TRIP #5, 2014--In for a Treat

In for a Treat

In the morning sun the clear water of Jordan Pond reflects
the colors of autumn on the shoreline.

This morning two cruise ships had anchored in Frenchman's Bay. Bar Harbor will be jammed with people.  We'll stay away for a while today.
Andy read that Acadia National Park was rated the #1 national park by U.S.A. Today readers.  Attendance here equals that of Yellowstone, but the park covers much less acreage--only about 35,000 acres compared to Yellowstone's two million acres.  Both can boast beautiful fall colors, but Yellowstone probably has snow by now.  We're hiking in sweatshirts, even though the chill is setting in.

The hike around Jordan features
beautiful colors and gorgeous scenery.

Our first hike was the Jordan Pond Path, a 3.3-mile loop all the way around Jordan Pond, for beautiful views of the water--the area's drinking supply, and the Bubbles--Les Boob-les Mountains, in the distance.

As we round Jordan Pond on the 3.3-mile trail,
twin hills called The Bubbles rise in the distance.

From the parking lot, we took the right fork, a trail of packed earth and crushed stone that followed the contour of the pond.  Felled birch trees gave evidence of beaver, and a beaver house right by the bank suggested recent habitation. A bough with fresh red maple leaves fluttered from near the top of the pile.  We rounded the far end of the pond, crossed the bridge and entered the field of scree, jagged broken rocks left by the wearing down of a granite mountain.  With a slower pace and some balancing, we made our way to the boardwalk.  "This is the longest boardwalk I've ever been on," said Andy. Planks of halved trees bolted next to each other extended for a mile back to the start.  Walking was easy, except when planks shifted slightly under the weight of bodies.  But the views of the water and autumn-tinged mountains were stunning.
When we pulled off the road into a graveled parking lot that overlooked Seal Harbor, a stranger said, "You are in the a treat!"

The Terrace Trail to
Thuya Lodge offers gorgeous
views of the harbor below.

Part way up a steep stone path and natural stairway, another stranger said, "You are so lucky. Just wait for what is ahead."
The path led to Thuya Garden and Thuya Lodge, high on the rocky slope, wooded with northern white cedar and overlooking the bay.  The home belonged to Joseph H. Curtis, a Civil War veteran and a Boston landscape architect and engineer, who spent his summers in Northeast Harbor from 1880 until he died in 1928. Without living progeny, he left the property to the residents of the town of Mount Desert. Interpretive

Guide Ellen shows us around Joseph Curtis'
home, the Thuya Lodge, completed in 1916.

Guide Ellen invited us in to Thuya Lodge, the rustic home on the hillside.  Completed in 1916, the house is just as Mr. Curtis left it, with the Terrace Trail he designed to traverse the hillside from the harbor.  Unknowingly, we had just climbed it.
Ellen explained that Curtis had left the property in the care of his friend Charles K. Savage, the grandson of the man who had originally sold him the 140 acres.  A life-long resident of Northeast Harbor and a gifted landscape designer, Savage renovated two upstairs rooms to accommodate his growing library of botanical and horticultural books, added a landing in the harbor and an orchard, and created the magnificent Thuya Garden, a semi-formal herbaceous English garden, now also a Monarch Butterfly Way Station.
"I'm ready to move in," said Andy.  "This house is just gorgeous--not big or ostentations, just wonderful."
He wasn't kidding.  Ellen described it as "warm, inviting, livable," and she was a gracious hostess.

Upstairs, the rustic hillside Thuya Lodge home shows
the influence of horticulturist Charles K. Savage.

We browsed in the rooms and marveled at the 30-foot beamed ceilings and dark stained, wood-board tongue-in-groove walls.  "Mr. Curtis probably scaled back his original plans," said Ellen.  "He started the house, his wife died in 1915, and he finished construction in 1916.  He was also pre-deceased by his only son."  Ellen said Andy was not the first person today to want to move in.
"The house breathes," she said, "but it has no insulation.  It's only a summer home.  Mr. Curtis extended his season here with four fireplaces."

Monarch butterflies lite on flowers
in the Thuya Garden.

The Thuya Garden was as much a joy as the lodge.

Thuya Garden blooms in the brilliant colors of autumn.

A designated Monarch Butterfly Way Station, the garden bloomed in every imaginable color.  "How can all these flowers live in Maine in late September?" I wondered.  But it was the kinds of flowers all planted in full sun patches:  zinnias and asters, dahlias and Lisianthus and unusual blossoms like Actaea simplex that Andy especially admired.  He even made plans for a flower garden in our yard. Monarchs landed on the blossoms and stretched their wings, folding and unfolding delicately.  Fragrance permeated the air, and bees had a field day.  This is a place of sheer beauty.

Bright sun explains why these
flowers can grow in Maine.

"I promised you coffee," said Andy, as we walked Thuya Drive for the mile back to Little Red.  He kept his promise in grand style with fresh blueberry turnovers at Colonel's Landing, a restaurant and bakery in Northeast Harbor.
Asticou Azalea Garden, built by Charles Savage at the same time as Thuya, had a very different character.

Asticou Azalea Garden,
also designed by Savage,
reveals a very different flavor.

Just as gorgeous, this showcase incorporated Japanese style with flowering bushes, reflecting pools and raked white sand rock gardens.

Asticou incorporates Japanese rock garden techniques.

                  The final hike of the day took us to the top of Flying Mountain at 284 feet.  The 1.5-mile loop trail wound through white cedar woodlands to two granite overlooks that opened on views of Somes Sound.  "I think we took the better way," said Andy, as we descended 149 log steps and a whole lot of rocks and tree roots back to the parking lot.  I had shed my sweatshirt; Andy had left his at the car.  At 4:15 p.m. the temperature on the bank in Southwest Harbor read 66 degrees.
Andy appeased me.  We had seen some creative projects with sea shells at Northeast Harbor. So at 4:30 p.m. he agreed to drive back to Seawall Picnic Area in Wonderland to collect shells.  Timing was perfect; it was low tide.  But to avoid the traffic jam from road construction in town, we circled the island to return to Bar Harbor.  No crisis!  It was our last night here.

From Flying Mountain we look out on Somes Sound.

We made two observations as we returned to Bar Harbor on route #102:        1. Trees are definitely changing.  Hardwoods and undergrowth show lots more yellow and orange now.  2. Maine roads need a great deal of attention.  Little Red took all the bumps and bangs in stride... or more accurately in shock absorbers.
Our evening ended with a return to the Dog and Pony Tavern in downtown Bar Harbor with great food like barbequed chicken flatbread, relaxed atmosphere and wonderful service. Whoever said retirement wasn't the life!