Roadboy Bikes Acadia - Days 3-4

Day 3 - A ferry to Winter Harbor and a ride on the Schoodic Peninsula

On day three the titanium colored skies kept threatening us with rain. After our route review we made a quick walk to the Bar Harbor docks to catch the ferry to the Schoodic Peninsula.

This is the only portion of Acadia National Park that is located on the mainland. On our short ferry ride we passed some gently arching dolphins, a few of the islands beachfront summer "Cottages" (this is island understatement; here a "Cottage"is actually a huge mansion owned by wealthy seasonal residents typically from Stamford, Boston and New York etc.) and seemingly thousands of the little buoys marking a lobster trap below.

The Schoodic Peninsula is a relatively new addition to the park (joining in 2015). Prior to 2015 this area housed a naval base and most recently was attracting the eyes of developers. That all ended when an anonymous donor purchased it that it could be added the park. Its new roadways, jagged granite coastline and quiet fishing villages make for a wonderful day of bicycling. We stopped for an awesome lobster roll and blueberry pie at the Corea wharf before riding back to Winter Harbor for our return ferry back to Bar Harbor.

Looking Back on Winter Harbor

Lobster Boat Checking Traps

 Lobster Traps

 Lobsterman's House Perched Over Water

 

A Decommissioned Lighthouse

Day 4 - The Sand Beach Loop Ride

 

Dorr's Mansion

We began Day 4 visiting the site of George B. Dorr's Cottage. Dorr (referred to as the "Father of Acadia" and its first park Superintendent) lived here entertaining anyone he felt could aid in getting the lands of Acadia acquired for turnover and designation as a national monument / park. The 30 room cottage was completed built by Dorr's parents in 1880.  

He lived here until he died at the age of 90 in 1944. After his death the mansion was then left to deteriorate to a point where it needed to be restored or demolished. The UPS opted to demolish it in 1951. Despite the harsh winters the herringbone brick floors of the enclosed porches still remain almost perfectly intact.

Frenchmens Bay

(Directly in Front of the Dorr Cottage)

Dorr went swimming in Frenchmen's Bay almost every day (even having to chip ice in winter to do it). In fact it was here in 1934 while swimming he suffered a heart attack at age 80. At that time he was told he had six months to live. Instead, he lived another decade.

Passing a Gatehouse to Rockefeller's Carriage Trails

From the Dorr Cottage site we pedaled the Sand Beach Loop road. This road is what 90% of the visitors to the park will see and it includes stops at Thunder Hole and a ranger stop to view falcons nesting in the rock ledges above the road. There was also a stop at Sand Beach where we watched drivers drive round and round looking for a parking space. We parked the bikes and went straight to the nice sandy beach (for swimming if you ave anti-freeze in your veins). One of our riders dove in. I dipped my feet in and discerned that it was indeed refreshing. 

If it is that cold in July, my respect for Mr. Dorr's mid-winter swims went way up.

The roads went up and down from waters edge to hugging the cliffs above the shore (translation there were lots of hills). 

Next we came to Jordan Pond where many families were busy picking blueberries. The day finished with many of our group making the optional ascent of Cadillac Mountain (which is 3 miles straight up), I passed.

The Road Showcases Acadia's Rugged Coastline

Making Decisions About Climbing Cadillac

The day was filled with sunshine and the ride really energized everyone in preparation of the next few days of riding on John D. Rockefeller Jr's network of car-free carriage trails.

Roadboy's Travel © 2017

Roadboy Bikes Acadia - Days 1-2

The Road to Bangor Maine

Day 1

The first leg of the bike tour involved getting to the pick-up point in Bangor Maine. That involved a rental car and a whole lot of northbound traffic. We began with WAZE directing us to make lots of odd little detours off the interstate. But obedient as we are to all things electronic, we complied for a bout half the trip and then just said "oh hell no" and made the rest of the trip on the tollway.

Here is where I inject how much I despise tollways.

Along the way we had a great lunch, saw Santa in July with seemingly all of the drivers in the states of New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts conspiring join us in our drive. 

When we arrived in Bangor we had a pretty great dinner at Mason's Brewery in Bangor and crashed. 

  

 Santa in a Wading Pool

Traffic Heading North

 

 Dinner at Mason's Brewery on The River

(Home of their own brew: Hipster Apocalypse)

At Mason's Beer Starts / Ends in the Same Place

(In the immortal words of Archie Bunker, "Nobody buys a beer, they rent it")

Day 2

Day 2 began with a drive into Bangor to drive by Stephen King's residence.  It turned out to be located on a lovely tree lined street filled with huge historic homes, King's being suitably creepy and among the largest.

Stephen King Lives Here in Bangor

After that we turned in our rental car, met some of our fellow bikers while hopping about the shuttle bus sent to transport us to Bar Harbor Maine.

Bar Harbor is a picturesque thriving seasonal tourist town full of restaurants, ice cream parlors and t-shirt shops.

 

Welcome to Bar Harbor Maine

 

A View From Our Hotel - The Bar Harbor Inn

There we met the rest of our fellow bikers, tour leaders and got fitted for our bikes. Then it was off for an 8-mile warm-up ride. It also gave us the chance to test out the (wonderful) new GPS route maps the tour company (Vermont Bike Tours) now uses.

Vermont Bike Tour Guides Ann and Terry  

Conduct the Welcome Orientation

The day ended with a truly wonderful lobster dinner at the hotel in a dining room with an extraordinary view of the Harbor.

Roadboy's Travels © 2017

Roadboy's Day in Boston

Too Little Time
Too Much To See

I have traveled through Boston on numerous trips. In every case I either changed planes or was just in the city long enough for a client meeting. 

This summer while planning a bicycle trip to Maine's Acadia National Park I decided to fly into Boston and spend a day sightseeing before driving north to Maine.  Knowing full well I'd just be scratching the surface, at least it would be a scratch.

The day began with an inspirational visit to the JFK Library. From there we took the MTA to The Public Garden and enjoyed a great Vietnamese food truck lunch (which I finished off with a super desert - lime panna cotta with coconut ginger on top).

Then it was a visit to the Old Massachusetts State House and a walk through some of the nearby "burying grounds". We finished off with a visit to the AMAZING Museum of Fine Art and a wonderful dinner at Aquitaine.  

Here are a few photographs taken along the way.

The John F. Kennedy Library

The library was built completely from donated funds. It was designed by I.M. Pei and opened in 1979. It receives about 6,000,000 visitors a year while serving as the repository for the papers of John and Robert Kennedy as well as about 90% of the manuscripts of Ernest Hemingway.

 

The John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library

(I hadn't noticed the little butterfly in the photo until now) 

"But an Idea Lives On"

The Pavilion

The Library's Columbia Point site rewards visitors with stunning views of the sea he loved and the city that launched his career. 

The exhibits portray a president that felt that with programs such as the Peace Corps every single person could make a difference. He counseled that American's must "celebrate the past and awaken the future".  I'd suggest his advice that we as a nation should never shrink from our global responsibility (by looking inward instead of outward) is more important that ever.      

The Massachusetts State House and the King's Chapel Burying Ground

The golden domed Massachusetts State house (dome was clad in copper from Paul Revere's foundry) was designed by Charles Bullfinch and completed in 1789.

 Viewing into the Hall of Flags of the State House

The Ceiling of Nurses Hall

About a block from the State House we visited the King's Chapel Burying Ground on Tremont St. Begun in 1630 it is the oldest cemetery in Boston. Today there are 505 headstones remaining of the more that 1000 buried there.

The Headstone Carvings Here Were Amazing 

 Headstone Detail

(Death Snuffing out the Candle of Life)

Boston's Museum of Fine Art

 

Our last stop before dinner was probably my favorite. The Museum of Fine Art (the MFA) joins the list of "Bests" for many reasons. If you cannot find something that brings you joy here, your heart has stopped.

My favorite area gallery was its superb Art of the America's collection (with numerous works by Winslow Homer, Mary Cassett and John Singer Sargent) all embraced by Foster + Partner's luminous Shapiro Family Courtyard with its enormous glass piece by Dale Chihuly.

Seated Bodhisattva

(Eastern Wei dynasty - about A.D 530)

North Corridor of the Art of the America's Wing

Embracing Art

(The modern painting behind the sculpture captures a young girl's reaction to this very sculpture)     

Fishing for Oysters at Concale, Normandy

John Singer Sargent 1878

 Boys in Pasture

Winslow Homer 1874

 Detail from Boy's in a Pasture

 The Fog Warning 

Winslow Homer 1885

Detail The Fog Warning

 American Folk Art

Circa 1905

Harper's Cover 1898
(Celebrating the Presentation of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, Detective)

The Shapiro Family Courtyard

Selfies With a Giant Chihuly

This visit just confirmed my need to return when I can spend more time in this wonderful city. Tomorrow we drive to Maine!

Roadboy's Travels © 2017

Fathers Day 2017

A Few Travel Memories

Travel was always an adventure in my family. For the fun trips (camping or going to a national park) the journey was mostly by car. That included hours of enjoying the spectacle that is the American west while scanning an AM radio for whatever I could find. 

It also meant nights looking up at an Arizona or Utah night sky through the spectacularly huge rear window of our 1960 Chevrolet Impala.

Until 1966 or so air travel was avoided as Mom was reluctant to fly.  After 1967 (when we got her a 30 minute flight around the SF Bay and she came to realize she loved to fly) it was still pretty much reserved only for major family events such as weddings and funerals.

So my memories of my own father sort of came down to goal oriented travel. 

Dad's idea of travel was the destination. We made it to the World's Fair. We made it to Crater Lake. 

He was all about the technical aspects of the journey. We made "good time". We made "good gas mileage". The new travel trailer "pulled well and nothing overheated".

And then there was just the "dad part". When we traveled in our Travel/Eze trailer we could not avoid his epic snoring. I spent many nights sleeping on nearby picnic tables instead of in that rolling aluminum acoustic nightmare.

One night at the age of 14 or so I woke up on my picnic table top about 4:30 am staring straight into the heroic cleavage of a hooker leaning over me working the rest stops. I let her know my interest was limited to sleep and rolled over.

At breakfast I informed mom and dad of my nocturnal adventure in Hoosier hospitality and dad just smiled. I said "what?" and he confessed he'd had trouble sleeping and saw her approach me and chose not to intervene adding that he was pretty interested to see how the event would unfold.

To those who will be in the company of their dad's today, put down your cell phones and treasure the now!

To those, like me, who've said goodbye to you're fathers, enjoy the memories!

    Mom and Dad Yosemite 1945 / Shingle Springs California 1988

Roadboy's Travels © 2017

AA Realligns at LAX

Where Your Treasure Is, There Your Heart Will Be Also

Just a little blog post tonight. 

Just read American Airlines has pledged $1.5 Billion (yep, with a "B") to upgrade its operations at LAX.

Delta made a similar ($1.9 Billion) commitment to upgrade their terminal at LAX last week.

LAX is having quite a week. LAX is feeling the love.

But, those of us that fly a lot, know that airlines are all about the bottom line. So as AA realigns their hubs emphasizing DFW and LAX, they are slowly draining Phoenix (i.e. 500 pilots reassigned out of Phoenix etc.).

But as AA fades from PHX, my hope is that a truly great airline (like Alaska!) might expand into PHX.

Seems like PHX would make so much sense to Alaska Air Group.

Alaska's continued expansion eastward would benefit with the addition of at least one all-weather hub (i.e. one that is not closed by fog or rain and isn't an inch from the Pacific). Seriously; how can you truly support an eastward expansion only having hubs in Seattle, Portland and now SFO?

Here's an example. I'm in Denver and want to fly to Miami. Am I really gonna want to fly from Denver to Seatlle and then on to Chicago, before I fly to Miami? Odd business model.


Roadboys Travels © 2017
                                                

Travel Using Crutches

Every Journey Brings New Insights

Travel is about learning. And sometimes the lessons we learn aren't the ones we set about to learn.

As an architect I've always been interested in creating a built world that meets the functional and aesthetic needs of my clients while being respectful of their budgets.

Design is a delicate balancing act.

My 38 year career has seen a profession completely change. I learned the fine art of architectural drafting, but today drawing is mainly on a computer. To this day I love creating while using a parallel rule and mechanical pencils. I am a dinosaur.

Also during this period America's building codes and regulatory requirements have seen sweeping change. Arguably one of the biggest changes came with the adoption of the American's with Disabilities Act (frequently referred to as the ADA). For new buildings it compels design that enables access for individuals with mobility, vision and hearing impairments. For existing buildings it established timelines for incrementally making older buildings and sites accessible.

While normal regulatory and code mandates are enforced by government, enforcement of the ADA is done via civil litigation (i.e. the threat of lawsuits). So if an architect misinterprets an ADA provision they may face a lawsuit. Lawyers love the ADA.

Yet, while some architects view accessibility requirements as just another burden and check off the minimal requirements during design, many of us have gone on to embrace a more holistic access design philosophy called Universal Design.

After fracturing my foot on this trip to Ireland / London, the reality of the beauty of a world based on Universal Design came much more into focus.

Accomodations

We live in a world of stairs, steep slopes and narrow doors.  In Dublin we were lucky and our AirBNB was a single level cottage offering great access to every space.

In London our AirBNB turned out to be a chamber of mobility horrors. There were stairs to get to the front door of the building, steep narrow corridors inside, tiny doors, then lots and lots of stairs into the flat. 

In Dublin my new airport hotel offered up a wonderfully accessible unit, with a great roll-in shower, wide doors and grab bars. Yet accessible rooms were inexplicably placed as far as possible from public elevators.    

Transportation

Transportation really illustrates how the needs of the mobility impaired are overlooked. Many of London's famous Underground "Tube" stations still lack elevators (or even working escalators). And once in a station, pedestrian routes affording transfer from one line to another typically involve lots and lots of stairs.

Newer stations offer better access, but you still wind up arriving in stations that do not. It surprises me that over the 40 years I've been visiting to London it feels like little real emphasis has been placed on upgrading existing stations for true access.

Conversely, most public buses and trams in London and Dublin offer good accessibility. 

At the airport the situation varied. Mobility assistance at Gatwick was pretty awful (good luck making the journey from the train, garage or curb to ticketing and then on to the Mobility Services desk. 

Conversely, Dublin's new Terminal 2 offered a special curbside drop off zone immediately adjacent to the mobility Services desk.

Theaters and Restaurants

We had tickets for three blockbuster west-end shows. Wicked, Kinky Boots and Dreamgirls. In each case the theaters were all awful for mobility.

None had elevators. I just have to say that again. NONE had elevators. The Savoy (dreamgirls) is simply a nightmare. Even after I heal, I'll never go to a show in that wretched theater again.

Restaurants in both cities offered amazing cuisine with great service. Yet, almost all only offered toilet rooms located in the basement or up a flight of stairs. Only the newest cafes seemed to have a barrier free toilet on the same level as the dining room.

Museums and Attractions

Most of the larger museums have added accessible toilet rooms and elevators, but in many cases they are miles apart and require anyone who is mobility impaired to backtrack endlessly. 

In many of the museums and attractions we visited I found staff graciously escorted me to a lift or an (sometimes concealed) accessible route to get me where I needed to go.

I also found that some attractions provide exceptional access. On this trip Warner Brothers Studio London offered complete access and even offered me a zippy wheelchair for use during my visit. Other than the sloping cobblestones on Diagon's Alley and the chaotic gift shop at the end, WBS gets Roadboy's A+.

People

From the moment I put on my big boot and slipped on my crutches, I found that the people I encountered went out of their way to cross over and open doors. Uber and taxi drivers were wonderful; always offering to help with bags. 

The exceptions? Pretty much anyone using a selfie stick. I guess the very use of a selfie stick symbolizes self-absorption and narcissism.  

My take aways?

1. While mobility impaired solo travel is possible, it requires planning.

2. I will now research medical options in the destinations I plan to visit before I go. 

3. I will now purchase medical travel insurance before I take any major trip outside the US.

4. US insurance is pretty much a joke outside the US. Everywhere I went I was told "put your insurance card away, give us your credit card".

5. Plan more travel. Despite my little setback, this trip was amazing.

Roadboy's Travels © 2017

Harry Potter at Warner Brothers London

Day 13

A highlight of our London visit was a full day set aside to visit Warner Brother's London.  This is where the major sets for the Harry Potter movies are now on display.

The studio is about 30-45 minutes outside of London and requires reservations for the specific date and time you plan to visit. So planning for this trip is essential.

There are various ways to visit Warner Brothers. You can book your access online and then drive or use London's very easy and efficient train service

But, the easiest way to visit is just to book it as part of a package tour. With the tours you get a bus ride from central London to / from the Studio and your admission ticket. The downside is that the time they give you at the exhibit is IMHO too short.

If you want to be able to spend more time in the studio then plan to take the train. Its very easy. Take the underground to Euston Station. At Euston Station follow the signs to "London Overground" and then take the train that ends at Watford Junction. At Watford Junction depart the station and right in front is a Harry Potter shuttle bus (2.5 £ RT) that takes you right to the entrance.

In my reduced mobility mode I opted to check out one of studio's free wheelchairs. It was a zippy little unit that afforded me full access to the entire studio tour. My foot was so happy to get off of those crutches.

We booked a packaged tour, but wound up using the train one direciton. If I do this day trip again I'll take the train both directions.

The tour begins with a film introduction, moves into Hogwarts Dining Hall, then into the interior sets, forest, Hogwarts express, exterior sets and models. There are a couple of self serve cafes and a huge gift shop at the end.

They encourage photo taking, so here are some of my photos!

Hogwarts Dining Hall

Costuming and Millinery

The Floating Staircase

The Clock

Dumbledore's Office

Specialty Sets

Hogwart's Express

Diagon's Alley

The Major Model Room

Hogwarts Architect

A full day that will bring joy to any Harry Potter fan!

Roadboy's Travels © 2017