The fact that Denise and I were wandering out west just a short week ago really opened my eyes to the differences in the areas. As we flew down the road in our motorized transport (Denise's bright blue car!) heading north and east, I absorbed our surroundings. Everything was green, and rolling. Green, so green.
And then there was the purple. You know how much Denise likes purple, don't you? All of a sudden I started seeing large patches of purple along the side of the road, purple waving from that sea of green. The lupine are in bloom. What a wonderful sight!
I wondered which road we would follow to get to Bar Harbor. I knew that we'd start on I-95, and that we'd follow that through the southern section of our drive. What I didn't know was whether we'd jump off in Augusta and head toward the coast or if we'd stay on I-95 as far as Bangor. Going straight from Augusta is shorter from a mileage standpoint at 101 miles, but driving to Bangor before heading toward the coast seems to be faster. 101 miles vs. 120 miles. Hmmm...
Last year we experimented with both routes, and I think Denise was finally convinced that the longer route through Bangor is an easier drive. And because more of the miles are on a highway, it probably takes the same amount of time.
Ah, we're here! We got to the Holland Inn and chatted for a bit with Evin (the innkeeper). And then... well it was 3:30 in the afternoon, the sun was shining, and our bicycle was calling. We headed out for a quick ride. Where did we go? I have no idea! Denise just let the bicycle roll down any road that looked interesting.
Oh, we did stop at the Wild Gardens of Acadia to see what kind of flowers were blooming. We didn't stay there too long because the mosquitos there thought that they would take a few bites out of Denise. They weren't bothering me, but biting bugs make us move fast.
After that short stop we just wandered. We looked at ripples in the water of a lake, we sought out wildflowers, we listened to the birds, and watched the silly squirrels running and hiding. It was a good ride, short, but good.
It's time to dream of tomorrow...
In case you didn't figure it out already, yes, this is Rover writing again. I enjoyed playing with words so much on our trip to Zion last weekend that I convinced Denise that she wanted me to write this journal too.
--- Rover
Denise did the driving, but I was navigating. And we didn't get lost!
