Fall Trip Day 2

Today I realized I need better maps, or atleast to read them better. I Drove around the Island trying to find Acadia National Park and its famous 24 mile loop road to realize that it was interior to and concetric with the loop I was driving. I finally made it in the park and drove up Cadillac mountain with my rented Cadillac, ironically. It is an amazing juxtoposition of ocean, forest and retired folks. The colors are amazing, but hard to capture or do justice to. It is amazing to see full-sized cruise ships in the Bay among the rocky, forested islands.

The highways are all similar-tree lined and frequent small towns requiring reduced speed limit. The going is slow. I at lunch at a sea food restaurant. I had the sea food chowder, which includes potatoes, chowder and a wide variety of sea creatures.

On the way I stopped to take pictures in a field. I discovered that the red plant that carpets any open space is the blueberry! They were ripe. (This helped me to understand the dome technology-like structure on the side of the road that was painted blue, and called "The Blueberry Palace" that I had passed by. It was surrounded by painted, concrete blueberries). Cranberries are grown here, too.

New England Churches are truly fabulous. They are everywhere. Some more dramatic than others, and all are white.

A large front brought rain clouds, but they stayed north the whole day. I made it to W. Quoddy Head Lighthouse at Passamaquoddy Bay (I would be highly suprised if Pete's Dragon was actually filmed there). I crossed into Canada at Calais, Maine. She asked 12 questions, then let me through. Mrs Garmin informed me that she doesn't know anything about Canada, but would help if she did. I realized that Saint John is huge, and I probably needed a map to find the hotel (re-occuring theme?). I drove to a gas station and asked for directions. A customer there knew the street, and was driving to that side of the city anyway. She said I could follow her. She led me through winding streets and stopped right in front. Canadians are nice.

At my hotel (Country Inn & Suites) they have a red box-type machine that dispenses free movie rentals for hotel guests. I rented "We are Marshall". I got connected to the hotel's wifi, but couldn't make the computer know that it was connected. I asked for a little help, and felt like I should get in Google Earth because it interfaces with the internet differently than explorer does. Google Earth detected the problem, then asked if I would allow it to fix it. That was pretty cool. So here I am, and here are the pictures:

Frenchman's Bay at Bar Harbor

Frenchman's Bay at Bar Harbor

Cadillac Mountain

Blueberry Patch
W. Quoddy Head Lighthouse

Oh, Canada.

Post Script: I changed time zones at the border. I am now 3 hours ahead.

Fall Trip Day 1

I made it to the Bar Harbor Village Inn this evening. There were 8 missionaries going to the Ghana MTC on the flight to JFK. I could see the fall foliage from the airplane window. Awesome red forests that go on forever. I rented my car while waiting for my luggage to come (small airport). Mrs. Garmin and I had a misunderstanding wherein I wanted to drive south, and she wanted to take me back to the airport. We resolved the issue. The drive south was dark, but I could see cool New England architecture on the sides of the road. Some people take it a bit far, though. I have seen quite a few businesses, such as gas stations, who have added a lighthouse-shaped forms to a corner of their building. I walked the main street tonight and saw a cool old ship with masts lit up in the harbor. There wasn't enough light to photograph it, though. I heard the ferry horn, which can be heard from anywhere in town.

The internet here is too slow to post pictures. I will try again tommorow night.

Clouds cast shadows on one of the great lakes.

The boat I saw in Frenchman's Bay lit up at night.

Apples to Apples

I found these video clips that daddy took the weekend of the Reisner Reunion July 2005.

Happy Birthday, Scott

Happy Birthday, Scott!

We are glad to have you in the family.

Autumn Has Arrived

Dr. Phillips scrubbing up for the C-Section

The fake Phillips baby the nurse held up for us

The "real" baby Phillips

Foot printing plus an apology from the nurse who held up the wrong baby.

Hot Dog Roast

We drove up American Fork Canyon. We panned for gold and had a hot dog roast.

Jackson works on his own hot dog bun....

Then, helps Colin with his.
We drove the loop over to Sundance. The Aspens were lovely.

Perseid Meteor Shower

Grammy Goose and I set off for the hills in sky to look for meteors. We saw cool windmills that lit in synch, the milky way coming up out of the tea pot, a few meteors and a moon rising. All the while, the whirling of a nearby windmill could be heard in the background. It was pretty cool. Here is a cartoon I made that gives the general idea: