Day Seven: Last cottage day.

The weather was foggy and drizzly today, and so we had a pretty quiet day. We spent the morning planning the second half of our trip, which originally was to head to Niagara Falls. But the closer we got to it the less appealing that sounded. As much as we are not big city vacation people, none of us have been to New York or Boston and so the planning began. As of right now, we aim to drive through Boston tomorrow on the way to New York and spend two days seeing the big city.

We ate lunch in Ellsworth at the Riverside Cafe (highly recommended) and browsed through antique shops up and down the main street. Amazingly, I managed not to buy anything, even though my favorite store had somehow combined a very nice antique shop with a Crate-and-Barrel type store. The antique stores had good prices compared to Indy, and overall had less junk. Too bad that kitchen hutch wouldn't have done well strapped to the roof of the car . . .

On our way back to the cottage, we managed to finally spot one of the adult foxes in the neighborhood. I got out of the car to snap his photo, while his kits played in the brush. For once, he stared me down instead of just running away. I blinked first.

Mark thought it would be cool to go down to the Bass Harbor Lighthouse again in the evening fog to see the lighthouse functioning. You might recognize this lighthouse as the one featured on the back of the Maine State commemorative quarter (I knew I had seen it somewhere). Our cameras didn't do too well with the dim lighting conditions, but here's what we got. I was disappointed there wasn't a real fog horn to go with the light. I had to supply that sound effect myself.

The fog so thick when we first got there the lighthouse itself was a little fuzzy.

And what good is a computer with photoshop lite if you don't mess with a picture now and then?

 On the way back up the trail to the car we found these micro-flowers.

Each one is about 1/2 inch in diameter. I love the amazing details in creation.

At dinner this evening we filled out the guest book page and the survey the owners left for us. It is a little sad to leave. The view from this cottage has just been an inspiration every day and is a world away from our daily lives. There have been emails and details to track from work but just the change of scenery is so refreshing. We will miss the Heavenly Days Cottage and all of its special touches.

The kitchen door - the one they leave standing wide open the day you arrive

with the keys on the dining table.

We never saw a loon close up, but sitting here on the porch, we could hear their call!

Bits of cast iron wear that I'm assuming have been found on the property. This piece, inscribed "Royal Atlantic" is the decorative piece off of a wood burning fireplace. The Royal Atlantic stove company was based in Portland Maine and was making stoves at the time this house was built. A new one would have looked something like this.

Obviously, we love history and the stories behind things. The book on Mount Desert history in the cottage helped us answer a lot of our questions, and having the internet is a great thing for satisfying curiosity. Mark for instance, has been curious about lobsters since this is lobster country, so at dinner tonight he was reading us a wikipedia article on lobsters. This gives him the ability to use his unique parenting skill: Deflect with Trivia. If Amy complains about something, or is doing something he doesn't like, he can just throw out random trivia like a secret weapon. Did you know that lobsters have a mating dance? Did you know that the female lobsters carry their eggs on their claw and protect them there after fertilization? These are the kind of facts that can stop a kid of any age in their tracks and make them forget what they were talking about.

The only important part of this cottage I haven't written about that needs mentioning is the scary scarecrow. He is posted by the walkway and every single time we drive up he scares me. I cannot look him in the eye. The owner tells us that he is there to scare away the crows, and it appears he does that job well, but he is seriously creepy. We have named him Stephen, after Stephen King who lives somewhere around here. He is probably best forgotten, but I may take a picture and add it here later just to remind myself that he was just a scarecrow from the hardware store and not a nightmare. Seriously, I can barely walk outside to the car in the dark because of Stephen.

Tomorrow, it's off to Hartford Connecticut and from there to New York. Our pictures will likely change drastically from rocks, trees, lighthouses and flowers to buildings, streets, and people. I hope we all don't get whiplash!

Heavenly Days Cottage on Somes Sound

Mount Desert Island, Maine.