Finally an update...

...I know I know but good things come to those who wait. Where to begin though. I guess with where I am now. The mall in South Portland, Maine. Why you ask? Because apparently when I got on the internet Monday in Bar Harbor, Maine that is not a spot where Verizon has coverage and the aircard in tech supports words, "got on somebodies tower but it wasn't ours" which made it freak out a little. Long story short the closest Verizon store was Portland so here I am and I think back in business. I was in northern New Hampshire but Sunday morning it was 42 degrees and pouring rain and the radio station I had on out of Maine said it was 65 and sunny so I went east. I have been at Acadia National Park since Sunday evening and it is spectacular. Just beautiful cliffs along the coast and trails and mountains everywhere. I spent Monday riding along the coast on my bike just exploring and climbing around on the rocks and stuff. Then Tuesday I hiked and climbed mountains all day. Lots of good exercise and fresh air. I started up one trail Tuesday at the same time as about ten other people did and about half a mile up the trail it went to the left but off on the right was a sign that said,"strenuous trail, exposed cliff faces" and pointed up. Everybody else was going left so I went right and boy the sign wasn't lying. It was basically a goat trail up the steepest side of the mountain. Felt like an eagle looking for a place to nest or something. The views were amazing though and it was nice not having to hear a bunch of other people jibber jabbering the whole time. The picture I put up is from the next mountain over, where I went next, but the right side where it's pretty much straight up is where the "trail" was. The other shot is about halway up the first mountain, back towards the parking lot where my truck is. After hiking over to the second mountain I came down and followed a trail along the coast back to the truck. All in all about 9 miles so I was tired by the end of the day. One of the neatest things I found here was as I'm crawling around on these huge rocks and the cliffs was there would be little plants and flowers growing out of little cracks. It was amazing to see something so tiny and delicate in such a harsh enviroment. I tried to post a picture I took but the site got stubborn with me-sorry. Monday I ate at a little hole in the wall looking place in Bar Harbor which had great food. Had to have lobster so I had Lobster Saute, which to explain is a whole lobster, shelled then baked with Ritz cracker pieces and butter. Quite delicioso! It came with a bowl of clam chowder, a plate of pasta primavera, a bowl of butter garlic peas and brownie ala mode. Ate it all except for a little desert, I was just to full. I'm not sure where I am going now. The "plan" was to take the ferry to Nova Scotia on Thursday and stay out there about a week, but the remnants of TS Alberto are due to be arriving in those parts Friday and Saturday so I decided to wait till next week and go over. So I may be headed back to New Hampshire for the weekend or perhaps to Baxter State Park in northern Maine. Either way I will be off the air for a few days but I will post something before I head to Nova Scotia since once I'm out there I will be off till I return to the states. I must close with perhaps the most exciting part of my week. Sunday on my way to Acadia I went to Freeport just to go to the LL Bean store. I don't know why but I have always wanted to go there. It is actually four stores and wow could I have spent some money. I wound up talking to a guy who works there for almost an hour. He is a guide up here and gave me some really great information and told me some great moose stories from trips he's been on. I have to say it was the most fun I have ever had shopping. I escaped with a few things I needed, much touching of things I wanted and the chance to say "I went to Freeport just to go to LL Bean". Well I need to look at the map and figure out where I'm going and head out. Hope you all enjoy the pictures and the stories. Take care Jim