The first one was a repeat visit to the part of Acadia National Park that is on the mainland and Schoodic Point. See the map here: http://www.acadiamagic.com/schoodic/map.htm. This area is about 30 miles east of Ellsworth.
" Schoodic Point, located at the southern tip of Schoodic Peninsula in Winter Harbor, Maine, provides one of the best places to view pounding surf during rough seas as well as stunning views of Cadillac Mountain to the West. It is also one of the best places to view diabase dikes. These are large veins of dark basalt that forced their way through the older granite along the Schoodic shoreline. Both the older granite, and the much darker basalt, are igneous rocks that were formed from the cooling of magma during past volcanic activity. The contrast between these two can easily be seen throughout the peninsula. You may have noticed this in the thousands of boulders on the shoreline as well." ( courtesy of acadiamagic.com)
This was a peaceful scene with a view toward Desert Island along the first part of the peninsula road
This was taken at an overlook that was not quite as peacful, but beautiful just the same.
The parking lot at Schoodic Point is tiered and you can also walk out on the rocks all the way to the edge of the cliff (not recommended). We began watching from the car, but then decided to join the people sitting on the rocks closer to the action. The tide was coming in and the sun was shining brightly, but the wind blowing off the ocean made it very chilly.
( taken from the car) Sometimes there was just a little splash.
( taken from the rocks) Sometime the splash was larger.
(from the rocks) Then, every so often, your patience was rewarded with an "Ahhh" moment as the surf crashed against the rocky shore.
Here is a short video of what we saw and heard.
We struck up a conversation with a lady from South Carolina, and she offered to take our picture.
No, Selene isn't reading - she's trying to capture a picture of a big splash.
The fall colors have been slowly increasing and it seemed like a good idea to see what scenery a mountain area might provide. On October 8, our 49th wedding anniversary, we drove to Baxter State Park, about 2 1/2 hours northwest of Ellsworth. This state park includes Mount Katahdin, the highest mountain in Maine at 5,270 feet.
While the colors are not as their peak, the scenes were still beautiful against a bright blue sky.
This was our first view of Mount Katahdin as we drove in the park.
We stopped at the Visitor Center and had an interesting conversation with the ranger on duty. He said the view of the mountain along the lake at the back of the building was the best view we would see without hiking or climbing activity. Many of these trails can be quite dangerous - in fact, there was a rescue going on while we were there. (http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/hiking/)
The ranger also said moose sightings are fewer than normal this year due to the warm summer. The moose are staying deeper in the woods during the day to stay cool.
Here's a zoomed in shot of the mountain..... a steep, tall mountain formed from a granite intrusion weathered to the surface.
These two photos don't really do justice to the beauty that was visible in every direction
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