Our good friend Dana from Alexandria sent us an email introducing us to his best gal pal, Sharon, who lives in Maine. We made the connection and we had no idea just how much we were getting in Sharon. She has lived here forever, is an artist, a builder, a custom furniture maker, a caretaker, a professional skier, a sailor, a woman who knows a lot about all aspects of Maine and, in fact, beyond. She is the quintessential tour guide and we totally scored by having her in our court. Thank you Dana. Sharon has ferried us all over Mount Desert (pronounced dessert) Island, particularly Acadia, and beyond, taking the backroads and showing us the Maine that the tourists don’t get to see. On our first day with Sharon we went to Thuya Gardens and Lodge near where we were moored in Northeast Harbor.
Utterly spectacular. Then she took us to the nearby Asticou Azalea Garden which stood in stark contrast to the first. This place was entirely green, lush with moss and low hanging trees and a frog pond and stepping stones to cross. It must be fabulous when the azaleas are in bloom.
We lunched at the bakery with the crazy good donuts and then drove to the peak of Cadillac Mountain, the tallest mountain on the US Atlantic coast. Stunning 360 degree view of Acadia. Thank you Sharon for a great day.
The next day we moved up to Somesville and anchored in the blowy, windy anchorage of Somes Harbor and stayed aboard to watch the anchor all day. That night Sharon came to Troubadour for Matt’s homemade pizza. She loved the woodwork and brought us more fabulous books and magazines on Maine and Acadia National Park to study.
The next day we met up at the Somes dock at noon and off we went to climb Beech Mountain to Fire Tower.
Matt and Graham took the steeper but shorter hike and Amy and Sharon took the less steep, but longer path. Wow. A workout either way but well worth the view once you got to the top. Incredible views on the way of Long Pond.
Because she is a local and so well connected, Sharon took us so many places that we would never have seen without her. She showed us a home she is working on which was right on the water. It is very small but has a million dollar view and the windows she installed are big enough to hand the kayaks through. We took another hike at Wonder Land to a rocky beach with an incredible view. It was almost unreal; we wanted to pinch ourselves to know that the beauty was not a painting. Sharon described the different foliage and fed us rosehips. Graham said they tasted like a tomato and a pepper had a baby.
After that we had a quick trip to Sharon’s estate to pack a picnic dinner. She has a barn which she built where she keeps her studio. There is everything in the world you can imagine in there. She is truly a jack of all trades and a master of many. Her home is next door, painted in the same comforting yellow. Windows everywhere, and books, and art and marbles, and clocks, and colored glass fired onto copper. Somehow your senses are completely tantalized by being there yet not overloaded. Sharon made crab salad sandwiches and packed the sweetest peaches we had ever tasted for dessert and off we went to a her friends’ cabin for a sunset picnic. This place was so off the beaten path that we would never, ever have seen it, much less had the privilege of going inside. We enjoyed our feast on the deck at sunset – couldn’t have asked to a better end to the day.
But it didn’t end there! Earlier in the week, we decided we would like to see Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None at the local theater. Knowing it would cost $60, it was going to be a special treat. Just one more thing that was amazing about Sharon is that she had 18 free tickets to the show compliments of a friend so we ended a great day with a great whodunnit that was enjoyed by all.