Here is the room we stayed in for the past two nights on Deer Island.

Funky beams, eh?

We did not explore Deer Island much yesterday, because we needed the whole day for Acadia National Park. Although Deer Island is almost as large as yesterday’s island, it is completely private, so exploration is limited.  Fortunately, the B&B owned land, so here is the pond behind it:

Ponds, that is lakes without water flowing in or out of them, are common in the islands around Penobscot Bay. It took me a while to figure that out. They are glacially scoured low spots where rain water accumulates. The drinking water is delicious.

This morning, the tide was out, so we went across the street to the tidal flats.

Then we drove around Deer Island looking for places in the McCloskey books. We found a sandy beach and waded into the very cold water.

The water was super clear, super cold, and the seaweed had no insects nor smell, to our surprise. Perhaps the water temperature? There were a few jellyfish. This was about ten inches in diameter.

Later we drove back to the mainland to see Buck’s Harbor, mentioned in one of McCloskey’s books. 

Our next point of interest was the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden in the town of Boothbay. We found we could not resist their motto:

Could you?

I enjoyed the pumpkin exhibit:

Brian took visually interesting photos:

And we found displays in honor of McCloskey’s books:

This one is from Blueberries for Sal, with the bear family.

Brian took excellent photographs of all the foliage:

and a local native:

We closed the place down (they closed at 5:00). 

Then off to Portland, to stay near the airport for our cross country trip to San Jose, California tomorrow. 

Goodbye Maine and New England. It was a brief but fun visit. 

• Coast-to-Coast Trip