Days 13 & 14: Columbia Falls, Lubec

Days 13 (Columbia Falls) and 14 (Lubec)

June 25-26, 2016

Miles: Day 13: 60
          Day 14: 45 

Bar Harbor to Lubec, ME


Today is June 26 and that is my sister's birthday.  Happy Birthday, San!  Hope you had a great day.

We weren't able to write a blog entry yesterday because there was no internet connection and phone service was spotty, so today's entry will provide two day's worth of blogging for the price of one.

Saturday morning saw us out of the hotel and looking for a place to eat in downtown Bar Harbor by 8am.  It was going to be a long day and we wanted to get an early start.  Di wanted to go to the Great Maine Breakfast Restaurant because they have a large variety of gluten free pancakes, but there was a 15 minute wait and she didn't feel like waiting.  So we found another breakfast place, Jordan's, that could seat us right away.  We should have asked ourselves why Jordan's had available seating while another restaurant a block away had a line waiting to get in, because if we had asked that question we might have deduced that Jordan's breakfast wasn't very good and waiting 15 minutes for a good breakfast was well worth it.  Anyway, we didn't ask that question and so learned the hard way that Jordan's breakfast wasn't very good.  We also learned the hard way that if a restaurant doesn't serve good breakfast, then they may as well charge a lot for it.  If you are foolish enough to go to the restaurant with no patrons, then surely you are foolish enough to pay too much for bad food.

End of our meal (note the uneaten food!)

We weren't the only suckers at Jordan's

We were on the road by 9:30 and our ride took us through Acadia National Park.  You need to buy a pass to enter the park, but we didn't.  It was very hilly and we rationalized that they should be paying us to ride up and down those hills.  Of course, that makes no sense, but that was going to be our story if we got caught.  Probably a good thing we didn't.

Scene from an Acadia National Park

We soon left the park (by riding through the ranger station on a road that said "Authorized vehicles only".  What gall!)  The ride out of Bar Harbor was pretty much a backtracking of the way in.  We took a different road, but even so, the first 11 miles of the ride served only to bring us back to Trenton, where on Friday we had veered from our northward trek to visit Bar Harbor.

At Trenton we turned northward.  This is something we saw along that northerly route:

Something we saw while riding

We were on country roads most of the day and we saw many farms surrounded by fields. Like this:

Farm surrounded by fields

We started to get hungry and we asked someone where we could get some food.  He said Trading Post was just up the road, but we'd better hurry if we want to get there before it closes.  It was around noon on a Saturday, so I thought it odd the restaurant would close soon.  We arrived at the Trading Post at 12:15 and the owner said we had no worries because he doesn't close on Saturday's until 12:45.  Naturally.  We ended up having a great time at the Trading Post.  The owner is also the cook and he was very interested in our bike trip.  He made Di a chicken salad sandwich using lettuce instead of bread, as per her request. "First time I ever made one of these", he said.  There was a regular at the end of the counter who told us he rides his motorcycle all over the country, but last week he took his bike out and rode it almost 500 yards.  "That cured me", he said, "I'll stick to riding the motorcycle from now on."  Another guy arrived and after hearing of our bike trip told us he competes in the Spartan Races.  These are races that are basically obstacle courses.  He is competing in one on Killington Mt. in September.  He showed us a number of pictures from his last race.  The guy we met on the road and had given us directions popped into the Trading Post to see if we made it there all right and to say hi to the other guys.  It was a good time at the Trading Post.

Di eating the first Trading Post lettuce-for-bread sandwich

We left the Trading post around 1pm and jumped on the Down East Sunrise Trail.  This trail is over 100 miles long and would bring us straight to Columbia Falls.  Unfortunately, after just a half mile on the trail, we decided to abandon our plans to ride the trail and turned around and returned to the road.  The trail is used by those four wheel ATVs and it was too rough for our bikes.  We thought it would be easier to ride on the road instead of rattling our hands to numbness and losing a few fillings as well.

Di just before turning around to head back to the road

We were back on the road and it was extremely hilly, but not hilly enough to make us wish we were back on that trail.  We rode for a while and I stopped to take a picture.  This is that picture:

A picture I took

Shortly after taking that picture, a car pulled up next to us and asked us if this area was a designated rest area.  We confidently answered that we did not know.  One of the members of this group then told us they were looking for a place to stay the night so they would be in a good spot to witness Catherine's ghost.  "We are into the paranormal", she explained, "but I don't want to believe without proof.  So tonight, we are going to try to get proof that Catherine's ghost exists."  She went on to tell me that Catherine and her husband somehow drove their buggy off the road and over a cliff on their wedding day.  Ever since, she has roamed along that road asking for rides from travelers.  "Well, that's one hitchhiker you don't want to pick up", I said.  "No", she replied, "you have to pick her up.  Otherwise, you will be cursed!  And after you give her a ride she will harmlessly leave your car and in the place she had been there will be a puddle."  I suppressed the urge to make some comment about incontinent hitchhiking ghosts and wished them all luck on their ghost hunt.  Di and I had a good chuckle as we rode up Catherine's Hill, named for, well, you can guess.

Di rides up Catherine's Hill

Di taking a break after a climb

Stopping for snacks and Gatorade

We ate our snack in the shade

Di preparing for the next onslaught of hills

We resumed riding and by 5pm reached the town line of Columbia Falls.

Gulls frolicking on the river

Did you know that Columbia Falls is known for its wreath manufacturing?  We didn't either, but one of many signs such as the one below clued us in.  The largest manufacturer of wreaths for national cemeteries is Worcester Wreath, located right here in Columbia Falls.

We didn't make it to the wreath museum

We found the campground and quickly set up our tent.  By quickly I mean as quickly as you can when you haven't set up your tent since last year and have forgotten how it gets put together.  We figured it out eventually and our tent was up.

Di and a tent

Di pretending to be happy to go in the tent

Our tent was nestled in the trees

We had decided not to bring our cooking gear on this trip so this means we have to buy prepared foods whenever we camp out.  This is a small price to pay for not having to carry the extra weight.  I certainly viewed it that way, which is understandable when you consider that I was the one carrying that weight.

Our dinner came courtesy of Subway

After dinner, we took showers in the newly built bathhouse and we were in our tents and sleeping bags by 8pm.  Not to say we went to sleep at that time, because that would be absurdly early. We went to sleep around 8:15pm.

We woke up the next morning at 8am.  Well, Di will tell you that she actually woke many times during the night and finally chose the 8am wakening to be the one where she doesn't try to go back to sleep any more.  In all fairness, the first night in a tent can be a little rough and it may take that first night to get accustomed to the tent, sleeping bag and sleeping pad.  As for me, I slept great.

We broke down the tent and were ready to roll by 9am.

Hey, it was buggy!

We met Ed and Diane as we were leaving our tent site.  They drive their RV all over the place and were happy to discover we were from RI because they visited RI for the first time just a little while ago.  They stayed in Jamestown and they found RI to be a beautiful place.  Their year-round house is in Maine and recently a RI couple purchased the home next door to them as a vacation home.  The RV couple were shocked, because after visiting RI they feel that no one in their right mind would leave RI to come to Maine.  It should be the other way around!  I was happy to hear their compliments of RI because I, too, believe RI is a beautiful state.  Their are the unsightly parts, of course, but there is a lot of natural beauty.  I choose to let that beauty define the state.  After parting with Ed and Diane, we rode for 8 miles and stopped at the White House for breakfast.  They stop serving breakfast at 11:30 on Sunday's and thankfully it was only 11:15, so we remained eligible for breakfast.  (What is with these weird serving times?)  I ordered the blueberry pancakes and Di an omelet and both dishes were excellent.  Take that, Jordan's!

A fine meal at the White House

We rode and then I took a picture of a body of water with trees.

Body of water with trees

We rode some more and then stopped at a church so we could sit on the stoop and have a snack.  There weren't many places to stop today, so we had to fall back on an old faithful - the church.

That's Di on the church stoop (who doesn't like to say stoop?)

We rode on and then, with 11 miles to go, took a break to buy lemonade and cliff bars.  We met a couple that was four-wheeling it on the Down East Sunrise Trail.  The fellow was an independent truck driver and he logs over 150,000 miles each year driving his rig.  He talked to us quite a bit about the trucking business and told us some interesting stories (someone tried to drive under his truck because he had seen it done in the movies.  Why? "Adrenaline and stupidity.  But mostly stupidity.").  Di impressed him by asking about the cause of the alligators seen on the highway.  "You know what an alligator is?  Well alright!"

Trucker and his wife off to do more four-wheeling

We rode on and had a relatively easy stretch of riding into Lubec (lou-BECK).  Did you know that Lubec is the easternmost town in the US?  We didn't either, but thankfully, a sign on the town line clued us in.

Lubec sign with lighthouses and lobster not created to scale (I hope)

We rode to the Inn on the Wharf and were pleasantly surprised to find it is right on the water (though its name should have mitigated this surprise a bit).

Riding down to the inn

The inn is comprised of three houses and each has three rooms.  We were on the first floor and our deck looks out onto Johnson's Bay.  It is a beautiful view.

View from inside our room looking out

View looking right (that's Canada in the background)

View to the left (USA)

We walked the short distance to the inn's restaurant.  It, too, is right on the water so we were treated to some magnificent views and a stunning sunset as we ate.

View from the restaurant patio

At our table

Di enjoying a cool beverage

Seafood platter for Di and crab cakes for me

After dinner

Night falls on Lubec

Tomorrow we enter Canada. Wahoo!