End of tourist season

Wabbit season! Duck season!

Kidding, that is one of the best scenes ever though, no? Here in Maine, it goes from mud season to black fly season to tourist season, the long tail end of which is just wrapping up. Fall is the season of 'leaf peepers', people unlucky enough to live in places where the leaves don't change color and fall, so they come up here to see what it's like to be in a place where everywhere you look is stunningly gorgeous. This is about the last week of peeping season, and foliage is at its peak in our neck of the woods.

How fortunate, then, that we're just had our last guests of tourist season - my folks & an Arizona-based aunt & uncle. How fortunate also that it rained yesterday, and not today - the day I had planned to head down to the Penobscot Narrows Bridge & Observatory. When tourists come up, we locals get to do the tourist stuff - and though it's been open for a year, we hadn't yet gone to the bridge. This was the day, and was it awesome. The observatory is only open for a couple of more weeks, but it was a great time to go - nice & cool and few other folks visiting. Plus the foliage was incredible. We also went to Left Bank books, where I got a great cup of tea (in a china cup, no less) and we wandered around looking at their excellent inventory. One of my favorite shops, and Searsport is just a great little downtown spot.

It's the tallest bridge observatory in the world. A bit like the Washington Monument plunked in the middle of the new suspension bridge in Boson, it's a very cool deal - you take an elevator up 400 feet (where it reads that you're on the second floor!) then climb a couple of flights to a glass observatory where you can see 360 degrees, all up and down Penobscot Bay. Quite beautiful. Here are some shots - the glass made some of them less impressive than in real life. Some are of the old bridge, still standing but unused, right next to the new bridge. It's 1931 versus 2006 - kind of an interesting juxtaposition.

Also, this pretty sumac was on the riverbank. In fall, even the overlooked shrubs can be sublime.

Thanks for a lovely day, Mom, Dad, Lanie & Richard! Happy trails...and now we're into the season called "get ready for winter" season. Time to button up the house and get out the hot cocoa.