It rained all through the night. We didn't bother to try to get up before the sun to make the sunrise on Cadillac Mountain. It just seemed like it was going to be a lot of effort for an event hidden by the rainclouds. Instead we slept in and then headed out to get wild Maine blueberry pancakes.
(A quick side note about our hotel...the rooms are individual, motel style doors, but the buildings are located on a landscaped hill. We park at the bottom of the hill and then walk up the path to our rooms).
We arrived at Jordon's for breakfast at just the right time. After we got there, a line started forming for a table. Everybody got blueberry pancakes and Sweetling and the Jedi got blueberry syrup for their pancakes. Young Chef has become quite the maple syrup connesseur, deciding that he prefers the Vermont maple syrup to the Maine maple syrup. I'm going to get him a bottle of Vermont maple syrup for Christmas. He can drink it from the bottle like a soda. The blueberry syrup was a hit with Sweetling and the Jedi, and a bottle of it came home with us. (Along with 6 large blueberry muffins, but who's counting?)
After breakfast, we went shopping for a raincoat for Sweetling, because somehow hers didn't get packed in the bin with the other rain gear and , tut tut, it looked like rain. Right next door to Jordan's was a local grocery store. I thought we should check in there first to try to avoid tourist prices I was certain we'd encounter in the stores in the center of the Bar Harbor shops. They didn't have one but I chatted with an employee about where we might find some affordable options. While we were chatting the whale watching tour came up. She said she'd be shocked if they ran that today because of the winds. The Jedi thought it'd be a good idea to call them and ask...and sure enough, it was cancelled for the day. There was a small craft advisory issued, so no whale watching tour.
We still needed a raincoat for Sweelting, so we set off to check out the shops. This turned into quite a shopping excursion. We hit a store that was having an end of season sale, with jackets for $15 and gloves and scarves and hats for $10 or $5. We walked out with a raincoat for Sweetling which she loves, a jacket for Young Chef that he found and *asked* for (this is the boy that I used to have to threaten and plead with about coats. The compromise we finally reached was that he didn't have to wear his coat in the dead of winter, he just had to carry it so that people knew I had provided him with one. )
We decided to drive up Cadillac Mountain. The Jedi previewed the route in advance using google street view to make sure the van could handle it. The drive up was beautiful. We hooked up the dash cam to record it and hit a couple of pull offs for photos, but quickly, because we were trying to beat the rain. While the scenery at the top was lovely, what made the experience truly memorable was the wind. It was a struggle to stand up right, it was nearly impossible to hold a phone still enough for a clear photo. The top was one large piece of weather sculpted rock with delicate alpine plants clinging on here and there and rain pools rippling in the wind. I tried Skyping mama, but the reception was so spotty. I still hiking up the trail, trying to make a video for her when Young Chef ran back down the trail to me and told me I better hurry, it was starting to rain. I told him I'd be fine and he said, "that's your choice; but the wind makes the raindrops feel like bullets and I don't think you're going to like it when they start hitting your face!"
Back at the visitor center by the parking lot, I took a photo of little alpine plants clinging to the tiled roof. Sweetling came out of the bathroom and told me, "I left that trail a changed rabbit...."
Since we had extra time, we decided to hit Sand Beach, which we had skipped yesterday, and revisit ThunderHole. Both turned out to be rewarding stops. The waves on the rocks were just beautiful, and thunder hole was indeed thundering. It also drenched a few people at the rail, and Sweetling and I were just outside of the splash range when it happened. By this time, people were hungry, so we headed back to Bar Harbor for lunch at China Joy.
Another round of shopping and exploring the stores after lunch. Another trip to a fudge and ice cream shop. No one in our group tried the lobster ice cream, but we did get a souvenir for one of Sweetling's friends. Young Chef found a stone to add to his collection at a rock shop, we got more popcorn than the Jedi thought was prudent, and then Sweetling and I got a stack of fat quarters and a piecing/applique kit from a local quilting store.
By this time, it had just started really raining, instead of the off and on sprinkles, and we were tired, so we headed back to the hotel room to rest before dinner.
Dinner was at a Rt 66 themed restaurant. The Jedi thought it was fitting that since Rt 66 played such a big role in our first cross country road trip to California, some element of it should be included in this trip, which will wrap up the lower 48 for us. It was a great restaurant. It was set back from the street and the sidewalk to the door was painted like a road. The rear half of a car was mounted above the door and inside the walls to the vaulted second story ceiling were just packed with vintage memorabilia, as was every other nook and cranny. Whoever put all that together did an amazing job, because it didn't look chaotic or cluttered. There was still enough groupings and ordering by themes that it wasn't visually overwhelming.
The food was great. We had all decided before we left the hotel room that we were not hungry and we would just get appetizers. That didn't happen. The Jedi was the only one who stuck with the plan. When we asked him how his appetizers were he replied, "Delicious, and responsible." The rest of us were irresponsible and ordered dinners, which we pretty much devoured. I ordered halibut tacos, which came with coleslaw and creamy bam sauce. Although I had taken my lactaide, as I was pouring the bam sauce on the first taco, Young Chef asked, "Are you eating _more_ dairy today?" and "oh look, she's putting poison on the other one too!"
At the end of the meal, Young Chef said to me, "You're in trouble now, eating all that dairy."
The Jedi stated, "We are _all_ in trouble now. We are _all_ going to be suffering from the consequences of this poor choice." I took a double dose of Gas-X on the way back to the hotel.
At the hotel, we watched Jumangi (the one with the Rock and Amy Pond.) It was a funny, easy to watch movie, good for laughing and relaxing after an eventful day. (And the Gas-X worked its magic, mostly.)
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