostly the highs have been in the seventies?

There's the sand bar, toward the end of low tide, from our balcony.

And yet they do it!

Yep, the tide's coming in!

A local resident comes along and finds her chair.  We chat and she tells us a bit about the parade, so we know what to expect.  Sounds charming.  Then Marilyn gets a call from Myra.  Turns out that she and Terry have a spot of Main Street with a bench and shade!  We decamp and head their way.

We have about an hour to wait, which gives us lots of time to catch up on everyone’s adventures.  Terry flew her plane, Wild Mama, and they are camping right outside of town. There is a tall lady standing in front of us and the people in chairs;  but we assume she’ll be sitting in one of the empty ones when the action gets going.  We’re wrong.

Look!  Here come the flags!  Another woman asks the tall one to sit down of move back a little and she says that “This is my spot.  I’ve stood here for twenty years.” And she continues to wave her two flags.  You might see them in a shot or two, below!

Many different Shrines' organizations, including the midget racers!

And my very favorite!!

 This is small town America at it’s best!  All the local businesses and organizations have a unit in the parade!  Many are celebrating not just the Fourth but Acadia National Park’s one hundredth birthday.  Every local fire department has a truck in the parade, all decked out in flags and bunting. There is only one marching band, but lots of decorated trucks with people through candy to the kids.  Marilyn scores an unusual water bottle that folds flat! I’m caught a little off guard when I am so moved by the patriotic music and the older men in their military uniforms. There’s a dance school and several laboratories doing research in the park and along the sea coast.

Everyone is wishing each other a Happy Fourth!

The parade lasts an hour! You can tell it’s over because the crowd starts filling in behind the last unit.  We’re so glad that we didn’t try to drive, and the trolley couldn’t have gotten through, either.  Myra and Terry are going down to the athletic field for the seafood festival and all the attendant activities, while we are heading out of town and away from the crowds.  We’ll meet up again, later, at our place for fireworks.

We've only seen three political signs this whole trip before today - and they were all for Bernie!

We trudge back up the hill to the Wonder View and reclaim our car, and realize that breakfast was quite a while ago!  Today must be another lobster day and we decide that eating is the next order of business.  We’re trying a different lobster pound, to see how they might differ.  This one is called the Down East Lobster Pound and it’s just across the bridge, in Trenton.  Actually, it’s practically across the street from the first one.  It is different, in that you can watch the lobsters in their tanks, and you order a whole dinner.  We chose the one with corn on the cob, cole slaw, fresh roll and a one-pound lobster.  We didn’t get the one that also included a pound of clams!

Our number is 13 and is written on a poker chip!  We find a table outside and in about fifteen minutes our number’s up!  (or a lunch is ready!) It is a delightful surprise to realize that between the two of us we remember all about how to eat a lobster!  Good thing, since there is no helpful wait staff to offer guidance and leadership!  Everything is delicious and we polish off every morsel before scrubbing off the lingering aroma and orange stain.  I wonder if the Native Americans used lobster shells as a dye!

We’re off, now, to explore the western side of Mount Desert Island.  Our goal is one more light house, the Bass Harbor Light.  We make one stop along the way, at The Seawall, but it doesn’t offer crashing waves, just an expanse of rock gradually sliding into the sea.

There are lots of people vising the light, which is kind of nice to see on our national holiday.  The signs tell us that a Coast Guard family lives in the house and asks us to respect their privacy, and stay off their grass.  “Grass grows by inches;  but dies by feet.”  Cute, huh?

They remind me of the seals we saw yesterday!

We find our way back to town and stop at the Hannaford for GF food products.  Marilyn looked at the grocery store that we’ll be using for our last week at the cabin, and they don’t seem to have any!  Best to be prepared.  We take the groceries home, park the car, and walk back to the sand bar.  It’s low tide and the whole thing is exposed.  People are exploring the tidal pools and hiking across to the Bar Island, to climb to the summit.  We just want a few photos of the bar itself.  It’s a bit like trying to shoot eh Grand Canyon in that my wide-angle lens won’t get the whole thing!  While we’re walking Marilyn gets a text from the girls saying that they are on their way back down from the summit!  We might meet them on the bar!

As we're walking back we see three firemen walking, two are carrying a ladder and the third has a long hook.  The cross the Village Green and lean the ladder against the gazebo.  One, then, climbs the ladder and uses the hook to retrieve a frisbee! Small-town living at it's finest.

This sweet lady is on the grounds of our hotel.

I don't know who she is;  but she's got her flag!

Picturing all done, we walk back to our room to shower, eat, and get ready for the fireworks display.  We finish off all our veggies and the hummus and half of the blue-cheese wedge that we bought at the winery yesterday.  I wash the dishes and we’re all clean and presentable when the girls arrive.

They are both so interesting and we have a great time, chatting and laughing, until the action gets underway.  I’m finally going to use my tripod!  I’m pretty excited to try it out and I’m very grateful to my dear friend, Dale, who is a professional photographer and has given me a lot of tips on how to shoot fireworks! We’ll see how I do!

Terry and Myra are getting up early in the morning to watch the sunrise from the top of Cadillac Mountain, so they leave right after the show is over.  We finish our wine (okay, I finish our wine) and head straight to bed.  We’ve guessed that we’ve probably walked at least six miles today, and we’re beat!  Tomorrow we are off to the cabin in Princeton and will have a real breakfast in town before we go.  I just can’t look at another hard-boiled egg!  And so – to bed!