Weekly Photo Challenge: Everyday Life

Bar Harbor and Fall Visitors

Had a wonderful time with Mom, Uncle Billy, Aunt Heidi and Cousin Hannah in Bar Harbor for a few days…. I really enjoyed showing off my second home, and spending time with family!

When Billy and Co. arrived in Ellsworth, Mom had them set up at the new Hampton Inn.  We picked up Billy and went for an adult beverage at Finn’s Irish Pub, in Ellsworth, https://www.facebook.com/FinnsIrishPub.

I hooked the extended family up with tickets to the Bar Harbor Whale Watch, the trip was cancelled because of weather, but we moved on, and went for lunch on board the Holland America Maasdam.  The tickets were rebooked for the next morning, and they enjoyed 3 hours of whale watching on Saturday morning.  After work, we headed up to CherryStones for an after-work drink.

On Saturday, Mom and I met up with the Voltz’s for a fun filled afternoon.  We collected them in town, and hit up the 38th Annual Fair on the Green…. a fabulous arts and crafts festival on the Village Green, with some really unique items, Mom, Heidi and I bought bracelets made from spoons!  I also found a piggy bank, the front of it is an old post office box, that was actually from White River Junction (where we went hot air ballooning) in Vermont.

We headed up around the Park Loop Road, and had lunch at Jordan Pond House.  The popovers were awesome, as expected.  We headed up to the top of Cadillac Mountain, it was a beautiful day and we got some great pictures, and finished up the island tour with Bass Harbor Light.  Dinner was at Pat’s Pizza in Ellsworth, and the family all headed out on Sunday.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Near and Far

Bonita Springs Weekend Getaway

Thanks to Groupon, Richard and I spent the weekend in Bonita Springs Trianon Bay, http://www.trianon.com/bonitabay.html. We headed out on Friday evening, and made our way 2.5 hours south, and had our fingers crossed that we wouldn’t meet up with Hurricane Issac in the process.
Saturday morning started out with complimentary full service breakfast, which was lovely, and we headed out to the local beaches to explore. Richard brought along his fishing pole, and we headed out to Bonita Beach Park and decided we would try to take in a little beach time before the rain came. We ended up having a great time walking on the beach… although Richard didn’t have much luck with the fish. We headed to Doc’s Beach House, http://www.docsbeachhouse.com, for lunch and got inside just time for the rain!

After lunch, we headed out in the other direction, and finally found Barefoot Beach Reserve. We had heard lots about this particular beach from my sister-in-law and her husband, who had taken advantage of the Groupon just a few weeks before us. Richard had much more luck with the fish, and caught this baby!

I decided I would have a go at fishing, and although I didn’t catch anything, I still had a good time.

We headed back to the hotel for dinner. Part of the Groupon was credit at the hotel’s pool bar/restaurant, and it turned out to be a pretty good meal.  Sunday morning, we headed down to breakfast, and then had to pack up and check out of the hotel. We went back to Barefoot Beach, Richard wanted to have another try at catching more fish… not so successfully.

It was a great weekend!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Urban

Hoover Dam