Acadia National Park

Sunrise, Cooksey Drive Overlook

Well, OK, not exactly.  This place has been calling to me for years, so I signed up for a trip with Colleen Miniuk-Sperry, three-time artist in residence at the park.  Her photographic work is fabulous, and she knows the park particularly well.

Some of you may have heard that the National Parks took a little hiatus, right in the middle of the fall color season.  Though people were certainly sneaking in (we heard about two rescues on Cadillac Mountain during the closure), we really didn't have that option traveling with a commercial group.

It turns out that the beauty doesn't stop at the park boundaries.  We spent time in public gardens, parts of the famous carriage road system which lie outside the park, state parks, and other creative locations.

Bar Harbor Sunrise

 Colleen and the volunteers with Arizona Highways Photo Workshops did a yeoman's job re-imagining the trip, calling it "Autumn AROUND Acadia."  Still, many of us are itching to come back and see the park.  Maybe next Fall.

There are some great memories.  Two of us broke off and speed-walked to the only cobblestone bridge on the island, feeling like reality show contestants with 35 minutes to shoot before we needed to take the 30-minute walk back.  Watching the light come up at Cooksey Drive overlook, a typical rocky Maine Coast spot,  and gasping at the pink-orange light.  We just had time to capture  the spectacular sky and backlight on the shore cobbles of Bar Harbor before the giant cruise ship slipped in (to the strains of the Darth Vader theme in my head.  Can you hear it?)

Of course there was lobster bisque, lobster rolls, lobster salad and (wait for it) lobster ice cream.  Yes, I tried it.  Enough said.

Watkins Glen NY

I stayed on a while and visited my brother at his Ithaca home, in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Though he's been there for over 25 years, my camera and I have never had the pleasure of a trip in autumn.  The Devonian Shale  gorges are truly an inspiration.  Buttermilk Creek and Watkins Glen are especially breathtaking in any season, but even more so  with the trees turning and the leaves emphasizing the geologic lines in the gorges.

More New York and New England images from this trip are on the website.