Wednesday already. Sad

I know all these pictures are starting to get obnoxious. I also know that if I don't post them now, I never will. Sorry ...

We had planned to bike today but instead we hiked again and will bike tomorrow. Matt mapped out a route that went up to and around several smaller summets, mostly along the ocean. At the end of the day we caught the free Acadia bus back to our car.

This stone ridge wound all the way down one of the mountains. Note the cairn. :)
You can see that the first leaves are starting to change.
No snakes today, Dad, but here's a crazy-looking tree for your viewing pleasure.
There was even more climbing today than yesterday. Love it.

The ocean is every bit as blue as it looks in these pictures.
We went through our water a lot faster today, despite having an extra bottle, and even had to conserve near the end. It was warmer than yesterday and our route was more strenuous though shorter. Our parents (everyone who loves us, actually) will be glad to hear we opted out of two "ladder trails" -- which are considered not so much hiking trails as nontechnical climbs, and which involve ladders going straight up and down the side of the mountain.

I like a challenge as much as the next person, but as I've gotten older I have acquired a healthy respect for heights and the fact that falling from them will kill you. The big sign warning us that many injuries and deaths have occurred on those trails was all the persuasion we needed to stick to our original plan.

We ate dinner at the place we tried to eat yesterday. Matt got a tourist-trap lobster meal and I got pasta because I don't like lobster and have been craving pasta all week. It wasn't as good as the Thirsty Whale, and it cost twice as much, but how can you visit Maine without ordering lobster at least once?

In the "small world" category, Matt met a woman here who used to live in Southern Pines. She recognized the local phone numbers on the Kirby Explo', which we're driving since it holds the bikes and already has a ton of miles on it. She has been coming to Bar Harbor and staying at Emery's Cottages for 14 years.

"Some people would say at this point, 'Small world,' but it isn't a small world. It's an enormous world, bigger than you can imagine, but it's all connected up." - Elizabeth Spencer, "A Southern Landscape"

On top of that, yesterday Matt and I were on the summit of Dorr Mountain at the same time as one other couple and the guy noticed my Kirby shirt and said he'd seen our car around town. That was 48 hours after we arrived in Maine. Crazy.