My cousins recently purchased a home in Maine close to Acadia Park overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Since they moved there for part of the year, I have been bombarded with demands that I visit. That I would love it. That I had to come to see their new home. So this summer my sister and I went to see them. I am so glad we did.
I will not tell you the exact little town that they live in, but it was easy driving to the Schoodic Institute at the Acadia National Park, which is located at Schoodic Point. The Institute studies environmental changes taking place in Acadia and provide educational programs for learners of all ages. They help manage research projects throughout the park.
The land at Schoodic Point, 2000 acres, was donated to National Park Service in 1929 by the John Moore family. Also starting in 1935 until the 1990s, there was a US Naval Security Group Activity Base located there, which included the most lovely building in the middle of the site. When the base closed, the National Park Service worked to develop a research learning center using the buildings that were going to be left unoccupied after the base was closed.
Now everyone can visit The Rockefeller Hall Visitor Center at the Schoodic Institute in Acadia National Park. It houses a nice little museum and wonderful Park Rangers who can answer your questions!
After we visited the Center, we drove around to look at some of the stunning scenery. The black volcanic rock intermingled with the pink granite creates a wonderful vista when you look out to the ocean. You can walk along these scenic, rocky beaches. When we went to my cousins’ favorite spot, there was an older couple sitting on the stones, who insisted that we skip some small rocks into the ocean. It brought back memories of skipping rocks into the lake I grew up at in upstate New York. We soon learned that the pink stones crumble as they skipped, while the black volcanic stones made wonderful skips!
Another great place to visit is the Tidal Pools, where you can see the starfish caught in the tide pools, pick them up and touch them for a few moments before returning them to their safe havens. (Just be careful as the rocks are slippery and can move beneath your feet. I found out the hard way!)
Sunset from my sounsin’s home.
We ate in a wonderful seafood restaurant near their home. I had haddock. Yum! Saw lots of lobster boats and other little boats that made for brightly colored photos in each little cove.
Since we had one very rainy day while there, we stayed in an watched several documentaries created by local residents about the area and about the Penobsoct Indian Nation. They were extremely interesting and gave us information about the history of the area. Later we visited some of the areas mentioned in the documentaries.
When the weather cleared, we took a trip to Ellsworth. This lovely town has a quaint downtown and refers to itself as “The Museum in the Streets.” We had a great time visiting the shops and eating lunch. We still talk about the twin sisters who work in stores next to each other and were extremely helpful. We did our best to help the economy of this lovely shopping district.
While there we also saw one of the many granite sculptures that are scattered throughout the area. Some are on the side of The Schoodic National Scenic Byway, others are in town centers. I think we saw five. But there are many more.
Our final scenic vista came during a visit to Jones Pond. To this community it was a pond, but to me it looked much like the lake I spent my summers visiting. Except there were no boats docked on the Jones Pond, only a sea plane!! I loved seeing all the water lilies. We walked on a path along the coast of the pond for a bit. We were the only people there: a most peaceful and meditative experience.
A visit to the Acadia Park area in Maine is well worth the trip! I hope to go back again with my husband and visit many of the places we could not see in just four days.
Sometimes you just have to go to a destination wedding. Especially after two years of Covid cancelling weddings. Knowing that this wedding of a good friend’s son would be mainly held outside, gave us the impetus to throw caution a bit aside to go and celebrate a happy occasion.
What a great spot to get married!
I will not write about the wedding and festivities, except to say It was wonderful and we were so happy to be there to celebrate!
But we also enjoyed the wonderful weather and beauty of Sanibel and Captiva Islands and the South Seas Resort. We had a wonderful room with a view of both the entrance to the marina and to the ocean. Every morning I woke up happy to look out my window. We loved walking the grounds and relaxing.
For me the best part was going to visit the manatees that took over a slip in the marina. I visited the marina twice a day to just watch them float. I was not the only one who found it relaxing and peaceful and magical.
The View from my room.I loved seeing the manatees at the marina and the view from my room.
Standing outside on my balcony, I often saw a dolphin swimming by. I tried to get photos, but never actually got him jumping out of the water. My mind still sees it. The glorious sunrise outside our room was enchanting. This is a vacation spot that I would love to revisit. And to have the same room!
Pictures from the museum and the shells I found on the beach, as well as the beach at South Seas Resort.
We did not spend all of our time at the resort. I love exploring and museums! There was one museum I just had to see, The Bailey-Mathews National Shell Museum on Sanibel Island, which opened in 1995. The Great Hall of Shells is really a great hall filled with shells of all types. The artwork made from shells surprised me. Seeing live mollusks walk in their shells was also exciting for me. I have seen shells, but I have never seen one moving in real life!
I learned why Sanibel and Captiva Islands are known for the shells that come ashore. The islands are in an arc shape that catches the waves and so the shells bringing them on to the shore. I finally woke up early enough to go shell hunting one morning before the crowds. Most of the shells were quite small, but then, just as we were ready to go, the waves brought me a lovely treasure. And yes, just as I learned at the museum, I made sure it was a dead shell with nothing inside.
My husband and I enjoyed our time there, learning about shells; talking to the volunteers; and even touching a live mollusk.
My favorite sign.
My other excitement going to the Museum is that I finally got a photograph of my all time favorite road sign. We had noticed it when we first drove to the resort. But I did not have my phone ready to take a photo. We passed a similar sign heading out to the museum as well. On the way back from the museum I was ready! I had my phone out and started taking pictures before I actually saw the sign. It worked. I captured the sign that warned us about “Low flying Owls.” To be honest, we never saw any low flying owls, but the sign was worth it. It gave me a Harry Potter magical feeling and added to the enchantment of the islands. Just whose owls are flying so low and what messages are they bringing.
Inside the Bubble Room and the Menu!
Although we did eat several meals at the resort, which were delicious, we also ventured off site to try some local restaurants. The Bubble Room, with its bakery/ice cream parlor and its gift shop, was a wonderful venue with both good food and fun places to explore. I felt like I was inside a kaleidoscope. The gift shop was great fun as well with its vintage antiques and gifts. I had to buy a t-shirt! If you go, save room for desserts. The cakes are delicious.
Other favorite restaurants, included the Mucky Duck where we ate outside by the beach and the Cantina Captiva with its dollar bills adorning the walls and ceiling (yes we added one!). The food at both of these was good, not special, but the atmosphere made them enjoyable.
I would not mind spending a week or more on Captiva Island. The four nights there just gave us a taste of the island life. I have a good feeling that we will be back on these captivating islands.
While we were in Mexico City, we stayed at a hotel that was located on Reforma, just a short half mile walk from the wonderous Bosque de Chapultepec. We visited three important sites within the park, besides passing by many others and seeing all the activities enjoyed by park visitors.
rOur three main stops were: National Museum of Anthropology/Museo Nacional de Antropologia; The Chapultepec Castle: and Jardin Botanico del Bosque de Chapultepec/the botanical gardens. We passed by the Ghandi Garden, the entrances to other sites like the Zoo and the History Museum; and walked through an open air market, where I purchased a straw hat. We also ate in one of the restaurants within the park, El Lago Restaurante.
Honestly, we did not do these activities in one day. The park is enormous with so much to see. But I thought it is best to put it all together in one blog.
The first place anyone who goes to Mexico City must visit is the National Museum of Anthropology. Besides its wonderful architecture, the museum galleries are filled with pre-Columbian masterpieces. We had a tour guide who explained what we were seeing in English, which was extraordinarily helpful as almost all the signage is only in Spanish.
The Center of the Umbrella in the Courtward.Snake and other decorations from a templeOlmec Giant HeadThe Sun StoneOur guide explaining the parts of the Sun stone.
The building itself is built around a central courtyard with a large umbrella like structure providing shade. As you walk through the different galleries, you return to the center courtyard between areas. I found that refreshing. A way of clearing my mind before entering another new world.
We learned about the Inca, Mayan, Aztec, Olmec and other peoples who once lived in the various areas of Mexico. I knew that human sacrifice was a large part of the religions. Owever, I was shocked at the brutal and almost daily sacrifices. The artwork of these groups, especially the Aztec, focused on skulls, dismemberment and death. We learned about the Goddess of Rain and the God of the Sun and the feathered snakes that adorned many of the buildings. The immense stone carvings were beautiful and many were so intricate, you wonder how they were made centuries ago without modern tools.
The original Aztec Sunstone is on display, as well as many other majestic and large works of art. The Statute of Chaichiuhiticue, and the Olmec stone heads were immense. Each were carved from one block of stone. I don’t know how they moved them!
I honestly cannot tell you what was the most interesting thing to see because there were so many! I did like learning about the game they played with balls that had to go through a stone hoop. However, I was sad to learn that after each game, someone was sacrificed.
We spent three hours visiting all the rooms of this museum. I took many photos. But in the last room, I was exhausted. I knew I had had enough because I did not take one photo. I was mentally done. There is just so much to see. It is a museum you could visit again and again and still see and learn about things you missed on an earlier visit.
Needless to say, we left the museum exhausted and ready to eat lunch. We knew we would be back to the park!
We returned the following evening for a dinner at El Lago Restaurant. It is situated by one of the lakes in the park and is just lovely. The food is delicious as well. But the main reason I am mentioning it, is that while we ate, a young man asked his girlfriend to marry him! It was quite exciting and everyone cheered when she said yes! It added an extra bit of charm to an already charming trip.
With the park so close to our hotel, we knew that we would be walking back another day. We chose the morning after we took our Covid tests to make sure we could return to the USA. Even though we knew we did not feel sick in any way, having to wait several hours for the results would have made me anxious if I just sat around. We started walking to the park. Our first planned stop was the botanical gardens. This one was filled mainly with succulents and orchids, two of my favorite plantsWe walked around the gardens enjoying the quiet. We ended with walk through the orchid house and enjoying the many succulents planted in cement cinder blocks! I want to do that in my garden.
Lovely LavendarSucculents in the cinder blocks!In the Orchid House.
Chapultepec Park is considered the lungs of Mexico City. The acres upon acres of trees supplies the valley with clean air, which is important, because there is pollution in the valley that encompasses Mexico City.
After we left the gardens we continued walking through the park towwards the hill where the Capultepec Castle sits. The first building of the castle began in 1795 as a summer home for the viceroy. Eventually it was enlarged and became the home of Emperor Maximillian and his family. Maximilian did not survive for long in Mexico. He became Emperor in 1864 and was executed in 1867. The unfortunate thing is that Maximillian seemed to care about the people of Mexico. But it did not save him from execution.
The Castle then became the home of the President of Mexico and continued as the Presidential residence until 1939. Now it is a museum. It does cost 85 pesos to enter. I did not have that much cash, and they do not take credit cards. However, if you are over 60, which my husband and I definitely are, you can enter for free! The cashier said, “Are you over 60?” I said yes. She said go in for you it is free. Thank you Mexico!! It would have been so sad not to have seen this building and its gardens!
You do have to walk up the hill. But the slope is easy to climb. However, I will say with the altitude of 7500 feet in Mexico City, I am glad I waited for the third day to make that climb! We walked slowly. You can take a bottle of water to go up the hill. But once you get to the entrance of the Castle grounds, you cannot bring it in with you.
To describe the building, all you need to do is think about Vienna and St. Petersburg. Maximillian was a member of the Habsburg family. So, of course, his home reflected the elegance and grandeur that a member of that family needed/demanded. It was a bit offsetting to see the grand carved furniture of Europe throughout the areas of the home. But it was beautiful. A major difference from a European home, is that each of the rooms could be entered from the interior of the house, but they also had large doors that opened to the outside. To see the mansion, we walked along the perimeter of the home and looked into the rooms through opened doors.
The outside of the Castle.Malachite objects were given to Maximillian by Tzar Nicholas IA bedroomA lovely hallway, so like St. Petersburg.The roof gardens.
The view of the park and the city from the top of the mountain is wonderful. Even better was going all the way to the top and visiting the gardens on the roof and seeing the view from there.
Another added bonus to our visit to the park was finding a parade was in progress on Reforma! It was Revolution Day in Mexico. We spent almost an hour watching the music, the floats, the marchers in colorful outfits denoting their province of Mexico, before we discovered the underground walkway that enabled us to return to our hotel.
They were yelling Viva Mexico!There were many riders on horseback.
Visiting Chapultepec Park is a must. We only saw a few of the many interesting museums and sites to see there. Honestly, you could spend a week just visiting Chapultepec Park!
In May friends of ours drove from Wisconsin to Kansas for a long weekend visit. While they were here, we promised to return the favor and spend a weekend with them in October. We try to keep our promises, so we got into our car and drove the 8 hours to see them. A wonderful weekend in Wisconsin ensued.
We packed a lot into our short time there. First stop was the International Crane Foundation and its Cranes of the World exhibit in Baraboo, Wisconsin. I had no idea that most types of cranes are found in Asia. But now I know. We saw 15 varieties of cranes in areas designed to match their natural habitat. Each setting had a small pond and marsh area.
International Crane Exhibits. The Senbazuru crane sculpture.
The cranes range in size from majestic to small. A pair of cranes were housed in each site that were accessible on a lovely pathway. Besides the area devoted to the cranes, there were also walking nature paths through a meadow planted with native plants and grasses that attracts butterflies and birds.
We spent two hours enjoying the nice weather, the lovely cranes and the other sites like the Zen Garden and the Prayer Wheels. My favorite was the Senbazuru sculpture of 1000 colorful cranes made to look like origami cranes. I am glad we went when we did, as the Center is open only from May 1 through October 31. I encourage anyone who can to visit it next year!
After a stop for lunch, we continued our journey of discovery by visiting artists who were part of the Fall Art Tour. We visited four artists who were located in either Baraboo or Spring Green, Wisconsin. I wish we could have visited every one of the two dozen artists, but that was impossible. However, I will say that my friend and I did as much as we could to support the artists we did visit.
We love botanical gardens and try to visit one wherever we go. Thus, next on our list of places to go was the Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin. LOVELY. I was impressed by the Thai Pavilion and garden. As we walked throughout the gardens, there was beautiful greenery and flowers everywhere and having a river run through it added to the serene scenery and wonderful atmosphere.
A walk through the giant green house, known as the Bolz Conservatiory, provided us with a view of wonderful tropical plants including a large variety of orchids, and an not-yet blooming corpse plant, was exciting. When we entered the greenhouse, there were volunteers offering us a free plant, that we could put into a pot to take away. Of course my friend and I each needed a plant.
When I say large, I mean large. The Bolz Conservatory is 100 feet by 100 feet by 50 feet high. Photos do not do it justice. It holds almost 500 plants!
Another favorite for us when we join our friends is to taste wine. In fact, when they visited us in May we took them to a wine tasting at our arboretum, combining two enjoyable events in one. They took us to a winery on the same day as the botanical gardens, so that counts!
We went to Drumlin Ridge Winery in Waunakee, Wisconsin. There each of us could order a flight of 3 or 6 wines to taste along with a small plate of food. We each chose three wines. I like whites and rose, so I tasted the Edelweiss 2019, Drumlin Sunset and Marechal Foch Rose. The Edelwiess was my favorite and second was the Marechal Foch Rose. We ordered mixed nuts and pizza and a cheese board for them, while I had a soft Bavarian Pretzel. Yes, I know pretzels really go with beer, but for me a soft pretzel goes with everything. And I did snack on some nuts….especially the cashews.
Our final stop was the University of Wisconsin Campus for a snack while we sat along the lake front. It was a quick and exciting three-night visit. But I think we saw some of the wonderful highlights to be seen in the Madison/Middleton area of Wisconsin during our wonderful Wisconsin weekend.
My husband loves to feed birds. We have always had bird feeders and books identifying birds outside our kitchen window so we could not only watch the birds but identify who was visiting our feeders.
When we moved 17 months ago, my husband was extremely concerned that the birds would not find us! He even put a sign up on our deck beneath the bird feeders telling the birds our new address. Yes, he is a bit crazy. But then he is a pediatrician, so he has never grown up.
Happily, the day we moved in, a cardinal perched on his bird feeder. I was able to say, “Look the cardinal read your sign. I am sure the other birds would follow.” Follow they did! We now have a flock of birds of all sorts lounging near our yard.
Our new, small subdivision backs up to a park and a golf course. Acres and acres of natural beauty along with several small lakes and a stream. The animals love it. And our home has become a gathering place for all sorts of nighttime and daytime visitors. All due to my husband’s bird feeders. You see, he does not just buy any old bird food. No, he buys what I call the Mercedes Benz of bird food, hearts of sunflowers.
We have had turkeys and mourning doves and chipmunks happily munching on the seeds that fall to the ground. We see chickadees, finches of all colors, Blue Jays, cardinals, woodpeckers, robins, swallows, and a multitude of other birds gathering on the feeders, many times waiting their turn to eat. We buy bird food in 30-pound bags, several at a time. And yes, we do have a hummingbird feeder as well, which we recently moved.
Our garden is surround on two sides by a limestone wall, one side by our house, and the other by a wrought iron fence. It is lovely and peaceful during the day. But we have found out that at night, it is a place of high demand and drama. We recently put in a security camera in the back of the house. Included in its scope are the birdfeeders.
We have found it quite exciting to watch and the videos explain much. We were going through so much bird food, we really could not understand how the birds were eating so much especially at night. We found out that our bird feeders were being raided by a raccoon, who my husband promptly named Ralph.
Ralph draining the bird feeder!
Ralph would stand on his tippy toes on the fence and reach up to tip the bird feeders right into his mouth and just drain the seed. So first my husband put bricks under the pole to raise the height of the feeders. Ralph won that battle. He climb up the fence, climb up the pole and shimmied down to the feeders. Then another raccoon joined him, I named him Rocky. They did not get along and often had loud fights with growling. I honestly did not like that.
Now the war was really on. My husband started bringing the bird feeders in at night. Ralph and Rocky showed up, but there was no food. Friends started recommending solutions. Put a slinky on the pole! Get a dog! (Cats don’t work.) Then the best advice came from a friend of mine, who got us into bird feeding and watching years ago. She recommended we get this raccoon baffle thing that is put on the pole. The first night it was on, we just put up two bird feeders to see what would happen. Ralph could not get the food.
Birds waiting for a morning perch to eat!With the raccoon baffler in place, we can leave our feeders out at night.
But in the meantime, my husband had been putting humming bird nectar out on a low pole. And one evening when Ralph moved out of the vision of the camera, we noticed a deer, named Bambi of course. Bambi had been draining our hummingbird feeder. So now the humming bird feeder is inside the garden behind the gate, and the hummingbirds are happy. So the deer is back to eating all of our sedum plants!
Ralph and Rocky can no longer climb the pole, so the birds are happy. In fact, the raccoons have not even shown up for a week now. But our yard is not empty. Now that the raccoons are gone, an opossum, who my husband named Pete, has spent some time walking along our walls at night. He joins the chipmunks and lizards who already inhabit the hedges.
As for the turkeys, Tom and his three lady friends, they come whenever the mood strikes them. It has been entertaining and fun to watch the wildlife, and I guess feed them. And no animal was injured in our battle to keep the birds happy.
zicharonot 