Delicious Discovery

Homemade lemonade...sweetened with maple syrup! Who woulda' thunk? Delicious! Inspired from a recent lemonade purchase at Flatbread Company with Mike's family during their visit to New Hampshire (Thank you!). Mike and I tried to recreate it ourselves and sure enough...yum!

For a single serving:
Juice of one lemon (or 2 tbsp lemon juice)
1 cup cold water
2 tbsp maple syrup (we used Grade B for extra maple-y goodness)

Enjoy!

Farmer's Market Bounty

This weekend, Mike is back in Albany playing two different gigs, one at the Farmer's Market and another at Jack's Oyster House for a wedding. Though I wish I were there to hear him play, I stayed behind in New Hampshire. I am instead dog-sitting Keeley, an adorably cute and well-behaved pooch for the weekend and catching up on some work. This morning, the two of us (Keeley and I), went to the Portsmouth Farmer's market and a nice stroll around Portsmouth. The farmer's market is coming into full swing, and it's very exciting! There was so much to choose from and due to a limited wallet and the fact that we can go again next week (yay!), I ended up purchasing a bunch of carrots, a pound of pretty little variegated eggplants, tomatoes, and small blue potatoes. The market was brimming with different fruits and veggies, including all sorts of potatoes, different varieties of tomatoes, fennel, radicchio, beans, wax beans, beets, radishes, turnips, eggplants, cauliflower, herbs, blueberries, bok choy..yum! I was tempted by the numerous varieties of squash (over 12 kinds counted!) but held my ground, as we are currently swimming in summer squash from various sources, including from our own community garden which is now beginning to produce, as well. Hope everyone is enjoying this fantastic time of year!

Mmm..mmm..music

Last night, Mike and I went to see Crooked Still perform in Prescott Park in Portsmouth. The concert was part of the larger Prescott Park Concert Series which sponsors concerts in the park every Wednesday evening. Crooked Still was fantastic! They were fun, energetic, and the harmonies were incredible. We have another band to listen to and we can't wait to attend more concerts throughout the remainder of the summer.

Acadia!

It seems to be past time for the Acadia update, and more importantly, pictures! Two weekends ago (August 9-11; ) we ventured from home base in Dover, NH up to Mount Desert Island on the Maine coast, about a 4 hour trip north. Our destination: Acadia National Park.

We arrived Thursday evening, having left after work. We quickly packed the car and made the venture up with no stops in order to arrive there on time (10 pm; we made it to the minute on time). Once we arrived at Blackwoods Campground, we quickly set up tent with aid of headlamp and flashlights, and settled in to sleep for the fun weekend ahead.

On Friday morning, we woke up and got our first site of the campground. After having camped there, we would certainly recommend it. In spite of the campground being filled to capacity the weekend we were there, it was extremely quiet and the sites were nice, clean, and all tucked in between the trees and woods, and in a fantastically convenient location to great hikes, bikes, and the ocean!


After breakfast, we decided to familiarize ourselves with the area a bit by taking a short walk from the campground on the "Ocean Path" which conveniently enough led to...dun dun dun...the ocean! Acadia is a beautiful location and so unique from any other place we've been before. It is still difficult to believe how different Acadia is from Seacoast, NH and much of Maine, despite being relatively close. For one, it was extremely foggy and at least 15 degrees cooler in Acadia than home (confirmed by both the weather channel and lab mate witnesses).


After the ocean, we saddled up with water and maps for some hiking. We decided on the Bee Hive Trail, allegedly one of the most popular hikes in the park. Short, but steep, the trail climbs to the 520' high top of a beehive-shaped dome, with some sections that require climbing on iron rungs and scrambling up rocks. The views were great, with spectacular vistas of Sand Beach and Great Head Peninsula. Once to the top, we took the Bowl Trail and part of the Gorham Mountain Trail back to the bottom.






Once to the bottom, we ventured over to Sand Beach and dipped our feet in the chilly Maine waters.

We then set out to take a peek at Thunder Hole, an area where the rock has been eroded and formed a crevice where the waves cause a booming noise when the water hits it just right. Though we did not hear any big booms (likely due to low tide), we did get to check it out and explore the tide pools.




We proceeded with our day by returning to camp for lunch and then taking the free Island Explorer bus to Bar Harbor to explore the town. Among our activities in Bar Harbor, we walked to Bar Island on the sandbar during low tide. There is a roughly three hour window (90 min before and after low tide) where the island is accessible, so we took advantage of it, and from Bar Island, we got great views of Frenchman Bay and the Porcupine Islands with the fog forming over them.

We sampled one of Bar Harbor's oldest icecream shops. In addition, we walked the Shore Path along Frenchman Bay, after first stopping in at the Terrace Grill at the Bar Harbor Inn for a mojito and lemon drop.

We returned to camp for a dinner and enjoyed the the dark stillness,crackling campfires, and quiet conversations happening throughout the campsite. We awoke the following day (Saturday) to extremely foggy weather! We started the day by a trip up Cadillac Mountain (by car, sadly). We will definitely climb it on our next visit, but as you can see, we didn't miss too many vistas by not hiking it. We never did see the view from the top of Cadillac but the fog was a spectacle in itself.
After Cadillac Mountain, we hiked on the Bubble Rock Trail up to Bubble Rock, a famous glacial erratic, perched seemingly precariously on top of South Bubble.


We headed back for a quick lunch and then to Bar Harbor, as our plan was to go whale-watching off the coast. As it turned out, no tours were leaving from Bar Harbor that day due to the immense amount of fog. Instead, we returned to camp, grabbed our bikes and went biking on the carriage trails around Jordan Pond and Eagle Lake.

(In red is an attempt to highlight our bike route)



After a beautiful bike, we ended up at the Jordan Pond House, just in time for afternoon tea! The specialty: popovers! We could definitely see why they are the specialty.


We stopped by Seal Harbor and beach-combed for a while...




And then back to Bar Harbor for an evening out on the town. Our first stop was the College of the Atlantic, a beautiful small campus right on the water.





And then it was time for dinner. After walking up and down the streets a few times, we found an awesome, hip, funky restaurant called Cafe This Way where after a decent (and well-worth-it) wait, we savored an unbelievably delicious celebratory meal.



The following morning, we woke up to rain and were told that the rest of the day would continue to be rainy so we took down our tent and packed up to check out. We took several detours along the way, including a drive to Northeast Harbor to look at numerous fancy-shmancy boats (lots of Hinckleys!) and then a stop in Freeport to check out the L.L.Bean flagship store.

Acadia National Park was a fantastic vacation and trip away from New Hampshire and we hope to return again soon and climb some more mountains and bike some more trails! We'd love you to join and explore with us, too!

Birthday!

Well, as we're gearing up for a nice weekend on the Seacoast, it seems like the perfect time to take a moment and catch you up on some of our recent adventures. First, as many of you are undoubtedly aware, July 2 was the 23rd birthday of Charlotte; it was also her first birthday while living here in Dover. While this year the big day fell on a Friday (aka workday), we still had an evening to re-explore some of our favorite spots along the Maine coast, which means that we can share them with you via this blog!

First on the agenda was dinner. This area is famous for its "lobster pounds," which are essentially quaint buildings where tourists and crustaceans converge to pump money into the local economy. There is a reason that they are so popular, however: the food is absolutely delicious! Since it was Charlotte's birthday, we opted to take the traditional "shore dinner" route, which begins with a healthy serving of "steamers." While anyone can steam a clam (including me and Charlotte on several occasions), the lobster pounds always manage to make them taste better, so it was a real treat to start the meal. Next, we enjoyed the obligatory lobsters (and butter!!!), along with a couple scrumptious side dishes. It was a very rare treat, but we enjoyed it immensely, and left ready to tackle an evening of exploration.

From Ogunquit, where the lobster pound was located, we next headed south to York Beach (which is approximately 20 minutes-without traffic-from our home base here in Dover). While the beach and quaint downtown certainly fill up on a hot summer day, this evening was perfect: nice, warm temperatures, but plenty of space to explore and relax. We began by enjoying the ocean view from "Short Sands Beach."
Next, we headed towards the quaint downtown. Among the numerous, quaint businesses, Goldenrod Kisses appears to have the market cornered on saltwater taffy. We spent a good deal of time (as most passers-by do) gawking at the taffy-making machines, which are placed in full view of the sidewalk so that people can watch the process.
Next, we headed off towards the ocean once more to visit two great establishments: the open-air candlepin bowling alley and the "Fun-o-rama."
Although Charlotte bowled with her right hand, and I used my left, neither of us managed to fully master the game.
However, with our accumulated quarters, we went next door to the "Fun-o-rama" and had loads of fun raking in the tickets at the Skeeball machine. I think we're getting pretty good, because after playing at least ten games of Skeeball, the generous prize counter lady gave us an Airhead (pink lemonade flavor) AND one Laffy Taffy AND two Tootsie Rolls! Wow! We made out like bandits!
After a long day of work (and Skeeball), we returned to Dover for some birthday cake. While the week interfered with our own baking efforts, we lucked out, because Portsmouth, NH happens to have a very cute cupcake shop...mmm!
Anyway, that's all the news that's fit to print...for now. In our next post, we will shed some calories from our blog as we head to Acadia National Park to update you on our recent weekend of hiking, biking, and exploring!

Search for the Saltmarsh Sparrow (nests)

In addition to my own fieldwork, I, Charlotte (again), have helped out with the field work of other members of my lab during my time at UNH. Most recently, I had the opportunity to go into the field to help search for Saltmarsh Sparrow nests in one of my new-found favorite habitats, the salt marshes, which are tidal wetlands in the transition zone between ocean and mainland! I felt quite fortunate to get the chance to help out in such a unique environment.

Salt Marsh Sharp Tailed Sparrows are listed as a species of special concern and so, have been placed on New Hampshire's Wildlife Action Plan. The species has a highly restricted breeding range (90% occurring within the Northeast) and breeding habitat is becoming scarce as a result of habitat loss.

We were looking for saltmarsh sparrow nests, which are extremely difficult to find, as they are hidden under the grasses, close to the ground, and the mothers are very elusive and take great care in being unnoticed.

Here we are searching at Chapman's Landing, where the Squamscott River weaves through the salt marsh out to Great Bay and eventually to the Piscataqua River and the Atlantic Ocean.




You can see how tight the grass grows together, and difficult it is to find those nests. It certainly requires patience, and also an awareness of the birds' behavior and if lucky, a flush of the mother from a nest. Even then, finding where the nest from which the bird flushed proved difficult, as the mother typically runs through the grass away from the nest before flushing, in an attempt (and often a successful attempt, at that) to disorient predators (or some pesky grad students).


All in all, however, we found approximately 11 or 12 nests that day (of which I found two!). Below is a picture of a nest with eggs and then beneath that is a photo of some chicks!


The experience was great and it sounds as if I will back in the field to help again, soon, so keep updated!