September 28, 2012 John’s birthday

John got up way before me and drove up to the top of Cadillac mountain to get a photo of himself with the first sun of the day on him on his birthday. I got up right before the screech of dawn and walked to the beach by the campground a took some shots.

Sunrise, and sunrise colors on the rocks and the no waves on the ocean.

I think there are no waves because we are in a bay-Bar Harbor and there are so many islands blocking the waves. Maine has 2000 islands off its coast.  John says it is just that the ocean has been calm the last couple days. It is supposed to rain this afternoon, night and tomorrow. Flowers in sunrise

Mostly I got up because I knew the light on the cliffs would be cool.

This slimy water dripping down the cliff because iridescent purple in the morning light. John  meanwhile took a self portrait of himself at sunrise on top of Cadillac Mountain, which is the first place in the US to be hit with the sun in the morning, so here he is, the first person in the US to get sunlight, on his birthday.

And a shot of his feet, the first feet in the US to get sunlight, on his birthday. Acadia has45 miles of carriage roads that John D Rockefeller Jr.  built so people could travel on motor-free byways via horse and carriage. They were built from 1913-1940 as a gift to the park. Today the roads are used mostly for hiking and biking. There is a stable and people can still take carriage rides. Today for John’s birthday we  rode 9 miles from the stable past Bubble Pond, Eagle lake and Jordan pond. Had a picnic lunch on the lawn of Jordon house. It used to be a hotel and restaurant, now is just a restaurant and people still can enjoy afternoon tea and popovers on the lawn overlooking the pond. Here is John on his birthday bike on the carriage road.

A carriage going across one of the 17 unique stone bridges built on the paths. Bubble   Pond.

Eagle Lake. The roads are edged with large blocks of granite to serve as guardrails. Affectionately called Rockefeller's teeth.

We saw many granite cliffs like this, it does not look like they were blasted, they are natural. John riding by fall color.

John on one of the bridges. These peaks over Jordan Pond are called the Bubble Peaks, John says he would have named them something else. . .

There are two gate houses built to ornament and serve as impressive welcomes to the system. This is  the north gate house.

The south gatehouse has so many trees you can only see the gate. We saw red and yellow berries.

For John’s birthday dinner I took him out to Jack Russell's steak house and brewery for lobster dinner.  We are in Maine after all.