Hummingbirds apparently arrived in hoards yesterday about midday, as they were madly crowding the two feeders on the deck. The number of these birds far exceeds that of any other time since living in Hot Springs Village. I had been wanting to capture them “in flight” and spent a couple of hours experimenting with camera settings, etc. Here are the results.

Twenty-one years ago today, Kay and I said “I do”, and it’s been an amazing time together. We’ve experienced children divorcing, marrying, grandkids born, and parents dying. A few family challenges have arisen and for the most part, conquered. Four churches have called us members, and we sang together in three of these. We have traveled extensively, both within the US and internationally. And, Kay has been there as I survived several major medical issues. We celebrated by eating at Texas Roadhouse inn Benton, Arkansas; they have the coldest Michelob Ultra on tap, and great food. We’ve been blessed, and are hoping for another twenty-one years!

Our younger granddaughter and youngest grandchild, Sutton, celebrated her first birthday on Wednesday. We haven’t seen her in a while because of COVID, colds, naps, etc. But, based on FaceTime conversations, she is growing and learning to speak! Happy birthday, sweetheart.

A few butterflies were nectaring on the Lantana, and kept still enough for a few photographs.

Also, the two or three hummingbirds that have been feeding on the sugar water are still present. This one posed.

Wednesday evening we joined Jackie, Jim, Pam, and Don for dinner at the Bella Luna restaurant in Hot Springs, to celebrate all of our birthdays in the surrounding days and months. The food and service were both outstanding.

Another month has rapidly escaped our lives, and with it, hopefully, the hot and humid weather. And, this Friday, August 27, I celebrated yet another birthday; I’m now 72. Kay played golf and we celebrated with ‘take-out” catfish dinners from Mulligan’s, half a carrot cupcake each, and vanilla ice cream. Both Saturday and Sunday were quiet, with few activities. We needed the downtime. Golf was on the itinerary for Monday (terrible score) while Kay attended to club board duties. The windows and soffits were cleaned after a long absence; it’s been difficult to schedule. A few butterflies did make their way onto blooms in the garden. They have been far and few this year—disappointing and concerning. Tuesday was all about running errands. We lead an exciting life when we’re at home.

It’s amazing how life can return to “normal” so quickly after a trip. We hit the ground running Tuesday morning, doing laundry, yard work, grocery shopping, car washing and vacuuming, and updating iPhones, iPads, and the computers; the latter seemed like it took forever. The heat and humidity was NOT a welcome relief, and it seems like summer extends longer each year, now through September. We both quickly signed up for golf with our respective groups. Regrettably, the Hot Springs Village pickleball courts are being resurfaced after only three years—the relatively new, expensive surface had begun to separate from the concrete pad!

Kay helped facilitate the Lady Duffers scramble Wednesday morning, and hung out at the pool in the afternoon. I worked on photos from our recent trip, and organizing and re-editing them was a bug chore.

On Thursday, I joined seven other hot and sweaty photographers from the HSV Camera Club at the Union Pacific railroad crossing of the Saline River in Benton, Arkansas. Our purpose for being there was to photograph the “Big Boy” locomotive. “Big Boy 4014” was delivered to the Union Pacific Railroad in December 1941. It is 132 feet long and weighs 1.2 million pounds. In order to negotiate curves, it is articulated (hinged) because of its length. It has 14 wheels! Here are some photos.

I almost forgot to mention that we are traveling again in a few days, this time by air, auto, and ship. The trip will be in two segments, the first being a land tour of parts of western Washington and Oregon—another “life list” item. More to come in future posts.

After a bit of a late start this Sunday morning, we traveled through Virginia to middle Tennessee to visit our sister-in-law, Betty, my late brother’s wife. It had been some time since we last saw her, and it was so great getting to catch up on our respective lives, our childrens’ lives, and reminisce about the past. We all so miss Ronnie, who died way too early.

Monday morning we continued driving west to the greater Memphis area to visit daughter Jenny and kids. Regrettably, Harper was in school and Sutton was napping; Linc got our undivided attention. He is all boy, and decided that his “DD” was a pretty good fellow. It was the first time we really got to enjoy him and his antics. Jenny was doing great, and looking great (don’t know how she does it as a single mom with three under the age of 10, and two of those under the age of 3.

From west Tennessee, we crossed the now repaired I-40 “Big M” bridge, and arrived home about 4 o’clock PM. Now, after a couple day’s rest and a little golf, we have to prepare for our next adventure! More to come in the next update.

Kay and I enjoyed some downtime Friday morning, before asking George and Nan to assist us with running shopping errands: REI, Costco, etc. And then, George provided a visual overview of his daily cycling route. It is in a business park, but since COVID, the streets are practically empty. There are enough hills to make the ride challenging. Back at their house, I grabbed the camera and long lens to photograph butterflies nectaring on their wonderful pollinator gardens. This Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, black-form female, posed graciously for her portrait.

Still tired from all the activities of the last three weeks, including the drive from Seal Harbor, I spent the rest of the day doing a lot of nothing, including taking a short nap. George went for a bicycle ride, and Nan and Kay were busy all afternoon preparing food for a brunch tomorrow (Saturday) morning, and catching up like sisters do who haven’t seen each other in a while.

Saturday morning I woke up with a swollen and feverish right elbow. Apparently, there are fleas outside in the gardens, one took a bite, and I had an allergic reaction. The result was a sluggish day in which I did not feel particularly bad, but certainly did not feel good.

There was a cancellation for the brunch, so the four of us ate the delicious food prepared yesterday: quiche, breakfast casserole, muffins, bacon, lots of fruit, etc. Kay and Nan continued catching up well into the afternoon and George cycled again. We all went out to dinner at a small upscale restaurant. The food was particularly good and it is the first time I had duck in several years—yum, yum!

Before bed, Kay and I talked about our travel plans, and though we were originally scheduled to stay through Sunday—and George and Nan had a full day planned for us—we opted to leave one day early (Sunday morning) as we were both ready to return home.

After a good night’s sleep and breakfast, it was back on the New Jersey Turnpike, past Philadelphia, and across the Delaware Bridge. Delaware was my 50th state!

And then, it was through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel, bypassing Baltimore and Washington, DC.

We reached Kay’s sister’s house about 3 PM near Richmond, Virginia, not having seen Nan and George for almost 2 years, and that was in Paris, France, in early November 2019 before COVID.

Their gardens are really awesome, and we enjoyed walking around admiring the blooms and bugs. And then, the rest of the day and evening was spent catching up.

Having seen and done everything on our list, we opted to leave Acadia National Park and Maine a day early. Our next destination was near Richmond, Virginia, to visit Kay’s sister and brother-in-law. Too long to drive in one day, our objective was to make it past the city of New York before overnighting.

The car was repacked—throwing everything in one pile is considered repacking, isn’t it—water bottles and coffee re-filled, and we were on our way. Seal Harbor, our residence for the last three nights, is on the southern tip of Mount Desert Island, and getting back onto major highways requires an hour’s driving northwest, almost to Bangor, before heading east and then south.

We traveled from Maine through New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Massachusetts before reaching New York, New York, at 5 PM during RUSH HOUR. The GPS directed us right through the middle of downtown New York on Central Park Avenue, through the Bronx, across the George Washington Bridge, and into New Jersey.

While traffic was horrible, it was the cars and semis crowding into the exit lanes at the last minute, near the head of the line, that delayed almost everyone else (in elementary school, we called it “breaking into line”, and it was considered cheating).

The New Jersey Turnpike toll road was great, though heavily trafficked, and seemingly there were a dozen toll stations along the way. We exited the turnpike just before dark and overnighted in Cranbury, New Jersey.

Late getting up to full speed, we ate a light lunch at the Lighthouse restaurant. The apartment where we are staying is immediately below the restaurant, so we can hear nearly every step, chair scooting, etc. The food was really good.

Our final goal touring Acadia NP was driving to the top of Cadillac Mountain. Cadillac Mountain is the major destination for visitors to Acadia National Park. It is Accessible by car, and is the highest point on the east coast of the U.S. it offers magnificent views of a glaciated coastal and island landscape. With intense visitation through the summer months for the past eighty years, the summit area has sustained substantial loss of soil and vegetation. Several rare plants that inhabit the mountaintop may be threatened as a result, and they are now roped off.

From Cadillac Mountain we drove the Loop Road almost all the way around to walk through the  Wild Gardens of Acadia in Acadia National Park. The Gardens is maintained by a diverse group of community volunteers to reflect the typical habitats as found on Mount Desert Island. More than 300 native species are labeled to make identification easy in nine separate display areas. Many of the paths were closed, but a circuitous route was available to view the many native plants. No butterflies were observed.

After a somewhat restful night, we munched on leftover breakfast food before driving to Acadia National Park, our target destination for this whole trip. Acadia National Park is the only national park in the northeast, and is the eighth most visited national park in the US. Suffice to say, it was crowded, in fact, very crowded! Our plan was to catch one of the park’s shuttles, ride the Park Loop Road, and get on/off at significant points of interest. The 27-mile road is the go-to scenic drive around the east side of Mount Desert Island, connecting Acadia’s lakes, mountains, and shoreline. It provides access to popular areas such as Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, Otter Point, Jordan Pond, and Cadillac Mountain. 

We were fortunate to find a parking spot at the Thunder Hole store, and walked to the rocky coastline to see Thunder Hole. The low tide negated most of the sound and splashing of waves. People were everywhere, and there were many families of five or more children, and couples with leashed dogs swarming the place. The coastline was starkly beautiful at low tide, but climbing over the boulders and avoiding the steep drop-offs was challenging for our old bodies and joints. However, a number of young folks were rappelling off the side of the shoreline cliffs.

Our next stop was at Otter Point and Otter Cliff, about 0.7 mile past Thunder Hole. Again, large crowds swarmed the place, but the coastline provided great photo opportunities. Otter Cliff is one of the most spectacular sights along the North Atlantic Seaboard. The famous 110-foot high Otter Cliff is one of the highest Atlantic coastal headlands north of Rio de Janeiro.

Jordan Pond was next. It is one of the park’s most pristine lakes, with outstanding surrounding mountain scenery. Glaciers carved the landscape, leaving behind numerous geological features. Jordan Pond proved to be the Acadia Park’s most visited attraction where visitors can canoe, kayak, cycle, hike, or enjoy a carriage ride. Kay and I hiked a bit of the loop trail. The Jordan Pond House serves famous tea and popovers, and all the dining facilities were at capacity.

The final stop for us was back at the Thunder Hole Store and the welcoming car. We were both hungry, and made our way to the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound on Route 3 at 1237 Bar Harbor Road in Trenton, Maine, just before the bridge onto Thompson’s and Mount Desert Island. This was deja vu for us as we ate here just a couple of weeks after getting married in 2000. Not much had changed. The row of wood-fired cookers out front smoking away and the big sign on the roof that says, “LOBSTERS” was still there. When we were here before, it was in the early evening with lights penetrating the darkness, and there was a chill in the air. The lobsters are still prepared the same—boiled in fresh, clean seawater over a wood fire. We were more prepared this time and managed to get every bit of succulent meat from the tail and claws, all without much of a mess.

Back at the “suite”, we spent a quite rest of evening, reliving our lobster eating extravaganza.