My bicycle's love affair with downeast Maine

[DeniseGoldberg]

The months of this year just kept clicking by, and the only trip my bike and I had pulled off was an out-and-back 2-day ride from home to Portsmouth, NH (http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/denise2007portsmouth). In August, I finally wrapped my head around a vacation. This one was different for me because it was a trip of day trips - but a trip of day trips in a beautiful area.

I started in Camden, Maine, then moved on to Bar Harbor. My bicycle insisted on riding each day, although I'll admit that I also spent time in Acadia National Park just walking along the beautiful rocky coastline with my camera. It's funny, I stayed in Bar Harbor for 4 days and managed to ride Park Loop Road 3 of those days. The sky conditions were so different each of those days that the scenery was very different; how wonderful!

If you're interested in following my travels (and those of my bicycle and my camera and my little mascot Rover too), you can read my journal on crazyguyonabike at

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/denise2007maine
There are photos in my journal, and there are additional photos (with some overlap, sorry!) in my galleries at

http://denise.smugmug.com/Travel/385428
There are 5 galleries, split into the different areas where I traveled. The bulk of the photos are in the Images of Acadia gallery.

[DebW]

Lovely photos, Denise. You are an artist with the camera.

[DeniseGoldberg]

Lovely photos, Denise. You are an artist with the camera.
Thanks Deb!

I think that the trip was really feeding my two addictions, wandering on my bike, and playing with cameras.

[snapdragen]

Absolutely beautiful Denise.

//snap is adding Maine to her list of places to visit

[DirtDiva]

Wow. Lots and lots of great photos. How did you get all the way up here (http://denise.smugmug.com/gallery/3540642#201851746)?

[DeniseGoldberg]

Wow. Lots and lots of great photos. How did you get all the way up here (http://denise.smugmug.com/gallery/3540642#201851746)?
While I'd like to say that I flew, that's just not true.

I first saw this bridge last year when it was under construction. It looked like it was near completion, so I went looking for information on it before I headed up to Maine. There is an observatory (42 stories up!) in one of the two towers of the bridge. It's open from May 1 - October 31, and there is a fee to ride the elevator. But hey - it was $3 to get into the Fort Knox State Historic Site (where the bottom of the bridge lives), and another $2 to go up to the observatory. I thought it was well worh it.

Of course, I would have loved to have walked up and back down, but as seems normal, the stairs are accessible only in emergencies. I asked the guy staffing the observation point where the stairs were. He told me that in an emergency he would first need to call 911 so that the bridge could be closed - because the stairs exit on the road surface.

If you're interested in the bridge, here's a link to some info: http://www.penobscotnarrowsbridge.com/bridge.html.

--- Denise

[kaybee]

Great pictures! We were there the week after you were, but our pictures aren't nearly as pretty as yours. I can't imagine living any place so beautiful.

KB