The morning was looking ominous as large grey storm clouds gathered near the hotel at Bar Harbor. Maybe our run of good weather was coming to an end, but we stayed optimistic as we hit the road for North Conway, inland in New Hampshire and up in the mountains, so we were all layered clothes wise for a potentially cool day. Not much exciting happened in the early part of the day as we cruised to our first pit stop on the side of the road at a McDonalds or Dunkin Donuts. We chose Dunkin' and headed across the road, only to be astounded that a semi trailer driver stopped to allow us to cross and on the way back another car driver did the same. Astonishing.
The day became sunnier and sunnier as we went along, no sign of the storms on the coast that had threatened in the morning. There was a bit of snoozing as we drove thru many lovely little towns and past riots of golden colour in the trees. Our lunch stop was Rumford, a quaint little village with only a few streets and again a common cemetery with graves dating back to the American Revolutionary War. We shared lunch today in a new "cafe" with George and Elwynne before a brisk walk back to the bus via some lovely trees in the churchyard.
Another photo opportunity was had at the hydro station at Bangor in Maine where there is a monstrous statue of the famed lumberjack Paul Bunyan... The statue is kitsch and ugly, reminiscent of our big sheep, prawn, lobster etc, but the view from the hydro dam was very pretty and worth the photo stop.
But the best photo stop of the day had to be at the base of the toll road up to Mt Washington, the highest mountain in Maine. We had been warned that we would not be able to see the top because it is usually under cloud, but on this blue skied afternoon it was beautiful.. the range of mountains is known as the Presidential range as it has mountains named for Washington, Jefferson and others. Well worth a photo stop and a great opportunity to stretch the legs before heading into North Conway, and our accommodation at the North Conway Grand hotel, literally on the same property as the Settlers Green Factory Outlet Mall. All that way to a Westfield hey team???
Upon arrival at the hotel we were offered a chance to hear a speaker from Raven Interactive which is a company that provides educative talks on the region and the process of seasonal change for the plants and the animals. We learned about deciduous trees and were interested to learn that the reason they shed their leaves is to preserve their fluid supply throughout the icy winter, because, effectively the area is rendered desert during the winter months. We also learned that the beautiful reds and yellows of the leaves are always there, but they are simply hidden by the chlorophyll. As the length of days shortens, the tree knows to shut off the supply of chlorophyll at the leaf join and hence the green disappears and the vibrant autumnal tones appear before drying and falling to the ground. We also learned about a rabbit that is brown during the summer and completely grows a white winter coat for warmth and camouflage. The other thing that we did was get up close and personal with a Moose. No not a real moose, although we have been looking for one of those for the last two days, with no success. No, there is a moose and bear display in the lobby of the hotel so just for fun we decided to pose!
So then it was off exploring. There was no dinner provided tonight so we were on our own and Chris and I were keen to do a little bit of shopping... we had a browse, bought some shoes for Chris and Mum and then went to dinner at Applebee's diner at the end of the complex. We also found some lovely seasonal displays featuring pumpkins, but by far the cutest one was the minion Pumpkins seen here. A spot more shopping and browsing and then it was back to the hotel for packing and sleep. Ah sleep, love sleep!
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