We got a later-than-usual start this morning, and to my mild surprise we were both looking for something a little more filling for breakfast.

Rich procured our drinks and a blueberry muffin from the hotel lobby, just in case Mount Dessert Bakery didn’t have a particularly exciting selection of goodies today (it’s rare, but it can happen!).

In the meantime I ran down to the bakery, returning with a plain croissant and an almond croissant as requested … plus one of their sticky buns for later, because I just can’t resist them. And I do have a lot of willpower.

We ate our breakfast on the porch, as usual. It was shaping up to be a beautifully warm, sunny day. Rich’s suggestion from yesterday about exploring the Little Long Pond/Friends Path area really appealed to me (and to him), so that’s what we did.

Parking was tight at the preserve, but Rich found one remaining spot along the southern edge of the lot. He decided to poke around near the parking lot in case he needed to return to the car for a break, while I would take a longer walk to investigate and map out the rest of the “snake trail” we found last year.

The carriage roads were beautiful as always, and although the parking lot was full, I saw very few people on the trails.

A red squirrel was continually stealing green conifer cones from the carriage path and running off with them behind a tree, only to emerge a few seconds later for another one. I took a few photos (unfortunately I did not have a long lens) while he comically eyed me and squawked while running up and down the tree.

In less than a quarter mile I came to the beginning of what we called the Snake Trail (so named because last year I came across a few garter snakes inhabiting a rocky crevice along this trail). I followed this narrow path through the forest, and then up onto a lichen-covered ledge, then descended to the spot where I saw the snakes last year. No snakes there this year! I even did my “come out, little snakes” call that actually seems to get our garter snakes at home to emerge, but no luck this time.

Slightly disappointed I continued on down the trail, which enters deep woods at a lower elevation and, here, is a well-defined path completely surrounded by lush green moss. I encountered surprisingly few soggy areas, given the amount of rain we’ve had recently and the abundance of moss.

The path curved toward the left (south), and at one point I spotted a spider web strung across the path in front of me. I took hold of the top thread and released it so I could pass through. As I reached to attach it to a nearby shrub, I glanced down and, just to the right of the path, spotted a beautiful juvenile maritime garter snake sunning on some moss! So the snake call did work!

The snake was most likely asleep when I first saw him. He let me get close with no indication that he sensed me at all. Then, slowly, he moved his head and gave a few tongue flicks. Still no startled motion, and he stayed on the bed of moss in the sun. He let me take as many photos as I wanted, and I spent quite a long time with him.

Eventually he moved off slowly toward his log as I stood to move down toward the end of the path—just a few hundred feet more, ending at someone’s back yard and denoted with a sign saying “Doug’s Way.” I turned around and made my way back as I had come. When I passed the snake’s spot, he was no longer visible.

I went back to the carriage roads and completed a nice loop incorporating the West Meadow path and part of the David and Neva Trail, and then took the Friends Path back to the car, where Rich was waiting. He had taken some photos around the parking area and had walked up the carriage road a bit to the “octopus tree” we photographed here last year.

I had to spend just five more minutes looking for the USGS benchmark in this area that we haven’t been able to find. Still no luck this time. We will need to bring a metal detector!

There were still plenty of hours left for adventures on this beautiful day. I was thinking that I could take Rich to the Tilting Rock. I would love for him to finally see it, after knowing about it all these years. But it seemed that would be a better activity for a time when he could enjoy it more, so we’ll leave it for next year.

So what else could we explore today?

Our first thought was to take a drive up toward Jordan Pond House. Somehow we didn’t realize it was 12:00 on the dot, and so of course this major atttraction (and the only food concession within the park) was completely packed with the lunch crowd—in addition to the hiking and biking crowds. There was no room in either parking lot, so we moved on and headed back around on Route 3 toward our other idea for the afternoon, which was to check out Northeast Harbor. We haven’t spent any real time there in a few years, so we were due anyway.

Main Street in town was busy without a single parking place to be found anywhere, so we headed east to the marina. Right around this time we both realized that we were hungry, and there happened to be a food truck in the parking lot. The food truck was drawing a crowd and it looked interesting, so we checked it out: “The Bucking Lobster.”

They had a simple but delicious sounding menu of lobster rolls, lobster quesadilla, and lobster tacos. We just couldn’t resist the lobster tacos! We got one order to share: tender lobster, slaw, and lime crema on corn tortillas.

The tacos came with tortilla chips and an absolutely delicious salsa that I ended up drinking the remainder of after the gusty wind blew my last tortilla chip away. We ate at one of the dozen or so picnic tables under a shade tree nearby, and it was nearly the perfect setting (minus the gusty wind).

After finishing up the tacos (and having a hard time resisting buying about 6 more) we wandered down by the docks, where Rich took some photos of the marine happenings.

A couple hours spent cleaning up and resting in the room, and then it was time for our last meal in Maine for this year.

We had been planning all along to celebrate our last night here—and, coincidentally, National Pepperoni Day—with a pepperoni pizza (“Pizzaroni!”) from Rosalie’s.

We would order a medium pizza this time, figuring we could save two slices for tomorrow, and the medium would give us another token. The sign behind the counter indicates that we would need 6 tokens for a free pizza, so we might actually be there, or close to it, now! We will have to keep that in mind for next year, and make sure to bring all of the tokens we’ve collected.

Arriving at Rosalie’s about 10 minutes before opening time, we were very surprised to see about ten people already in line at the door. Most times we’ve arrived early there have been a few other people waiting, although we were usually first in line, sometimes second. This was bizarre! They were all older people and I suspected that maybe a tour had just let out, or something like that, but they didn’t seem at all acquainted with each other.

And wow, was it competitive! I intended to secure our usual corner table on the second floor, but the first woman to cross the threshold bolted up there so fast it was like she was shot out of a rifle. And of course she took our desired table. I bypassed another woman on the steps (who also appeared to have wanted that particular table) and grabbed the table in the other corner. Whew! Almost too rich for my blood, but like I said to Rich, these people have been sharpening their elbows in supermarket aisles for 50 years, so I have some catching up to do.

Despite all the people ahead of us, the pizza still came out pretty quickly. This time we had Baxter Lager to go with it. And as expected, it was a perfect ending to a wonderful trip.

But the pizza wasn’t quite the end of the evening for me. I had planned to pick up a bottle of local wine for my father from Hannaford, but it turns out they weren’t selling any local wines other than a sparkling blueberry wine. I might try it myself, but it sounds sweet, and in any case wouldn’t be something my father would take to dinner with his friends. Now what to get?

I went back into town and stopped at one of the Acadia shops for some Jordan Pond House strawberry jam, because you can’t really go wrong with that. And then I walked down to the only other place I know of that sells wine: House Wine near McKay’s. I don’t think I’ve been there before. It looked like a nice shop with an extensive array of wines, and even a few cheeses for sale. I asked about locally made dry wines and found them right in the front of the store. I bought a dry pear wine from Bartlett (which we’ve had before) and “Sieur de Monts” Sangiovese from Bar Harbor Cellars.