A Fair Day

Today was a fair day. The heat wave broke, the temps were wonderful, and the sky was blue. We had planned to go swimming today but it was too cool. Instead we decided to visit the county fair. (We save the state fair for a day when Ron can join us.)

We haven't gone in a couple years. Sadly, I think in that amount of time we have outgrown it. We quickly ran out of things to do. The rides were not appealing, there are only so many games on which to waste money, and Tyler isn't crazy about looking at the animals. I was hoping for an afternoon of entertainment. Didn't happen. We had a nice time in the hour or so we were there, it was just over very quickly.

We saw this on one of the horse stalls. I was amused.

He won a stuffed chili pepper. Danielle played, too, and won a seahorse. Tyler popped 2 balloons, Danielle popped 3. It didn't matter how many balloons they popped, though - apparently I didn't pay enough to guarantee them a larger prize.

There's not enough room to write my thoughts about this ride or the "gentleman" operating it. It was hard enough keeping my opinion to myself when Tyler asked to ride it.

I told the kids they could do 2 "things". Tyler opted for a game and the slide. Danielle played the dart game and this game. I only spent $2 for 8 balls. She was so disappointed she didn't win a fish, that Tyler pulled $5 of his own money out of his pocket and bought her a bucket of balls. No matter how far she reached, she still couldn't win a 33 cent fish. I think I want to spend a month during the summer running this game. Cha-ching!

I also agreed to buy them each 1 food item. I am holding the lemonade I purchased for Tyler. He used his own money to buy himself some cheese fries...which he declared was money very well spent.

This is the first time we've attended this county fair (neighboring county, not ours). I don't know if it's just a bad year or if it's always this bad, but I was not impressed with the folks running the games and rides. I have a teacher friend who calls herself a "carny". She runs a couple food stands at fairs and festivals during the summer. She is very well educated...and clean...and does not have to register with the local authorities when she moves, so I know non-scary people do this, too. Just not here apparently. But, it was entertaining. Which, I suppose, was my ultimate goal.

Hummingbirds

I have a few more vacation pictures to post but I'm not done editing them yet. So, until then, here are some hummingbird pictures.

It is so difficult to get [what I consider] a good picture of a hummingbird. It takes a lot of trial and error, and the subject isn't always cooperative. Sometimes I'll think I have all my settings fixed, wait for a hummingbird to show up, and then get one chance to snap a few pictures before he decides he's done performing. When he's gone and I review the pictures, if my settings were off at all, I have to try again. It's also frustrating to sit and wait for 30+ minutes for a hummingbird to show up only to have a child whip the door open just as he finally makes an appearance! (I swear they do that on purpose.)But, I am thankful for lazy summer days and a little extra time to sit and stake out the hummingbird feeder. (I'm also thankful our neighbors pretty much just ignore me at this point.) This year I tried to plant some plants that would attract butterflies and hummingbirds. I haven't had much luck with butterflies, but the hummingbirds are happy. Here are some of my recent attempts. I wouldn't consider all of these great, but I am improving! I think all of these are of our resident immature male. (Click on the picture to see it in better detail.)

The shutter speed was a little too slow, but I like his ruffled tail feathers.

 

Lobster Dinner

Also on our list of "things to do while in Maine" was to buy and cook fresh lobster. So we did. Soft shell lobster were $4.99/lb, hard shell $6.99/lb just about everywhere. (Market price at a restaurant was about $20.99.) We purchased a couple soft shell lobster from one of the many individuals selling them and some wonderful pulled pork from Mainely Meat and enjoyed a great dinner.

Playing with their food

Danielle really liked the lobster.

More Fishing Fun

Our 2nd fishing trip was in the late afternoon. The boat was even less crowded, most of the crew was the same, they remembered the kids by name, and the fishing was just as good. As a bonus, we got to see the harbor seals sunning themselves on Egg Rock Island and watch the sunset over the bay. Although this trip was different, it was just as great. We all caught a ton of fish, including a couple cod. Once again I caught the largest fish on the trip - 2 cod fish each just under 19". We had a super time. I am so thankful for the discount tickets. Although I feel that both tours were well worth the full ticket prices, we certainly wouldn't have been able to go twice if we were paying full fare. Hats off to Captain Matt, Diane, Chuck, Dennis, & May for a wonderful experience on the Islander! These pictures are from our 2nd trip.

 

My 1st cod fish



It flipped it's tail, which prompted this reaction.
She gave me permission to post this pic as long as I posted the one she took of me on our first trip...

I was admiring his teeth.

Black guillemot with a rock blenny



Harbor seals...lots of them!

 



Egg Rock Island Lighthouse

 

Watching the sea smoke on the water

 

Fishing Fun

Out of all the things we did on vacation, our two fishing trips were by far our favorites. When I started planning our trip in January, I found a Half Off Deals website sponsored by a local tv station in the Bar Harbor area. After watching the site for a couple weeks, I got lucky. They offered a special for adult tickets for fishing or puffin tours through Acadia Nature Cruises. I don't remember the exact special, but it was quite a good deal. I ordered enough deals to get 8 tickets and ended up spending around $90 for $360 worth of tickets!! I scheduled one fishing trip and one puffin tour for the four of us.

As it got closer to vacation time and I was looking over our plans, I reread the description for the puffin tour. It also included a lighthouse tour, and it sounded like something that would bore the kids silly. So, I cancelled that one and kept the fishing trip. After we went on our first fishing trip, we had so much fun we all wanted to go again. I used the remaining 4 tickets to book another trip later in the week. It could not have worked out better!

We had such a nice time. Our first trip was a 4 hour trip in the morning. The boat was not overly crowded, the crew was especially kind to Tyler and Danielle, and we caught a lot of fish. It was overcast, chilly, and a bit rainy but we didn't really notice. At one point when it was raining we realized the four of us were the only ones outside fishing! We saw some wildlife and especially enjoyed it when an eagle swooped down to within 20' of the boat to snatch a stunned pollock out of the water. (That was Ron's first catch of the day, which he sacrificed to see the eagle "perform".) Tyler outfished everyone on the boat; He was pulling them up 3 at a time. We had decided ahead of time to keep our fish and have them for dinner.  We caught mostly pollock and mackerel, but I pulled up a 14" cunner, which was the largest catch of the trip. The crew took pictures of him because they had never seen one so big.

A harbor seal bobbing in the water.

Cunner have teeth!

 

Our bucket of fish. We stopped keeping them after awhile because we had so many.

Ready to be cooked!

Ron pan fried the pollock and mackerel and baked the cunner. It was all pretty good. Tyler especially enjoyed the pollock. It was a great & memorable experience, which is exactly what we were hoping for.