Maine! The last day ...

Well, the last full day at least.  On the real last day we basically woke up and drove to the airport, so nothing too exciting there.

Anyway, this morning we woke up to peach pancakes and lobster eggs (lobster #8).  We ate a little fast because we had an appointment for sea kayaking at noon!  We wanted to be able to get a little hiking in before that.  Right down the street from the Inn was a perfect trail called Beech Mountain.  It was just a couple miles total, a nice steady grade up to a mountain summit, and had some nice views to boot.

After the hike we grabbed a bite to eat at a cute little sandwich shop called Sawyer's, then headed up the road a couple blocks to the Sea Kayaking place.  Since the season ended the next day (lucky on my planning there) we had a small crew of 6 people, including our guide Corky.  Corky was a retired college professor and ecologist, who now does kayaking and team development training.  There was also a veterinarian, real estate guy, and a consultant from Manhattan on the trip.  We were all different as night is from day, but it's pretty neat how when you get a group of people together with the same interests (exploring the beautiful outdoors) how much fun you can have!

We "put in" our kayaks at a little fishing harbor away from town, then kayaked 6 miles up the coast.  It's always neat to get a view of the coast from the water.  Given that our guide was an ecologist, we learned a lot about why Maine's coast is shaped the way it is.  We noticed that right off shore, the water depths were immediately at least 40 feet, often deeper.  Of course there's the rocky edges.  This is because the shores were cut by glaciers, rather than formed from sand and pounding of waves over time.  Pretty neat stuff.  We also saw a lot of wildlife - a few seals and tons of sea birds.  We rode in a tandem kayak which was pretty fun too.  Stuart sat in the back and steered the rudder, and we both paddled.  Though a couple of times I looked back and caught him relaxing while I was doing all the work!

The weather was gorgeous and it was 70 degrees.  Couldn't have asked for a better day!

Me and Stu with Corky in the background

double crested cormorants

After kayaking was done, we went out to dinner at Havana in Bar Harbor.  It had a Cuban flavor to it, obviously.  Stuart had some sort of lobster dish and I had my second paella (lobsters #9 and 10).

Well, folks, that about does it!  Maine was a beautiful place with some pretty dramatic landscapes, and all the outdoor activities you could ever hope for!  I think we'll be back ...