Catch up on Adventure #1: Acadia National Park & Bar Harbor, Maine

Alright everybody, time to recap our trip to Acadia National Park.  I am going to do my best to do this in an organized fashion while including everything, but I am bound to ramble somewhat. Its what I do best, with probably a lot of useless information.

After we got up in Belfast, we took off towards the park.  The weather was looking a little dreary and they were forecasting thunderstorms all day.  As we got near the park it definitely started raining on us and was pretty nasty but we obviously we went anyways.  Got our park maps and pass and experienced our first encounter with the "Rabies Alert."  Apparently it is a big problem with the raccoons in the park???  I was obviously excited to get a glimpse of a rabid raccoon but Denny; not so much.

Anyways, since the weather was a little nasty, we decided to drive around Bar Harbor and the Park Road Loop most of the day until it cleared up.  (I think by the end of the three days we were there we drove the loop and every other road on the Island about 18 times.  Totally worth every mile.) I guess I am not sure the best way to go about all the sites in the park but I will list them and explain/picture them.  We saw:
Cadillac Mountain
It was crazy windy up here but you could see all the coast and bays along the Island.  Absolutely beautiful.

Jordan Pond

Sand Beach

Thunder Hole

Otter Point
Abbe Museum
Wild Gardens of Acadia (this is where we climbed Dorr Mountain: 1.6 mile trail (all stairs) with a 1270 foot summit)
We first tried to start hiking this trail on Wednesday afternoon when it cleared up.  Little did we know it was one of the hardest trails and we were both wearing flip-flops with no water or anything.  Got probably a half mile up the trail and made plans to finish it the next day when we were slightly more prepared... The hike was super fun, took us a little over an hour and we both made it to the summit. Denny will claim he beat me to the top, but he completely cheated.  Damn near knocking over another hiker as well as stepping on natural Acadia vegetation, while I carried all the gear to the top for us. But whatever helps him sleep at night.

 At the summit. Lucky one other hiker was there to take a picture.

Downtown Bar Harbor (as well as Northeast Harbor, Southwest Harbor, Seal Harbor, Bass Harbor, & Bernard)
I definitely got my first live lobster dinner in Bar Harbor, at Geddy's downtown restaurant.  I named him Timmy and he was absolutely delicious. However, I am not sure I will ever do it again.  It is a lot of work and a little too intimate of a situation for dinner.  I don't exactly enjoy ripping body parts off of my dinner.  Denny even tried a little though.  The picture is horrible but oh well.  I was excited.

Seawall Campground
This was the campground we stayed at for two nights.  We had alot of fun just hanging out and having campfires and relaxing on some downtime.  I didn't take any pictures of our camp, but I will try to remember from now on.  I am not very good with remembering or knowing what to take pictures of.  I usually leave somewhere and regret not taking more pictures or grabbing any souvenirs and that is exactly what I did in Maine.  But oh well, just another excuse to go back.

Now onto a little bit of art.  Since I suppose that was the whole reason for my trip.  As we toured Bar Harbor and drove through Maine, I started to realize a lot of different things:
#1 I need to just go right away; not put it off.
#2 I need to plan better. And research more. Timing might be more crucial than I think.
#3 Galleries come in all different types from just resellers, little hometown owners that sell from nice to chincy to whatever they think will sell, and those that just do it and hope they might make some money later.  I may avoid small town galleries right in town, they tend to be nice but nothing really exciting. Plus their studios are not there for me to snoop around in.
#4 I don't have any clue how to approach people with what I am doing on this trip.  Mainly because I have no idea what I am really doing either.  I am worried I come off kind of stupid or just unprofessional.  I may have to sit down and figure this out.  And what I really want to accomplish/see.
#5 I love looking at art and learning, but I am really enjoying just seeing everything else and being somewhere else.  I have been super content with just waking up and being like "What do we want to do today?" But I am sure reality will catch up with me. As well as this internship.  Only anxiety on this trip so far...

So anyways, I did visit a few galleries in Bar Harbor where I met Scott from Evegreen Gallery who turned me towards the other side of the island to a studio called Seal Cove Pottery and Gallery.  There I met Lisbeth Faulkner, a potter who teamed up with her partner Ed Davis, an oil painter, to create Seal Cove Gallery.  She has been doing pottery professionally for about 8 years and before that just as a hobby.  I did my best to explain what I was there for an asked for a bit of a tour and we actually just got to talking as she showed me around.  I tried my best to ask informative questions and all but we really did just chat about pottery and some techniques and how she got into it and selling and her influences and all that.

Her work definitely has a coastal influence.  I pointed out the differences of that influence and she told me how she grew up in Maine, but her and her partner travel to the Bahamas every year so she gets a whole different kind of ocean influence which shows up in her glazes.  She likes to use glossier and brighter finishes rather than the "earthy dull tones that everyone else uses up here."  She mixes her own glazes except the bright red one because, we both agreed, that a bright red is just really hard to create.  She fires at cone 5/6 which is a little cooler than what we use at school which is cone 10.

Most of her platters are slab built and hand built add ons, just using styrofoam cut-outs for large fish or other shapes that she then alters to her liking.  She also creates wheel-thrown plates and bowls (and mugs when people ask for them, because she doesn't really care to make them)  I noticed she trims her plates differently then me, so I asked and she gave me a quick demo on them.  I have trouble with cracking in the middle of my plates, which I blamed on not compressing enough or drying to quickly (which obviously causes cracking), but after seeing her plates I realized if I trimmed with more support rings I may not have so much trouble.  Which means I learned something new. Woohoo!

 Some of her work in her gallery.

 Trimming the edge with homemade tools.

 Forming the rim.

 Much better feet than mine... great ideas to take home...

So that was my trip to Seal Cove Pottery. I thanked her and we went on our way.  It was really nice to see different influences on others pots and just see some art in general.  

After, Denny and I eventually took off from Maine on Saturday and headed back to New Jersey.  We tried to hit Boston but I am getting tired and that is for the next blog. Maybe later tonight.  I will go over our plans for the next couple of days and all the other random junk that has been going on.  

Still can't believe this trip has been happening and we still have so much more to go.  I hope I can get everything I want done, but who knows. Maybe we will just end up winning a bunch of money in Vegas, flying to Hawaii and living there for a year or two. Wouldn't that be something.  More to come tonight or tomorrow morning.  

Love and miss you all.