And now Barbara is on vacation...

Where in the world is Barbara? She's in Maine at Acadia National Park. Here it is on a map:

The captions are Barbara's descriptions via email...

Greetings from Acadia National Park!  We’ve been enjoying our week of perfect weather:  mid-60s and sunshine. 

This morning’s hike was on the Beachcroft Trail, which boasts 1,500 granite steps (which you would not have liked), but it is worth it for the view from Hugenot Head.  [Pat adds: she's being kind by saying I would not have "liked" the steps. I would be the one at the bottom offering to hold everyone's sweaters while they did the steps.]

We had lunch at a wonderful place called Seafood Ketch in Bass Harbor, the so-called “quiet side” of Mount Desert island (much less touristy than the Bar Harbor side).

This is the view from the restaurant table.

I’ve attached a picture of the outdoor tables overlooking the first time I have ever taken a picture of my own lunch, and it was only because I was thinking of you and knew you’d like to see it!  The fresh seafood sandwich is a combination of crabmeat, haddock, and shrimp – and surprisingly had a single slice of American cheese underneath the fish – and was just delicious.  The waitress had asked, “Would you like Ketch fries or regular fries?”  “What’s the difference?” I asked in return.  “The Ketch fries are homemade – they are sliced from real potatoes and then deep fried.  The regular fries come from a bag.”  Um…  are there actually people out there who would order the ones that come from a bag????  I think you can tell from the picture that they were scrumptious.  Even the cole slaw was good.

Pat says: The photo makes my mouth water... those ketch fries look wonderful!

Home is a cute little motel called Isleview – our room is on the end.  It is really clean and pleasant, although the wifi connection is a little dicey.  I’m just hoping it will be strong enough so that I will be able to send these pictures to you!