Long Island on Casco Bay

This was one of our island stops that people who do not own boats can get to (it's a stop on the Casco Bay Ferry Line).

The first thing we had to do once we got to the island was buy an ice cream at the island store. It was just one of those things we had to do.

We ate our cones while walking down the road (across from the store) to the other side of the island to visit the ocean side beach (which we were told was a really pretty beach - and it was).

We found interesting things to look at during our visit to Peaks Island last month and have figured out that maybe the island residents around Casco Bay enjoy enhancing the scenery a bit for their summer visitors.

We might have forgot our bathing suits (me not thinking, although I was tired from our busy day on the boat the day before) but that didn't stop L. from splashing around in the water and directing me to take more 'jumping' photos of her. G. wasn't so keen on getting her clothes wet so she just put her feet in and then ran away from her jumping sister when she got too close.

From the beach we could see the tower on Jewell Island and are now trying to figure out how to get back to Jewell for a camping visit before the summer is over.

We're thinking about kayaking but first we have to learn how to do that ...

Fort Gorges ... and sore armpits

Another island stop we made during our sailing trip around Casco Bay this past weekend was Fort Gorges. The girls have wanted to visit the fort since the day they spotted it so it was high on our list of places to visit on this trip (the only way to get there is by private boat).

We took a dingy over to the fort because it's shallow around the island and the tides move really fast.

We tied up a distance from the shore and walked in because the tide was going out and we didn't want the dingy to run aground while we were exploring. Unfortunately for another set of visitors, they didn't know about the fast moving tides. Fino and Mike offered a hand to help them carry their boat over quite a bit of dry ground to get it back in the water.

L. loved all the periwinkles on the beach and kept running her hands through all of them. She picked out a few before she was off and running to the fort's entrance.

We walked through the hallways around the fort then found the stairs to explore each level. There are several dark hallways that require a flashlight and Mike warned us that the light often startles the pigeons who nest in the dark corners.

But L. wanted to explore the "everywhere" so after we walked through all the sunlit hallways she and I walked in to one of the dark stairways.

I flashed my light in front of us and startled a pigeon in a corner about a foot away from us. The pigeon flapped through the doorway at knee level and L. flung her arms up as she jumped and screamed. She did it all in one fluid motion and her arms moved nearly as fast as the pigeon's wings. L. leaped into me and between the pigeon and a flying, screaming kid heading right at me, I was startled in to a scream myself. Then G., who wasn't even in the doorway with us, screamed too.

The guys of course thought the whole thing was incredibly funny. L. really had been terrified but she got over it quickly and laughed along with the rest of us too.

As we were heading back towards the boat, L. started complaining about her armpits being sore.

"Don't laugh Mommy! They really hurt!"

I guess we can't all flap our arms like a pigeon.

L. loved all the periwinkles on the beach around the fort. They look so peaceful by the open windows...

Exploring Jewell Island

I think we have a theme going this summer - exploring the islands of Casco Bay.

We had not originally set out to do this but favorable circumstances presented themselves to us recently so we were able to see more islands this past weekend.

Our friend Mike, who travels year-round on his catamaran sailboat, is in Maine this month and offered to take us out on Casco Bay for a couple of days of cruising.

It was glorious!

Our first stop on the trip was Jewell Island. We chose this island because several friends (including our host) said it was an interesting place to explore. Since we don't own a boat and therefore couldn't get there normally, we looked forward to visiting.

Since the girls can't resist logbooks, when we found a log book hanging from a tree on the bay side of the island where we tied up the dingy, G. stopped to sign it. We set out on the nearby trail that headed in the direction of the towers (there are two) on the southwest side of the island. It was a nice surprise to run in to one of the island's caretakers on that trail (he and another caretaker work for the Maine Island Trail Association and live on a north side campsite from Memorial Day to Labor Day). He gave us a map and chatted for a few minutes about the interesting features around the island.

We found the taller of the two towers first after a short walk through the woods.

The observation towers were built during World War II because the military believed Portland Harbor needed better fortification. According to the map brochure, "Although Casco Bay was never threatened during the War, a German U-Boat was sighted between Jewell and Cape Small in June, 1942."

An interesting history lesson for us as well as the girls.

We climbed to the top of each tower and were treated to some fabulous views of Casco Bay and the ocean. We spotted Halfway Rock lighthouse in the distance and tried to identify the various islands around us, which is much easier said than done. L. was less interested in naming the islands and wanted me to take some 'action' shots of her at the top of the tower (we have quite a growing collection of these type of photos).

The remains of a bunker and some other buildings that housed the troops that lived on the island during WWII (about 400 we learned) made for some fun exploring. Our forward-thinking friend Mike (who had been to the island previously) had thought to bring along a flashlight so we could fully explore all the rooms inside.

The kids loved it.

We decided to hike to the other end of the island to visit the Punchbowl where the anti-motor torpedo boat battery was located. It was high tide so the small cove didn't look like much of a bowl (we're told at low tide it looks separate from the ocean) but the kids found one of the old gun blocks and enjoyed looking for shells and exploring the rocks in the area.

Jewell was a great place to explore that does not have many visitors because you have to have a boat to get there. Overnight camping is permitted and we saw several people setting up their sites around the island.

And although the island was actually named after it's first inhabitant, George Jewell, it really is a gem in Casco Bay.

A view from the top of the taller tower Exploring the bunker The punchbowl

An interesting eye for photos

My 12-year-old likes to take photos. Since she struggles with traditional academics because of her processing learning issues, Fino and I encouraged her to explore her interest in photography several years ago and she has a real passion for it now. For the past week or so she has been sifting through her photo collection taken this past year - most of them of the various animals in her life - to select her "best of the best" for her 4-H exhibit hall display at the Ossipee Fair (it opens next week). With the hundreds of photos she had, it was hard for her to make her final choices. But she finally settled on 20 photos organized in to four themes - Round, Action, Light and Eyes. It was the Eyes theme that I thought was particularly interesting. She managed to take a picture of every set of eyes in our house (well, not all 30 chickens, but a couple of them, along with the ducks, cats - including the blind one - and human family members). G. shared her observations about our family's eyes while waiting for the printer to spit out her final collage: "Wow mom, my eyes really are exactly the same color as daddy's. They are like dark chocolate." "L. has the longest eyelashes, why don't I have eyelashes like that?" (I wish I had eyelashes like that too but L. doesn't think they're all that great. Since L. was little, if she rubs her eyes too much her long eyelashes get caught in her eyeball and it takes a minute - with some discomfort that usually includes crying - to get them cleared out.) "Mom you have weird brown spots in your green eyeballs. They look like weird freckles." (What isn't weird about your parents when you're 12?) Watching G. work on this project helped me to once again appreciate her special view of the world. Light Round

Kid Tracks Column: Awed by Acadia on hike-bike jaunt

How much can you pack in to a three-day trip to Acadia National Park and still have fun?
For my family it would include exploring 16 miles of carriage trails, hiking to the top of a couple of mountains and completing the park's EarthCache program.

It sounds like a lot to do in three days – and it was – but as clichéd as it sounds, Acadia is awesome and we left wishing we could have done more.

DAY 1
We rode the carriage trail around Eagle Lake our first day at the park. It was just shy of six miles and thanks to a tip from one of the rangers, a fairly easy ride. The trick about biking around Eagle Lake is to ride with the lake to your LEFT. It's mostly downhill that way and a good introduction to the carriage trails.

After our ride around Eagle Lake we decided to drive to the first set of coordinates we were given for the park's EarthCache program (a geology program requiring a GPS unit). The location's name was not provided, but it wasn't hard to figure out where we were headed because we were familiar with the park from our visit a few years ago.

Once we arrived at the first EarthCache location, we had to find a clue to get the waypoint (GPS coordinates) for the next location.

I love a good puzzle and the girls enjoy treasure hunts, so after a bit of looking around, we found our clue. But it didn't give us the complete waypoint, so we had to answer a question related to the geological feature we were looking at (the answer was easily found on a nearby kiosk) to determine what that missing number was.

I don't want to give away any secrets because this program (very clever and well done) is based on finding locations that are not identified by name. But after answering geology questions and figuring out the waypoints to new locations, we ended up climbing to the top of the South Bubble to get more information to help us solve another riddle.

Our first day at the park was an active one with all the biking and hiking and driving we did, but everyone left energized for more.

DAY 2
Our second bike ride was supposed to be only "a bit more difficult" (my description to the family that morning) than Eagle Lake, but I took a wrong turn and it turned into a whopper of a challenge.

We started at the Parkman Mountain trail head and made a left turn prematurely (OK, I made the turn and my family followed me). We should have taken a right from the trail head and then a left at the intersection labeled No. 13 to get to the Waterfalls Bridge. We did eventually get to that bridge, but in a major round-about sort of way.

We ended up on the Around the Mountain Trail and it was not until we actually arrived at Gilmore Meadow that I realized our mistake. But it was a beautiful spot, so we stopped for a snack break and took a few minutes to admire the handiwork of a beaver trying to cut down a tree.

We opted to continue on the Seven Bridges Trail, which turned out to be a serious elevation gain (about 450 feet) and not a ride I would recommend for children unless they are strong riders.

The girls were troopers on this trail and the long rides we've been taking around southern and central Maine this spring really helped them handle this particular ride. But truth be told, we did quite a bit of walking with our bikes and took many water/snack breaks along the way.

The whole trek turned out to be nearly 10 miles, which was mostly uphill, before we eventually made it to the Waterfall Bridge. The kids were not as impressed with the beautiful views – or the waterfall – as they would have been had we taken the shorter loop I had originally planned.

And as if this is any surprise, the girls (and Fino) spent a good deal of time at the top of Parkman Mountain lamenting my map-reading skills (which normally are pretty good) while eating their lunch.

Oops.

Since we had hiked a couple of miles around the Otter Cliffs trail on Gorham Mountain before we undertook this bike ride, my crew was seriously tired.

But everyone seemed to forgive my poor navigation skills once they ordered big sundaes at the Dairy Bar before heading back to our cottage for the night.

Oh, and we did manage to complete the EarthCache program and report back to the ranger station with the answer to the final riddle before we left the park. I must 'fess up, however, that one of the riddles required some deeper thought and a math calculation that I'm embarrassed to say took Fino and me more than a few minutes to figure out.

We were tired. That must have been the reason for our lack of problem-solving skills. Yeah, that's it.

DAY 3
The kids and Fino woke up on our last day and said they needed a break from bike riding, so we decided to hike to The Bowl from Gorham Mountain (the kids liked exploring the cliffs on the mountain the day before) and maybe tackle the Beehive. We enjoyed the trails, but with the elevation gain to the summit of Gorham Mountain and then another bit of climbing to The Bowl, we decided to skip the Beehive and took the Ocean Drive Trail to loop back to our car.

The Beehive (rated "difficult" by the park service because of exposed ledges and cliffs) seemed too much for our bike-weary legs. Next time, we decided – like we needed a reason to return.

The events of this trip – the fun as well as the navigationally challenged – have been shared with much animation by the girls to anyone who will listen.

If you've never been to Acadia National Park, you really are missing out on a wonderful, relatively inexpensive family vacation. We stayed in a small cabin with an efficiency kitchen that kept our food costs minimal. The park fee was $10 for the week, and apart from the gas to drive there, we had no other expenses.

IF YOU GO
Maps of the park (including a detailed one of the carriage roads) to help you plan your trip: www.nps.gov/acad/planyourvisit/maps.htm

EarthCache program at Acadia: www.nps.gov/acad/earthcache.htm

The Beaver Log, the park's official newspaper, lists all ranger-led programs at Acadia during the summer and fall: www.nps.gov/acad/parknews/newspaper.htm

Nearby lodging/camping listings: www.barharborinfo.com/lodging_frame2.html

Originally published in Raising Maine Magazine, July 2008

Crafts ... and a mischievous cat

The girls help me with work-related things on occasion. They enjoy crafty-type projects and at 10- and 12-years-old, they can do as good a job as I can now (and sometimes better). So when they offered to make another lollipop tree for the Raising Maine info table at the Bayside event this past weekend, Contest-essa and I took them up on their offer. The girls made the tree on Friday night and woke up the next morning to lollipops all over the rug because our cat Lupus decided to knock out at least half the pops. Apparently lollipops sticking out of styrofoam are like the pipecleaner toys L. made for him -- something to be smacked around, a lot. We should have named Lupus (which means 'wolf' in Latin and is the namesake of a character from the Roman Mysteries book series that the girls like), the "mischievous-good-time-boy" instead. He entertains us a lot with his playfulness but the girls were not so amused with his latest antics. Lupus was duly scolded by the girls but he did not appear to be remorseful. In fact, he jumped around the living room playing with his pipe cleaner toys and sneaking peaks at the girls fixing the tree. He was definitely making a new plan of attack. But the girls put a stop to his plans when they fixed up the tree and immediately put it in to the car. No more fun with lollipops for Lupus. And the tree made it to the event without further incident.

A rainy walk-about on Peaks Island

My girls helped some of their older 4-H friends with a GPS/mapping project on Peaks Island on Sunday. The girls would have preferred to ride their bikes but umbrellas were a necessity to protect the camera and GPS unit so we were left to hike the mileage instead. Luckily we found plenty of interesting things to admire that made walking nearly 6 miles in the steady rain more enjoyable (we had to backtrack a bit to get the waypoints the kids needed). Like the giant maple leaf L. thought made a good umbrella. The random 'parking' of a vacuum cleaner on the side of the road. The detailed natural art we found on a trail through the center of the island (our crew admired the workmanship and mystery of it in the middle of the woods). And the flowers .... oh they were glorious and in full bloom. We also learned some interesting tidbits about the island as well. Like the fact that there are quite a few horses living on the island. (But I don't envy the owners who have to pay to have the horse's hay and grain shipped over on the ferry.) And the 8th Maine Regiment building is a real gem. One of the 4-H families we were with are descendants of the 8th and invited us to eat our lunches (we packed our own) there and tour the building. My girls wanted to stay overnight at the 8th because they wanted to be part of its living history. (It's a lodge with facilities to accommodate overnight guests that is actually reasonably priced - I couldn't find an operational website but you can call 766-5086 for more info.) We hope to return to the island so the kids can finish up the mapping project and then explore more our bikes. The girls have other 4-H projects they're working on but this one has a special appeal, even in the rain. I saved the track we walked Sunday with my GPS unit as a reference for the kids when they get to actually plotting the waypoints on their map. I'll post the final result when the kids are done with everything later this summer. Peaks Island at EveryTrail