Hancock County, Maine, containing Bar Harbor and Lamoine just got a lot greener. According to census figures we have 23,300 households. Eighteen thousand, or 77% of those household’s electricity needs are now matched by the new 34 megawatt Bull Hill Wind Project just 30 miles away from SeaCat’s Rest, atop 600 foot Bull Hill. Of course, the power is fed into the grid so the power goes everywhere, but it still means Hancock County is now a significant energy producer. It only happens when the wind blows, but the engineers at First Wind have done their research and picked a site where there is dependable wind. The success of a wind site can be expressed as the capacity factor, the percentage of rated output that an array produces over time. It’s too soon to know Bull Hill’s, but another First Wind array in Maine, Mars Hill, has achieved 35% according to here.

The substation where voltage is matched to the grid.

On the fourteenth of November, 2012 I traveled to Bull Hill to see this project for myself. It’s a little remote and requires driving over gravel roads for a while, but the site is accessible to all and I recommend that everyone take a look. The land is owned by H. C. Haynes Inc, a timber company and leased to First Wind. Haynes has a policy of allowing access to its lands for recreational purposes, and so the extensive roads servicing the installation are available for visitors at any time. Standing under a 300 foot tower with slowly spinning 150 foot blades is an awesome experience.  Seeing nineteen of them spinning together is humbling. Actually, seeing all nineteen at once is not easy, since each tower is about 1500 feet away from its closest neighbor.

The blades above my head spun at about 12 RPM, a blade swishing by about every 2 seconds at 128 miles per hour at the tip.  I wanted to ask someone what the turbine’s output was at that speed and soon after I was speaking with a young First Wind worker at the facility’s substation who was kind enough to answer my questions. At 12 RPM he said, the generation was “at rated output” or about 1.8 megawatts. The wind was not that strong on the ground, about 12 MPH here at home, so I was surprised to hear that. The young man, who decided not to have his name mentioned, explained that the site is chosen after several years of monitoring wind speeds and that the model of the turbine is chosen to match the wind resource. The Vesta V100-1.8 MW is a model fitted to lower wind speed sites, reaching rated output at 27 miles per hour. I don’t think the wind was that strong even 300 feet up. At 15 miles per hour the output is 600 kilowatts.

Investment in a wind installation is not a casual affair. Not only does the local population have to be on board ($340,000 per year in taxes and community benefit payments helps), but the project needs to be near an existing power grid so that the overall project cost can be kept reasonable. And then the wind too. Being on top of a hill is a big help. There are other, windier sites in Hancock County, but many are close to the coast and off limits for aesthetic and political reasons. Finally, the young man reported that most people don’t realize that the new wind economy has already pumped a billion dollars into the Maine economy.

The Bull Hill project in some ways resembles a housing development in that there are winding streets and flattened build sites with good drainage and planted grass.  All the power from the turbines goes through buried conduits, so like a fancy development there are no wires overhead. Each turbine sends out its maximum 1.8 megawatt at 34,500 volts. It joins with the output of other turbines and heads to the substation, all underground. At the substation the collected power is boosted to 115,000 volts and joins the grid. The substation is staffed 24 hours a day and so the facility is an ongoing employer, keeping watch of the 19 turbines. I asked about the maintenance of the turbines, specifically if the three hundred foot climb was by ladder. The answer was yes, but there is a “power assist” which is basically a lifting cable clipped onto a harness which makes the climb a little less tiring. I would hate to get to the top and realize I forgot my wrench. Tasks at the top include greasing the gearbox, tightening bolts and checking power connections and output. I was hoping to get an invitation to the top but it was not to be. It’s probably a good thing, I’m not crazy about heights.

Wind power is still controversial. Some people hate the way turbines look and others object because they are supposed to kill bats and birds. Still others claim they are an unreliable and expensive source of power.  I like the way they look and hope the source proves to be viable. I am no expert when it comes to giving an intelligent assessment of this power source, but when I look at those big turbines I know there is wind energy being converted to electricity and I see no smoke. As someone who lives 15 feet above high tide, I need to make sure the Greenland ice sheet doesn’t melt, and it’s certain that humans producing CO2 are not helping. That’s my opinion!

Chicken of the Woods

September and October are great months for learning about and foraging for fungi here in Maine. These past few weeks have been especially fruitful for us, as our freezer is filled with several varieties. My first breakthrough was on September 29, when I found this sulfur shelf, also called Chicken of the Woods, or Laetiporus sulphureus, growing on a dying oak tree.

I am timid about eating wild fungi. I decided to avoid gilled mushrooms because the really toxic killers all have gills. That leaves quite a few edible choices, and a few which can cause gastric upset, but not death. Someday I will be confident enough to pick and eat gilled species, but not now. Each one of my finds were tried with the expectation that they would make me a little sick, (not yet) so small portions and thorough cooking are a must!

The Chicken of the Woods is indeed similar to chicken, with a slightly stringy texture similar to breast meat, but with a mushroomy flavor. It holds up well in stews or sauces and is a great vegetarian alternative. The trick is to use the outer portions and cut around the bug intrusions.

Hydnum repandum, the Hedgehog Mushroom

Another easy target is the hedgehog mushroom, or Hydnum repandum. These look like crusty bread on top but have teeth or tiny icicles under the caps. A cluster of them on the forest floor can be enough for several meals. They taste like portobello. I found this one on October 5th.

On October 6, a foray was scheduled by the Maine Mycological Association at the Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, ME.

Entoloma abotivum

I jumped at the chance to mingle with people who knew mushrooms and didn’t mind the three hour drive. But before I went I found some strange white blobs growing along a dead spruce root on my own property. I remembered a picture in one of my books describing them as aborted entolomas but I thought I would take one along to make sure.

Anything which looks like a blob should be sliced in half to make sure it’s not a deadly Amanita

Armillaria mellea

button, in which case the structure of an embryonic mushroom will be seen. The aborted Entoloma results from the parasitizing of one species by another resulting in sterile growth, but the result is delicious. The other cool thing is that it can be found in large quantities. My harvest was close to five pounds. It has become a favorite!

At the foray I paired up with Dr. Lawrence Leonard, and he conveyed some valuable advice. He taught me to always get a spore print and to look for one under the mushroom in its original spot, on a leaf or another mushroom. He also identified the Honey mushroom, Armillaria mellea, another important edible, and a gilled mushroom. It’s pretty easy to recognize by its prominent annular ring, white spore print from brown gills and clustering habit on wood.

At the end of the foray everybody’s finds were arranged on long tables. I took some photos of some other important edibles. Hen of the Woods, Grifola frondosa is one I wish I had found. It’s similar to the Chicken of the Woods in that it grows under dying oaks, and is very easy to identify. Also easy is the Cauliflower mushroom, Sparassis crispa. Sadly, I can’t report on how either of these taste. Maybe next year.

Grifola frondosa, Hen of the Woods

Sparassis crispa, the Cauliflower Mushroom

SeaCat’s Rest, our modest but beautiful oceanside suite has some fall vacancies. For the after-labor-day reduced rate of $750/week we have available September 8-15 and September 22 to October 12. It always amazes me how we can be so chock-a-block full for July and August and then the perfectly good months of September and October are hardly booked.  I know the kids are back in school, but at least half of our guests are kidless.

Fall is the season of color. Not only from the trees, but also from the lowered sun angle bouncing light off water, rocks and trees. It’s gorgeous! Everything is still open but the crowds are reduced. Here are some of the things going on:

Bar Harbor Fashion Night Out;  September 6, 2012.  Join the fabulous Second Annual Bar Harbor’s Downtown Fashion Night Out 2012. Started in New York City in 2009, Fashion Night Out now happens in 1600 cities worldwide including Bar Harbor! Website: http://www.fashionnightoutbarharbor.com

The 14th Annual MDI Garlic Festival; September 8, 2012, 11am to 5pm at Smugglers Den Campground. More info about this fun local harvest and food fest at http://www.nostrano.com/garlic.html

The 10th Annual Medieval Tournament at Fort Knox;  September 8, 10 AM to 4 PM. Knights will have armored combat, medieval music played, arts and science displays will be on hand and an archery demonstration will take place. Regular Fort admission and a $5 event donation per vehicle requested.

Acadia Night Sky Festival;  September 13, 2012 – September 17, 2012. a community celebration to promote the protection and enjoyment of Downeast & Acadia’s stellar night sky as a valuable natural resource through education, science and the arts. Visit www.acadianightskyfestival.org for a complete list of events.

Art in the Park;  September 22, 2012 – September 23, 2012 Painters, photographers and sculptors will display and sell their original works on the Village Green at the corner of Main & Mt. Desert Streets. Rain or shine. http://www.barharborinfo.com/events/art_in_the_park_show

Our guests at SeaCat’s Rest sailed this elegant yawl.

Paradise was oozing from the sea and sky for the 2012 Small Reach Regatta at the Lamoine State Park. Our electric lobster boat Eleccentricity was invited to tag along on Saturday, July 21 for the day’s trip to Bean Island. Bean Island is wedged between Hancock Point and Sorrento, about 6 miles due north of Bar Harbor. The day started with little wind, a problem for the majority of participants since they had sailboats. But by 9:30 or 10:00 the wind had freshened to the extent that sailing was possible and even exciting.

We counted 30 boats under sail and a few more rowed. I felt like I was surrounded by butterflies. We kept Eleccentricity at about 4 mph with occasional bursts to get out of the way of a tack and kept up with the fleet just fine. Time commitments  prevented us from going all the way to Bean Island so after rounding the bottom of Lamoine we turned around and headed back. Sadly, this is the last year for the near future that Lamoine State Park will be the venue for the Small Reach Regatta. We will miss it! Happy to meet, sorry to part.

from wikipedia

Here it is November. The days are short, the visitors are gone and attention turns to the indoors. Good thing, since the woods are filled with orange men with guns. This part of Maine has more than a nose-to-the-grindstone aspect. We like to enjoy more than the normal dose of music and theater, probably due to our 150 year association with summer and retired people of the eastern seaboard.

This weekend, November 18-20, 2011 we have a choice of Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida at Ellsworth High School,  Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats at MDI High School and Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest at The Grand. Those wishing to drive a little farther could take in Footloose at Bucksport High School,  The Phantom Tollbooth at the Deer Isle Stonington Elementary School  or The Nutcracker at UM Machias.

"Earnest" partial cast: Leslie Michaud as Gwendolyn, Veronica Young as Lady Bracknell, Greg Mihalik as Jack, Melissa Burkart as Cecily and Zachary Robbins as Algernon.

Oscar Wilde, from wikipedia

Since I am not generally a fan of musicals, my pick for the evening was  The Importance of Being Earnest. I recently watched the 1952 film version and enjoyed it. I’m not claiming I was able to keep track of every plot twist and turn, but I like watching a movie which does not rely on color, scenery and special effects to keep my attention. The play was called by Wilde “a trivial comedy for serious people” and was his last comedy before being jailed and then exiled for “gross indecency”– homosexuality. This production, by a collection of local talent, was a reading only, meaning the actors read their parts from scripts they were holding. But this didn’t diminishing the effect, since the costumes, accents and delivery were pro. Although only a one-night event, the play promises to return in the spring with a full-blown production.

Memorable as Lady Bracknell, the elderly guardian of Gwendolyn Fairfax and all that is proper, was Veronica Young:

To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness.

I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate, exotic fruit. Touch it, and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did it would prove a serious threat to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.

The play is a farce about stuffy Victorian social conventions and how to employ clever avoidance strategies, and ultimately how those strategies backfire.  But you want the underdogs to win and in the end, they do; with witty dialog. The play was first performed in 1895. I can’t wait for the spring production.

Out in front of SeaCat’s Rest are untold numbers of Mya Arenaria, the soft shell clam. This is the type of clam you will get most often when you order a clam dinner anywhere in New England. These clams settle in the intertidal mud vertically, with their “necks” (siphons) extended several inches towards the surface, where they filter seawater for food. When they sense danger, like a human stepping on the ground nearby, they quickly pull in their siphons and remain securely buried in six inches or so of the fragrant mud. As they pull in, they often squirt excess water, betraying their location. But even if they don’t squirt, they leave a little hole where you know where to dig. That’s where the work comes in.

The first step is to make sure you’re legal. In Lamoine, Maine, that means getting a license. It costs a whopping $6 for residents or $12 for non-residents for a recreational license. This allows you to dig one peck per day, 2-1/2 gallons or about 150 clams. Since I usually figure 20 clams per person, that’s enough for 7 people.  The next vital step is to make sure there are no closures. A clam flat closure can be due to either pollution or red tide, and is not to be ignored. The place to go is the Maine Shellfish Hotline, 1-800-232-4733

Next you need equipment. A bucket or “hod” (a slatted tray with a handle) to hold the clams, some rubber boots and a digging tool. Here, the clam flats are not pure mud, but a mixture of mud and rocks. This makes it hard to get to the clams without damaging them, and I’ve found the best tool is a straight four-tined spading fork. Mine is made by Ames and was found at Home Depot.  The tines are placed at least six inches from the holes and pushed down all the way. If rocks are in the way, try a different spot. When down all the way, gently lever the mud up. Often you will catch a glimpse of a clam’s neck squirting water. Grab onto the neck and hold firm as you continue to flip the mud. This is your first clam.

Reject any clams under 2″ across or with broken shells–you’ll never get the grit out, and you want live clams, not dead ones. Once you have made your first hole, now it’s time to hear the digger’s secret. Flipping back the mud might get you one clam, but there are more down there and the only way to get them is to thrust your hand down and feel for them! Go back and forth across the bottom of the hole and probe for the shape of a closed clam set vertically in the mud. Rock the clam back and forth to break the mud’s suction.  Don’t worry, they don’t bite. You will pull out rocks and more mud, but with a little luck, a few more clams. Don’t forget to go over the mud already pulled out with the first spading. Beware of broken glass! Commercial clammers in Lamoine have lubricated their activities with liquor for a century or more. Some pieces of glass are therefore quite old and may be worth saving.

As your clam bucket fills up you will eventually want to rinse them. Pour out your clams onto a bed of rockweed and clean out the mud in your bucket. Pour clean seawater over the clams and return them to the bucket with clean water. Now is the time to make sure there are no dead clams, closed but filled with mud. Your clams can stay like this for hours in the shade until you’re ready to cook them. If you use tap water be sure to thoroughly mix in 1/3 cup of salt per gallon. The clean water also allows them to expel any grit they may have inside. Some people like to pour in cornmeal to give the clams something to replace the grit with in their stomachs. Once your clams get their grit out you can store them dry in the fridge for up to two days, but using sooner is better. Do not seal live clams in plastic!

In an hour or two you will probably have enough for your meal. As the tide comes up you will find holes in higher ground, up to about 80% of the tidal range. Beware, it is hard to stop once you have tasted success. Just walk away! Rinse your digging fork with fresh water to keep it from rusting, and enjoy your clam dinner. You will have saved about $3.00 for each pound of clams you have dug (price as of 10/13/11) . A pound consists of 10 or so clams, so if you dug 100 clams you just made $30!

A website called mentorseries.com pairs up professional photographers with paying guests for treks to different parts of the world, and in September they are coming  here.  Leading this trek will be Daniel J. Cox, a veteran nature photographer and frequent contributor to National Geographic, National Wildlife and Wildlife Conservation; and Layne Kennedy, whose work has appeared in over a hundred different magazines world-wide on subjects as diverse as wolves in the Northern Hemisphere to boat builders in the Caribbean.

Even amateurs can find photographic opportunities here

Naturally, I can’t paste cool professional photos here, just one of mine, but I can link to the mentorseries website where you can read about signing up for the two day trek.  Also check out their slideshow of  Acadia photos here. Need a place to stay for your Fall photo trek? Our bookings for Fall are still as wide open as a Cadillac Mountain vista.

The economy today makes  folks with a job begin to think of how they might save some money on this year’s vacation.   Those with downsized or part time jobs might want to think of vacations closer to home.   Either situation might make a vacation in Maine just right for you.  People in Maine are very careful with their money.     That means if you know where to look, you too can save much money.

There are lots of things to do here that are free or low cost.

Start with muscle-powered sports.   Hiking and walking have the dual benefit of exercise and enjoyment in and around Bar Harbor and Acadia.   The carriage trails were designed for horses, but that means they are smooth and excellent walking paths.   There are no automobiles, only bicycles, an occasional horse drawn carriage or rider on horseback and other people on the path.     The most popular path is around Eagle lake.   However, one of my favorite walks is closer to Northeast Harbor.   Park at the Upper Hadlock Pond Parking area and cross the road.   Here is a link to the map of the carriage trails.

Take advantage of the free ranger lead talks and walks.   From the visitor center you can get the schedule of talks.   Be sure and arrive a bit early, because there can be quite a crowd that gathers in July and August.   Here are descriptions of one such walk.

Otter Point Walk (2 hours; easy to moderate 2-mile hike) Daily, Tue in French. Discover stories of history and nature along the strikingly scenic Ocean Path. Gorham Mountain parking area – Park Loop Road south of Thunder Hole.or join the night sky program or the Acadia at night program, where you learn to see like the nighttime animals do.   This link to the website has the schedules.    Some programs like the sailing adventures have a cost associated with them, but the majority are free.

This area that we live in has the best of both the sea and the woods for you to enjoy in one package.  You can combine camping out and  staying at a vacation home  here at Sea Cat’s Rest.    Our rental comes with kayaks included!  If your looking for a bargain yet this year, look about 10 miles away from Mount Desert Island.   The rates are lower, and you only spend about 10 minutes more in the car.   The town names to search for are: Lamoine, Trenton, Hancock and Surry.

Bring your own bicycle and you now have doubled the distance you can go with just a twirl of your pedals.   Bicycling is actually the most efficient way to get from point A to point B, plus you can put your bike right on those Island Explorer buses when you don’t want to bike uphill.

Like to read?   Don’t forget our small local libraries.   Read the local paper for free, read Downeast Magazine for free at the library in Ellsworth.   Read a local book, get internet access free at the library in the middle of the day.  Libraries on the island are many, and I will feature them in a future blog.   I especially like the Southwest Harbor Library, right across from the school.    You can cool off on the occasional hot day by spending an hour or two in the comfy reading rooms – and all of our libraries have internet access free – free wifi or on their computers.   Places in Ellsworth that offer free internet include the local coffeeshop The Maine Grind on Main Street, the library and MacDonalds.   In addition our town office here in Lamoine is a free WiFi spot.   Our house of course has free internet for our guests too.

SAVE MORE ON MEALS – cook for yourself.   By staying in a house instead of hotel, you can cook your own great meals, perhaps treating yourself to one or two days of great fresh seafood from cold Maine waters.   We can’t think of anything better than watching the lobster boats out in front of our place, and then enjoying lobsters from your own pot for dinner.   At different times in the year you can  pick the fruit that is in season: blueberries, strawberries and apples.   If you are our guest, we share our garden bounty with our renters.   See our wild food blog for some other tasty treats.

Also for the frugal, coordinate your visit with music and art festivals.  Bar Harbor Brass Week offers free concerts at the park in Bar Harbor, or wander the free art fairs in the summer.     The Belfast Maine Celtic Festival on July 17-18 and the Bangor American Folk Festival August 27,28,29, (free – but donate what you can afford)  and The North Atlantic Blues  Festival July 10th, 11th in Rockland are some of those in our area.

Didn’t bring the right clothes to wear?  It’s cool here, cooler than most places   If you forgot that fact, you can pick up some bargains at the resale shops in the area.   Jalysa’s attic in Ellsworth on Water Street or our new Goodwill Store in Ellsworth both offer fleece jackets at under $10.00 for those colder than they expected.   Need more long pants?  They are there too.  You can also find Maine themed clothing there if you are lucky.   We locals often purchase Maine themed clothing when it is on sale in the fall, and we recycle the clothes when they get too small or we don’t find ourselves needing them any longer.

Go with a larger group.   Find a friend to stay with on the way.   Vacation where you can stay with relatives.    Going with a larger group, you can go in on lodgings and food.   It’s often cheaper to rent a larger house, and vacation with another family or group of friends.   Instead of having to bring along a friend for our daughter, we brought along another family, so that the kids had someone to do stuff with – and we had adults to hang around with.   Have Grandma and Grandpa take the grand kids (along with you) on vacation.   They are bound to help out with treats and special adventures (plus you get to share the childcare and get off by yourself for a while).    Borrow items you need for the trip.   Perhaps you can borrow bicycles, or some camping equipment instead of purchasing new items.

Trade adventures, if you live in a nice place for others to vacation, perhaps you can exchange visits with old friends.   Have friends living in New York while you’re out in the country, perhaps you can each visit each others’ destinations for a bargain vacation for both of you.

We all get those emails from the African widow who needs our help to move $5.7 million out of her country. In the lodgings business we get a variation on that. Someone books a stay, sends a cashier’s check and then discovers they sent too much, like $3,000 by mistake, and could you please send me back the difference by Western Union? I was the victim of one of these back in 2008, but I knew it was bogus from the start and I decided to play along. The exchange of emails was lengthy and entertaining and can be read here. In the end, I refused delivery of the bogus check even though I really wanted to see the artwork. I got a call from Nigeria and was heaped with verbal abuse.

Now it seems that what I did back in ’08 is becoming a popular internet pastime and it has a name: 419 baiting. These scams are named after section 419 of the Nigerian penal code which deals with this type of scam, and the baiting is done by recipients who often go to elaborate means to lead the scammers on a merry chase.

One baiter has created a site called http://www.419baiter.com and has done a wonderful job of both baiting and site building. I highly recommend a visit. What makes this site so great is the lengths our baiter goes to to occupy, humiliate and reveal the stupidity of the scammer. He (or she) uses ridiculous names like Billy Clubb, Pete Moss, Potty LaTrine, Patti Kake and Ann Teaks. He goes to great lengths to give them all their own email accounts, websites, phone numbers fake I.D.s and phony addresses (usually the street address is 419 something) just to have everything in place to play the game. Apparently he’s figured out ways to do this all for free or almost free. And the most important part: no attempt is made to lure them in, he just waits for a 419 email. He never has to wait for long.

His first contact is usually something like, “I wish I could help you but I have no interest in handling your money. I manage a modeling agency and am on the lookout for underwear models.” Before you know it, the scammer is sending photos of people in their skivvies. Before long the scammer is asking for money, always sent by Western Union because this prevents the Feds from investigating (mail fraud). Our baiter makes up a phony money transfer service and creates bogus documentation showing that he sent the money. The scammer runs all over Nigeria trying to find a bank which will cash it. Amazingly, the scammer never seems to catch on and keeps coming back for more, sometimes for years. Other humorous things happen. The baiter returns calls in the middle of the night. The scammer drives to a distant city to meet the baiter’s character at the airport.  The victim falls prey to yet another scam and the first scammer tries to clue him in on the dangers of 419 scammers. Other characters come in, all with silly names and the scammers scramble to keep them all straight. Great fun.

from http://www.419baiter.com/scambaiting_resources.html

This is a dangerous sport and there are lots of warnings on the resources page. These are real criminals and they often have accomplices in the US. You never reveal your true identity. I’m just glad there are baiters out there with enough guts to go after these creeps and glad they have chosen to share their humorous stories with the rest of us!

On the Great Head Trail. Family Ericaceae, Genus ?

Sometimes I find myself wanting to post professionals’ photographs to convey the beauty of Acadia National Park, but that would be stealing. That doesn’t mean my readers can’t take advantage of what I’ve found, I just can’t paste them here. Suffice to say, as a photographer, I come up short. My camera is inadequate, my technique is hit-and-miss and this webpage is supposed to conserve bandwidth to allow access to folks with dialup connections, which means my photos have to be limited to a few hundred kilobytes. So right off the bat I’m going to recommend visiting the work of Vietnamese/French/American photographer Quang-Tuan Luong. His work is stunning. He uses large format traditional cameras (remember film?) similar to the work of Ansel Adams, only in color. He has a great section on Acadia, and he was included in the documentary The National Parks, America’s Best Idea, a film by Ken Burns, 2009.

Photographing Acadia National Park could be the complete focus of a visit. Your specialty could be macro, like the flower above, telephoto for wildlife, landscape for the vistas and panoramas for the wrap-around presence. It’s easy now to download software to knit together photos into panoramas, but for the best results, bring a tripod. Tripods are a must for jiggle-free photos and panoramas require a series of individual photos with significant overlap but without up-and-down movement. The top of Cadillac Mountain is a place where panorama-making is a must.But I found that knitting photos of close water shots together doesn’t work unless the water is flat calm. The software can’t handle waves! The above was a series of photos united with a program called PanoramaPlus SE. The software compensates for stretching and exposure differences. It’s quite amazing.

Another great photography asset found in Acadia is our fog. It has a way of creating a mystical feel to your pictures. I’m no artist, but if you express your artistic side through photography, the Acadia area is a great place to create a work of art in 2011.