Schoodic Point

I love a day like today, when the state geo-site is in a perfedctly lovely spot and traveling to it is through magnificent scenery. Yeah, Maine! The geo-site for the state is located at Schoodic Point, the tip of the Northeast Unit of Acadia National Park.

Our campground is located right on the Schoodic National Scenic Byway and a portion of this Byway travels through Acadia National Park along a 7 mile one-way road. At about the halfway point of this one-way road is Schoodic Point.

At the beginning of the Cambrian period, a small chunk of continent - Avalonia - broke away from Gondwanaland, the landmass that would someday fracture into South America, Australia, Africa, and Antarctica. For 120 million years this mini continent "sprinted" to the north and west, bound on a collision course with Laurentia, or proto-North America. When the leading edge of Laurentia plunged beneath Avalonia, the resulting friction created temperatures hot enough to melt rock, causing great cauldrons of acidic magma to rise to the surface. Some of it extruded onto the surface, while the rest solidified underground guaranteeing that this future shoreline of Maine would long possess a rock-solid foundation of granite.

As the acidic magma bodies cooled, they contracted and cracked. New injections of basaltic, dark-toned magma filled in the fractures and crystallizaed as dikes - tabular igneous intrusions that cut across the preexisting rock. More than once, a generation of younger dikes cut across older dikes, and these intersections are clearly visible at Schoodic Point, Maine's geo-site.

Morning view from our campground on a clear, blue-sky day.

Along the Scenic Drive we stopped at the West Gouldsboro Library with rather limited hours.

It may have limited hours but it has charming architecture. 

Just exploring, we took a side trip through Winter Harbor to Grindstone Neck. Similar to Poppasquash Point in Bristol, RI, Grindstone Neck has lovely homes that are probably summer "cottages". We drove to the end of the Neck where there was a stone beach, roses that filled the air with fragrance and a nice stone bench. 

From the beach you can see across the water to other islands. 

Because we had read about Maine's geo-site, we recognized this "dike" at Grindstone Point.

Here is a narrower one.  It looks almost as if it was painted on the rock. 

View from the stone bench.

Occasionally lobster boats would pass by.

And this tour boat passed by on its way to Winter Harbor.

Mr. Spock getting a good look at the dike at Schoodic Point.

A woman curious about what Spock was looking at.

Spock getting a good look at the dike.

Looking out to sea at Schoodic Point.

Irises blooming on Schoodic Point.

Evie and Bill, no relationship, were at the Schoodic Education & Research Center.

Our lunch spot at Blueberry Hill, about 2 miles down the road from Schoodic Point.

After lunch we hiked up to The Anvil, a lookout spot about 200 feet up.  This is a view to the west, toward Acadia National Park/West.

On the way down from The Anvil, towards the east and Schoodic Island.

This was our last geo-site for a few months, although I'll bet that there will be plenty of interesting spots in Canada.

Moose

Maine is a beautiful state and the drive today was a real treat.  To top it off, our campground has the most beautiful view of any we have stayed at.  The campground itself is OK, but the view is all Maine.  

At a rest stop, just before we got on I-95 to Bangor, just outside of Augusta, we came upon this magnificent beast.  Frederick was so taken by the size that we went in to the Maine Information Desk and asked about the size of moose.  This is a life-size rendering of a male.  They can be 6.9 feet at the shoulder and weigh 1,540 pounds.  BIG! 

Right behind the Moose was this little grouping of bear cubs.

The front of the Maine Rest Stop.  There was ample parking for trucks, buses and RVs in the back.  Yeah, Maine!

Inside the Rest Stop was this bull elk statue.

We arrived at our campground at about 2:30 pm. The weather was perfect, about 87 degrees, but there was a nice breeze off Frenchmen Bay, just northeast of Acadia National Park.

The campground is called Mountain View CG because there are views of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park.

There are an equal number of tents and RVs at this campground.

We went dawn to the beach and walked along the rocky shore.

We saw these interesting rock formations. More about that tomorrow.

Beautiful Maine coast, on Frenchmen Bay, with the pine trees marching right down to the shore.

I was already to start dinner, our second favorite soup, California Gold Rush White Bean Chili, when I realized that the beans have to sit in water overnight. Oops, I guess we'll just have to go out for dinner.

The owner of the campground recommended this newly opened restaurant, Ironbound Restaurant and Inn, about 6 miles from the campground.  Frederick had salmon and I had halibut.

Later, walking back from the showers, there was this lovely sunset.

Switches and a slide

More company at the Airstream today. Suzanne, Nathan and Maura arrived this morning to get acquainted with Grandpa and Grandma's house on wheels. It was just their size and there were so many interesting things to see and try.

"Maura, come see the bedroom."

Nathan finding a light switch and Maura checking out the shower.

Turning on the switches and looking up at the lights.

Suzanne and Frederick enjoying the kids.

Nathan found a slide in the door that was just his height.

Having a snack on the picnic table

Nathan getting acquainted with the Airstream.

Climbing the stairs to the slide at the campground playground.

Loves the slide.

Another way to climb up for the slide.

Fearless Maura going up the slide.

It's fun with two.

It was also moving day, so after saying good-bye, we hitched up and started on our way to Canada for the rest of the summer.  I feel as if the first part of our adventure is completed.  We started out in March from Canada and Buffalo; travelled down to Florida and then back up the Atlantic Coast. We then reunited with Suzanne & Scott and their family, and Kathryn and Jacob.  Kind of full circle.  Now it's on to Canada for the summer.  We will take a few days to cross into Canada; we want to avoid their national holiday, Canada Day, on July 1.  We'll hang out for a few days around Arcadia.

Crossing the Piscataqua Bridge, the border between New Hampshire and Maine.

The Maine Welcome Center where we ate our lunch.  

Right now we are in a campground, Freeport/Durham KOA, outside of Freeport, Maine, the home of LL Bean. We didn't unhitch because this is just an overnight. Tomorrow we'll be right outside of Acadia for a few days. 

Providence

Providence, Rhode Island, was where we were for a good part of today.  We had some appointments and took the opportunity of being in the area to visit Sam's Club and Stop & Shop in Seekonk.  We got a number of items, that we will store in the back of the car, for our trip to Canada.  I shouldn't feel this way, but I'm stocking up as if I think Canada doesn't have raisins or salad dressing.  I stopped myself from buying potatoes because I feel fairly certain that we will be able to find potatoes, for our soup, in Canada.  I did get some ground turkey and Italian sausage and put it in the freezer and I have about 12 quarts of chicken broth, the foundation of all our soups, stored in the car.

Nothing much of note to take pictures of today.  What follows are some pictures of Providence that Frederick took out of the car window.

Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul.

One segment of the huge Providence Place Mall.

Westin Hotel on the left and the Westin Residences on the right.

Saints Sahag and Mesrob Armenian Church.

Part of the U-Haul building where we rented a truck for the move of our remaining stuff to Kathryn's basement.