Pond Cove, some big things, and a blogging hiatus

Headed to Kent Island on our caretaker's boat, Island Bound

So I've been a little busy lately.  And it shows in the number of blog posts I've been making.  But as can happen, life has gotten a little crazy.

Damon and  I are embroiled in the midst of our normal annual craziness -- getting ourselves, a dozen undergraduates, all our gear, and most of our food out to Kent Island in New Brunswick.  This involves finding a dog-sitter, stopping the mail (although I am realizing just as I write this that I forgot to do that!), packing two giant bins of ratty field clothes, cleaning the house as spotless as possible, reassuring parents, getting our office work done, and then herding cats all the way across the border, onto boats, and over to the island.

Since this regular brand of craziness hasn't pushed us over the top (yet), we decided to add a little more into our lives:  we are selling our house in order to downsize to a smaller home (and life).  I'll write a bit more about it when the ink is dry, but in essence, we had too much house, not enough warm weather to work on it, and a hankering for "less".  In the meantime, it's meant lots of home repairs and staging, paperwork to be signed, and extra stress added to our spring.

That hasn't stopped me from getting out and exploring, but has dug into my writing time by quite a lot.  So I'm going to take a little blogging break, in order to get through the next month.  We (hopefully, if all goes as planned) pass papers to sell our wonderful house AND buy a little condo on June 19, and after that I feel like I'll be able to breathe again.

Before I go, I wanted to share a terrific visit I had to Pond Cove in Cape Elizabeth with a Meetup group called "Southern Maine Tide Poolers."  This awesome group is the brainchild of Megan McCuller, a young biologist from Portland. It's just a bunch of people who like to look at cool stuff in the ocean, who meet up at dig around in tidepools.  Brilliant.  

Tiny barnacles that have just settled out of the plankton and onto rocks.  They love rough surfaces best, so you tend to find them all lined up in the cracks of rocks.  Note you can see this pattern in the big ones too.

We met this month at Pond Cove in Cape Elizabeth.  I'd never been there, so it was really exciting to find a new spot to tidepool.  This is a great place -- parking at the land trust lot, good rocky tidepools full of cool stuff, and a terrific shallow cobble pool perfect for kids to get into.  If you'll forgive me, I'm going to just post some pics and get onto the work I have to do on the island today.  But if you like tidepooling, check out the Meetup group -- it was really fun!

A tidepool out in the breaking waves

This green crab was carrying eggs -- but was dead.  Interestingly, we found TONS of Asian shore crabs and no green crabs.  This is a trend I've heard others mention this spring too.  What's up with that?

Horse mussels and coralline algae

Poking around in a tidepool

The cobbles are a great place for kids to turn over rocks and find cool stuff

TO GET THERE:  From US1 in Portland, take Rt 77 south; cross the bridge over Portland Harbor. In South Portland, Rt 77 turns right and becomes Ocean St -- do not turn with it but go straight on Broadway to Cottage Rd and turn right. This road becomes Shore Road.  After Fort Williams State Park, go another Mile and look for the parking lot for Robinson Woods (thanks Cape Elizabeth Land Trust).  Look just across the road; you'll see a path with a little "Pond Cove" sign.  Follow this and you're there!

Two Lights, and Two Lights

One of the two lights, as photographed from the Lobster Shack.

While I was home from the island I threw the dog in the car and headed down to Cape Elizabeth for a quick evening outing.  A couple of years ago Damon and I crewed on a offshore sailboat race, a great way to recover from our summer on the island.  We had spectacular weather, and beat down along the Cape Elizabeth coast as night fell.  As we ground winches and trim sails, we tacked just offshore of Two Lights -- both the state park and the lobster shack.  In the evening light they both looked so beautiful.  Now I finally managed to make it back, with a view from land to sea this time!

Two Lights State Park seems to really confuse people, if you read Tripadvisor on a regular basis.  Everyone expects there will be two lighthouses in the park, but nary a lighthouse will be found there.  Rather, you'll find some amazing picnic spots, crashing waves on a rocky outcropping, some lovely upland trail, and old artillery ruins from WWII.  This is the place to be for sunsets, even sans lighthouses.

Crashing surf on the rocks, and someone contemplating the enormity of the ocean.  Or napping, I can't really tell.

A word to the wise:  rocks by the ocean are slippery, and waves are dangerous.  Take heed.

The beast in her natural habitat.

If a lighthouse is what you want to see, get thee to the Lobster Shack, right down the road.  You'll have a great view of one of the two lights, plus enjoy some great seafood in what must be the most spectacular setting in Maine (and that's saying a lot).  The evening I was there, a wedding party was rehearsing on the lawn, tourists from all over were enjoying dinners, and gulls were trying their best to snatch a bite or two from an unsuspecting diner.  I of course had to try a lobster roll; my usual in this situation.  It was fine -- but I have to admit, I was pretty turned off by the big, glistening dollop of mayo they put on it.  Luckily, that was easy to scrape off, so I could enjoy my lobster roll in paradise.

See what I'm saying?

Crescent Beach in December

A spectacular snowy day on the beach.

Despite what my friends in Florida think, Maine in winter is wonderful.  We have your frigid days, yes, but we also have your bright, sunny days when I think there couldn't be anyplace more beautiful.  Saturday we were handed one of those amazing days and we loaded up the dog and headed south on our way to Massachusetts for a Sunday half-marathon we ran.

After stopping at Standard Baking in Portland for a snack (where I gobbled down a brioche roll and half a blueberry scone where I ate something very healthy) we made our way to Cape Elizabeth.  I love this area, which has a road sign that says "State Parks -->" -- as in plural, as in, there are two amazing state parks right next to each other; Crescent Beach and Two Lights.  (Portland Head Light/Fort Williams Park, owned by the town of Cape Elizabeth, and Scarborough Beach State Park are close at hand as well.)

Although it hadn't snowed at all at our house, a fresh layer of snow coated the trees and fields in Cape Elizabeth, white and clean under a winter sun.  We debated whether we should visit Two Lights or Crescent Beach, and decided Two Lights would be better in spring, when the lobster shack there is open.  Crescent Beach it was.  The giant parking lot was literally empty, so we parked in the sun, clipped the leash on Dory, and headed over the snowy boardwalk to the beach.

This beach is known for very gentle surf, making it popular with families in summer, and we were treated to tiny breaking waves just as expected.  The beach stretches for a mile end to end, and we had a terrific walk along the sparkling Atlantic waters; meeting many others enjoying the day as well.  Lots of people had their dogs out, and Dory had a good time either sniffing them or looking menacing towards them (Miss Congeniality she ain't). 

I like you!  You're big and fluffy!  (Notice my scruff is up though!)

This is a really intriguing beach.  Tons of seaweed and kelp was washing up in the surf, with a lot of holdfasts visible, and my favorite -- Laminaria digitata, horsetail kelp, in abundance.  On the northern end of the beach there were piles and piles of seaweed, all covered with snow today.  Dory thought this was quite the thing, and I might have joined her nosing around looking for cool stuff but I didn't want to take my hands out of my mittens and get them wet -- just a bit too cold for that!

A holdfast without its kelp.

Pebbles on the beach -- I'd bring water shoes in summer.

Laminaria digitata, my favorite.  Notice the bryozoans.

Maine is rocky, even on the sandy beaches!

Kelp flotsam.

We made our way over to Kettle Cove, also a State Park, and enjoyed hiking around the upland trails to Maxwell Cove and John Cove.  Ledges of granite frame these sandy beaches, and although it was high tide we climbed out on them to have a look around.  I need to take a geology course, because I wish I knew more about how these were formed -- as Damon said, they looked like petrified trees all lined up.  They were fascinating.

This rock formation was really amazing.

Protosand, Damon says.

Ledges at Kettle Cove

Upland trails.

Lichen is common at the top of the rocky intertidal.  I think this is Xanthoria parietina, shore lichen.

I can see why people love this beach so much.  It's right by Portland; it has plenty of room to spread out; it's mostly sandy (but I think I'd wear water shoes if I came in summer, as there were plenty of pebbles); and Kettle Cove is tantalizingly close.  We had a great time and this will tide us over until the next warm day in Maine.

To get there:  From Rt 295 in Portland, take exit 6A.  At the first light, turn right onto Rt 77, State Street.  Follow Rt 77 through Portland and over the Casco Bay Bridge.  Stay on this road through Cape Elizabeth to the State Park, right after Inn by the Sea.  $4.50 for Maine residents and $6.50 for non-residents.  Well worth the price . . . .