Maine June 2018 (Bar Harbor, Moosehead Lake, and family visit)

In May, we gave Bill’s Mom Polly a trip to Maine for her 92nd birthday. We prefer to visit Maine in July because we find the weather to be generally nicer then but we chose to travel in June because we could get reservations at our targeted B&B’s then, plus Ruth Dudley, a friend from our time in Boston (actually Sudbury) would coincidentally be there then as well.

June may sound like summertime to most of you, but in Maine, it is hard to predict. It could be lovely. It could be cold rainy weather. And anything in between. In any event, we decided that the stars were aligned and we committed to a June visit. As luck would have it, it was a great decision. We had very little rain (some one night) and the weather was cool but comfortable. In the meantime, San Miguel was deluged by rain. In fact there was so much rain in San Miguel that a bridge on the typical route to the airport collapsed due to the flooding Laja River...but that's a story for later.

Back to the trip...it was a 3:30 AM wakeup call for our early morning departure to Portland. Wisely we had spent the night near the airport. All went well with the flights. The wheel chair service provided for Polly meant that we breezed through Bush International (Houston) and Regan National (DC) airports. We arrived at our hotel a little after 7 PM. 

Soon we were off to our first meal, which was, surprise!, seafood (lobster bisque, mussels, and fish and chips with a side of roasted veggies.)

Our first significant overnight stop would be in Bar Harbor on Mt Desert Island (home of Acadia National Park). This is roughly a 3+ hour drive if you take the highway. Traveling along the coast through a number of delightful towns adds an hour of driving time and lots of opportunities to explore, shop and eat along the way. We stopped for shopping at LL Bean in Freeport and for pizza in Waldoboro. Upon arrival at the Balance Rock Inn, we connected with the Dudley / Stanfield clan (Ruth and her son-in-law Burns with his age 20-something "children" Liz and Nathan) for dinner at Blaze Restaurant, where most foods, including the lobster, are grilled over blazes of fire.

Grilled lobster, lobster and scallop risotto, halibut with pineapple salsa, and fish tacos were the order of the day. Yep, Burns wanted the tacos. Think he is hinting that he might like to visit Mexico??? We hope so. 

Liz and Nathan headed back to Boston the next morning while Ruth & Burns joined us for a tour of Schoodic Point, a part of Acadia National Park that is across Frenchman’s Bay from Bar Harbor. It’s a long enough drive that few visitors to the Park make it, so we mostly had the place to ourselves. We got off to a slow start so we really didn't do the place justice. In fact we had to pass up Winter Harbor with with it's shops and galleries and the community of Grindstone Neck with it's smoked seafood and exquisite views.

Along our return drive, we found a suitably atmospheric restaurant situated on a cove where Ruth could have the fried clams she had been craving. Polly must have been planning ahead because she dressed perfectly to coordinate with the bouquet on our table.

Saturday, we started the day with an early walk along the "Shore Path" accessed from the Pier in Bar Harbor (and from the grounds of our B&B). The path stretches about 3/4 mile along the shore passing a few of the still surviving "cottages". Note: In the late 1800's Mt Desert Island competed with Newport RI as "THE" place for the "rich & famous" to build elaborate "cottages" designed for entertaining and impressing their peers. Unfortunately most of the ones in Maine were destroyed over the years. The most recent "destroyer" was the "Fire of 1947" which also devastated forests around the island. The cool thing about that fire is that it opened up great vistas that we all enjoyed up through the 90's. But now the forests are growing and those vistas are no more. 

The Balance Rock Inn, a former Summer Cottage

Balance Rock

The shore path

One of the few cottages that escaped the 1947 Fire

We then headed out to enjoy one of the essential activities at Acadia, driving along the "Park Loop Road". The key highlights of the drive are the views - everywhere (despite the above mentioned complaint that some vistas have been blocked by the recovered forestation). A couple favorites are:

• "Sand Beach," a beautiful cove with fine white sand and "refreshing water" that never gets over 55 degrees.  There's a fine view of the beach from the loop road.  Historic note: When Pat worked at Acadia she swam out to the bouys marking the end of the beach.  Upon her return to the beach, one of her friends, a lifeguard, gave her the merry old devil for doing that. He didn't want to be the one dealing with the cold water swimming out to rescue her.  
• Thunder Hole is noted for the thundering made by rocks in a small cavern at the base of the cliff. When the right size wave hits, you know why it is called Thunder Hole. Pat's Mom, the ocean lover that she was, spent innumerable hours here. She noted that the best thundering usually occurs when the mid-tide is "coming in." However the water was so calm while we were there, most visitors were totally mystified by the name. 

A very calm Thunder Hole

View of Porcupine Islands from Thunder Hole

We next headed to the Asticou Azalea Gardens to meet our friends Terry (Pat’s junior year college roommate) and Jim. They live in the Villages in FL but frequently summer in Bar Harbor where they hike the network of trails and carriage roads that span the park. During the peak summer months LL Bean sponsors a bus service that stops at popular trail heads. What a great feature! So much better than having to limit hikes to circular routes or having to drop off cars at both ends of the trail. The Azaleas were in season and the gardens were striking. 

A carriage road bridge. John D Rockefeller Jr built
45 miles of of gravel roads within the park. 
These are limited to hiking, biking and horse carriages.
Bridges are made of the local pink granite.

A lovely light yellow peony  - not an azalea ;-)

We continued on to Northeast Harbor for some shopping and lunch. Later Jim and Polly found a relaxing spot overlooking the harbor. After we parted with Jim & Terry we drove up the winding route to the top of Mount Cadillac for views over the Frenchman's Bay and the Porcupine Islands.

Sunday we travelled to Southwest Harbor and Seawall (a natural stone wall of cobblestone size rocks). Along the way we had beautiful views of Somes Sound (Maine's own fjord) and stopped in the ever so cute town of Somesville with it's white walking bridge and reflecting pool.

Somesville with walking bridge  and reflecting pool on one side of the road
and driving bridge decorated with geraniums across the street.

The lilacs were in bloom and
as fragrant as the color is vivid.

After a short photo stop, we continued on to the Charlotte Rhoades Park and Butterfly Garden. Unfortunately we were too early in the season for its usual vivid display of color.  Next time.

We drove on beyond Southwest Harbor to the natural Seawall, an expanse of cobblestone size rocks swept up by the sea. It's lovely to visit the cliffside, landmark Bass Harbor Lighthouse but chose to avoid the lengthy walk. 

Seawall

View of Southwest Harbor from Upper Deck Restaurant

We enjoyed lunch at the Upper Deck Restaurant in Southwest Harbor where Pat was provided with very much unneeded directions re how to eat lobster. Note: When Pat was in grade school, her Mom taught her how to eat every edible bit of lobster. And she practices the art at every opportunity. 

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Monday we took a last walk along Frenchman's Bay. Being June there was a cruise ship in port (ships are not welcome in high season). And being Bar Harbor in summer, one of the 4-Masted Schooners that offer short sailing excursions just happened to be passing by.

Then we headed north to Greenville and Moosehead Lake, the state's largest lake (40 miles long and nearly 75,000 acres...more or less shaped like a Moose head). We were on the way to spend a few days with Carol Whitney (a high school classmate) at the Whitney camp on Harford's Point. Enroute we stopped in Dover-Foxcroft for ice cream at Butterfields, a childhood favorite and still very worthy.  See photo below for range of ice cream offerings!!!   The chocolate peanut butter was a hit with both Pat & Polly, Bill enjoyed the grapenut.

We stopped at the Indian Trading Post for a quick look around and to shop for groceries before continuing on to the camp. 

Tuesday was Primary Election Day and Carol needed to take a trip home to vote. We decided to drive further up the west side of the lake to Rockwood. Pat used to visit Rockwood as a child when she accompanied her Dad on his sales trips. (He had a “produce route” that took in as many summer camps and lodges as possible. He would pack the suburban with fresh fruits and veggies, most of which were grown by Pat’s Mom, and act as a traveling farm stand.) 

Along the way we stopped to check out Mt Kineo and family of geese

Needless to say we were stunned while stopped at one of the lodges. Pat’s niece’s son, Cameron (a beer & wine distributor who didn’t even know we were in Maine), had spotted Bill driving by. That he could recognize Bill with such a brief opportunity amazes us. Anyway, we were glad that he chased us and were delighted to meet up with him.

Our final day with Carol included more conversation, shopping around Greenville, playing cards (Progressive Rummy) and listening to the loons.

After three gorgeous days (including an overnight storm) on the lake we took Polly to her niece Mary's house in Stetson and we stayed with our niece Mary and her husband Peter in Garland. But first we toured Dexter, reminiscing of school days there. Then we all had fried scallops for lunch at the Lakeside on Wassookeag Lake. (Note: Garland & Stetson could compete for some element of small-size, so don't expect them on the normal tourist route.)

Friday we walked over to the dairy farm from run by brother Jim's family (wife Sandra, son Kevin, daughters Mary & Alyce and Mary's hubby Peter). Currently they milk around 550 head of cattle with twice per day milking starting at around 2 AM and again at 2 PM. Earlier in the day we learned that one of Polly's hearing aids had broken. So we next we went to Bangor hoping to get it repaired. NO luck but we did find some wine and food for dinner.  

On our walk to the farm we found a gnome at home on a brackett mushroom

Saturday we went to Dover Foxcroft with our sister-in-law Elaine. And, of all things, we got Polly's hearing aid fixed by an audiologist who just happens to have a house in San Miguel!  

We shopped at Bob’s Home & Garden. The store is located in the old Gristmill & Feedstore and the name says it all, you can find anything here for the home or garden. Someone posted to their facebook page, "Has everything I need. From hand made soaps, pet and feed supplies, gardening supplies to beer making kits and kitchenware." Then we drove on to Stutzman's Farmstand & Bakery for lunch. Nice pizza buffet with soups, salads, and dessert.

Sunday we are off to Bangor again. First to see Pat’s niece Lisa and her daughter Sadie (who just graduated from High School), and then to a University graduation party for Angelyn at her parents' (Bill & Alyce / Cameron’s parents) house in Veazie. What a fun group! Good thing because we plan to party with them at Vail this September at Riley's wedding. We were quite amused to meet Angelyn's guy friend who seems like a California-boy. They modeled in front of his camper van (impressively remodeled with his carpentry) and with his self-made surf board.

Anglyn with creative friend...a surfer who made his own board

Monday we picked up Polly and went to visit with her nephew Charlie and family in Corinna. Charlie and Barbara run Thunder Road Farm Stand (& Corn Maze). 

Polly & nephew Charlie

We stopped in Stetson to drop Polly off. 

Polly & niece Mary

We continued on to the Corinth Village Creamery (we shared a banana split) to see Pat's brother Frank, neice Gina and her 6 month old son Risley. 

Later Frank took us on a 4 wheeler tour over the roads and through the woods to see the planted fields of the Thomas Vegetable Farm (run by Frank and his son Paul.)

Next Up:  Maine June 2018 (Mid coast, Portland)

Lima

We arrived in Lima to the usual overcast skies and the usual slow traffic. It is interesting getting around Lima because while there are roads at sea level, pretty much all accommodations are 150 feet or more above on the cliff. And there are few connecting routes.

From our apartment in Miraflores district (250ft above sea level), we can see Lacomar, a upscale shopping mall which is built into the cliffside. It’s very touristy with a mix of boutiques and restaurants and NO anchor store. The biggest store there is Wong’s (our closest supermarket.) After settling into our apartment it was time for lunch. We headed to Popular, one of several restaurants at Lacomar overlooking the Pacific from the high cliffs. Seafood Frito Misto (or Jalea in Peruano) for Pat and Meunier Catch of the Day for Bill. We followed this with Ponderacion XXL, a typical Peruvian dessert made of very thin fried dough sheets, covered with ice cream and fresh fruit. The dough is so crispy and light and it combines perfectly with the sauce. 

After lunch we went on a search for eyeglasses for Pat. Hers broke while we were in the Amazon and she was anxiously waiting for the chance to replace them. Amazingly we found some she liked at the first shop we targetted.  We ordered them and then went on to explore the neighborhood.

Saturday was our last day with scheduled tours. We started with a visit to the nearby Huaca Pucllana archeological site, a great adobe and clay pyramid made with an unusual technique…layers of vertical adobe bricks between layers of horizontal adobe bricks with maybe an inch of space on each side of the vertical bricks. From a distance, it looks like it was built of corrugated cardboard material. Apparently this technique was designed to withstand local earthquakes. It seems to have worked. Huaca Pucllana served as an important ceremonial and administrative center of the Lima Culture, a society which developed between the years of 200 AD and 700 AD. There are several demonstration areas, one paying tribute to the gods, and one showing the process of making the bricks used in the construction of the site, as well as, an area with some of the animal (llamas, guinea pigs) and plant life of the local area.

A tomb for 2 in the Pyramid... the bodies would have been in those 
2 cylinders in fetal position prepared to be reborn.

We kept running into this tasty local fruit. They look a bit like a cherry tomato. It turns out they are what Pat's Mom raised in Maine, that she called "Husk Tomato" 

The Basilica Cathedral of Lima has 14 side chapels with varying architectural styles (Gothic, Romanesque, Arabic, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical…) Do you know all those? We don’t either.  But they span simple clean lines to extremely ornate, curvy decor. The Basilica is also home to the tomb of Francisco Pizarro, the Spaniard who led the conquest of Peru.

In front of the Basilica Cathedral

Mosaic of Pizarro, conqueror or Peru in one of the Chapels (above) 
and another more traditional Chapel below.

From there we moved on to the Franciscan Church (no photos allowed), noted for it catacombs discovered in 1943. Having served as a burial-place until 1808, when the city cemetery was opened, they contain thousands of skulls and bones sorted and arranged by bone type. Weird. We know. It is estimated that more than 25,000 bodies were laid to rest there; the crypts, built of bricks and mortar with domed ceilings, are very solid and, as planned, have stood up well to earthquakes.

Our last stop was at the Museo Rafael Larco Herrera, a renowned private museum of pre-Columbian art established by a pioneer of Peruvian archaeology. The galleries provide an overview of 4,000 years of Peruvian pre-Columbian history. We visited, and really enjoyed, the related, newer museum in Cusco. We likely spent 2 hours at that smaller museum. We had a whirlwind tour of this one.  

Nazca Drum (1AD-800AD) used in rituals & dances related to agricultural fertility. The Nazcas decorated their drums with the rich religious iconography. 

Copy of detail from a ritual cup demonstrating the steps of the sacrifice ritual

A trepaned pre-Columbian skull...the pre-Columbians used trepanation to care for battle wounds. Some of the trepanation were actually successful!  

Some of the loot from tombs...gold & jewelry 

Aside from the displays, there is a HUGE “catalog” of literally thousands of ancient ceramics, many of which have been digitally recorded if you want to check them out. 

A very small portion of the "catalog"

The museum is also well known for its gallery of pre-Columbian erotic pottery…we were told that these were intended for fertility purposes. 

We returned (hungry) around 4pm so went straight to one or our closest dining establishments, Tanta, a Gaston Acurio establishment, that sits alongside Popular on the oceanside cliffs. Note: Gaston Acurio is the renowned chef that put Peruvian cooking "on the map".

On Sunday, our new British friends (Trent and Justine), whom we met in Arequipa, came by and we joined them for a walk around Barranco, considered the city's most romantic and bohemian district. 

We stopped at Canta Rana for ceviche & tiradito. Ceviche is a dish in which cubes of seafood are marinated or "cooked" by lime and lemon juice. Tiradito is sliced (not cubed). For tiradito the lime or lemon juice acts more as a simple flavoring, being added just before the dish is served. Canta Rana is renowned for both and they lived up to the reputation. 

At Canta Rama

After lunch we wandered by the Puente de Suspiros (Bridge of Sighs) to the Pedro de Osma Museum, a colonial mansion and one of Peru’s largest collections of religious art, colonial silver and tapestries.  

Silver display featuring an armadillo

Corpus Christi Procession...18C AD

We continued on to check out one of the great shops/galleries (Dédalo features a broad range of fine local crafts) and the Sunday market. We enjoyed the surprisingly sunny day and the MANY Peruvian hairless dogs that were out walking their owners. Strangely we only saw the hairless dogs on Sunday. We saw LOTS of them on Sunday. We truly did not see them during the rest of the week. We walked back home along the clifftop to Miraflores, the neighboring district.

A young hairless dog. They do have a little hair on their heads, feet & tails.  We also have hairless dogs in Mexico. But honestly, we haven't seen them elsewhere. 

Monday the weather lived up to expectations…it was grey. Grey is typical for Lima’s winter weather. Of course it was now spring but only barely. We decided to explore Miraflores. We first visited Parque del Amor, named for it’s sculpture “The Kiss” by Victor Delfin. 

If you look closely, you may note the sculpted seating in the park (it may look a bit like a wall below). The seating is decorated in mosaics reminiscent of Gaudi's Parque Guell in Barcelona (also reminiscent of the mosiac Anado made for us in San Miguel.)

Here's Pat peeking out through the wall

At Parque John F Kennedy we enjoyed the multitude of cats…so cute. And not at all disturbed by folks walking by...

From there we checked out a few stores and had a great lunch at Rafael. The shopping was disappointing but the lunch was outstanding. Any meal that starts with bubbles, Cava in this case, is off to a good start. The next course featured seared foie gras with a sauce of roasted peaches, vanilla & port. The mains were "grouper confit & seared scallops" for Pat and "roast sea grouper steak with almond cream, wild mushrooms & endive" for Bill. 

Our foie gras

The final touch was "mango raviolis with lucuma foam, passion fruit broth & green apple sorbet" for Pat. Lucuma is another local fruit.  And "Pomegranate and custard apple 'tumbao' with milk caramel and almond crumble" for Bill. Sorry, we can't help much re what 'tumbao' means but the dessert was tasty!

Tuesday required a lot of planning. We had dinner reservations at Astrid & Gaston, the home restaurant of the Chef Gaston Acurio. We had to take steps to be certain we’d be able to eat enough to appreciate the experience. We knew we needed lots of walking to earn the meal. So we walked the 4.3 km (2.7 miles) to San Isidro (which neighbors Miraflores on the northwest). We discovered the perfect lunch spot, 27 Tapas ...coincidentally neighboring Astrid & Gaston. We selected glasses (yep, only glasses) of Malbec & Cabernet wines to go with: 

• "waffles & pesto…ham & cheese waffles, rucola pesto and tomato salad"
• "Spanish broken eggs…crispy potatoes, ham, soft fried eggs". The eggs are broken just as they serve the dish
• "montadito de salmon...cured salmon, apples & joselito ham cream"

All were good enough to entice us to consider a second trip later in the week.

Montadito de Salmon

Waffles (left) and not yet Broken Eggs

From there we moved on to the Natural History Museum, an interesting break to the long list of pre-columbian venues we had visited. When we saw the sloth exhibit, we were amazed that we had managed to spot some in the Amazon given their coloring. Their coloring is well designed camouflage. OK, granted our guide spotted them in the Amazon, but Bill was able to get a photo. How was that possible? 

From the museum, we wandered around San Isidro before going to dinner. Astrid y Gastón has been leading Peru's gastronomic surge since its opening 20 years ago. This was our third visit to one of this “chain” of establishments. Our first meal was in Santiago Chile in 2012 and the second was in Mexico City with our friends Ken and Pat who were visiting us from Boston. 

We started with glasses of Brut Rose at the bar (we arrived a bit early). With our dinner we selected a Chilean Pinot Noir “Bill” from the Casablanca Valley (give an assist to the sommelier). For starters we had the "potato stuffed with lamb with Arabian Andean aromas” and the "San Ko Chaos…beef and coriander dumplings, pepián and spicy broth". We both had suckling pig for our main courses, "confit…carapulcra, pibil juice, cacao and peanuts" for Pat and "grilled with cauliflower, black quinoa and squash sauce" for Bill.  Fortunately we had some space left for dessert. Bill chose Baklava "Sacha Inchi with figs, marscapone cheese, and Sacha inchi nuts". Pat selected "Suspiro...dulce de leche/manjer blanco, frutos rojos in oporto wine, and cinnamon ice cream). We won't bore you with translating all that. Suffice it to say, it was quite an evening. 

Dumplings and stuffed potatoes

Baklava

Wednesday we visited the modern art museum, not exactly to our taste but it put us on route to Isolina restaurant in Barranco. Isolina features traditional cuisine. A note on the menu states that one dish feeds 3 people. We opted for a starter, "Papa Rellena con harto relleno...stuffed potato with minced meat, criollo salsa and Peruvian red pepper cream" and  "Higado encebollado con Tacu Tacu de frijoles negros...pan fried beef liver topped with fried onions and tomatoes, served over a black bean tacu tacu (beans and rice patty)". The combo was quite tasty and we consumed more than 3/4 of the definitely large servings!! 

On our return to the apartment we enjoyed watching the para-sailers taking advantage of the currents along the cliffs. 

Later we went out to pickup Pat’s new glasses. Very fashionable. Actually maybe not so "fashionable" since they are the type without frames, but that is what Pat likes.

Thursday we walked back to 27 Tapas for lunch. As mentioned before, this is roughly a 3 mile walk but the exercise helps keep the weight under control allowing us to enjoy the fine food in Lima. This time we had "papas bravas…crispy potatoes, Sriracha mayo & togarashi", "frito misto…deep friend seafood, shallots, “rococo” chili and squid aioli", "fish & chips", "aji relleno...yellow pepper stuffed with ossobuco & mozzarela" and several glasses of red wine followed by coffee. This meal was as good as the first.

Fish & Chips

After stoking-up we walked to Parque de la Reserva to see the fountains perform. There are a number of fountains, animated and in color, that put on a good show. 

Friday morning we finished our packing and off to the airport before noon. We had lunch again at a Gastón Acurio restaurant, Tanta, at the airport. The "Rocota...stuffed pepper with a side of sliced potato" and "artichoke pie" went very well with the bottle of Intipalka Syrah, our last Peruvian wine for a while.  

We arrived at Mexico City airport around 11pm and checked into the Courtyard Marriot.  We arrived in San Miguel around 1pm and hurried off to the Saturday Market to stock up on fresh veggies, cheese and breakfast pastries. 

Alejandra & Jorge, friends from Mexico City, were visiting for the Fiesta of San Miguel Arcángel (our Patron Saint day) and we joined them for dinner at Quince, a very fine rooftop restaurant with a fine view of the Parroquia. It turns out it also has a fine view of the fireworks in the Jardin. What a great way to celebrate our return to San Miguel!