Shopping day.....

6:13 am - Thursday - June 21st - Southwest Harbor, ME - 60º F, 85% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the north.....partly cloudy with a forecast high of 72º F.  It is also the first day of summer!

TLE has not been out on a shopping day in quite some time, and she had been hinting around that she would like to drive into Ellsworth by herself to shop and perhaps get a pedicure.  She says she always feels rushed when she is shopping with me.  I guess supermarkets are kind of like Home Depot, or Tractor Supply are for me where I walk down every aisle.  For some reason, I never feel like I am rushing her when we go to the supermarket, but I must be putting off some aura, or vibe she is sensing.  Anyway, following  the first World Cup match of the day (Portugal vs. Morocco, won by Portugal on an early goal 1-nil) she headed into town around 10:30 am.  Based on past 'shopping days' I expected her to be gone until well after 2 pm.

I spent some time on the Newell roof re-positioning the XM radio antenna for better reception.  There is a large bank of trees blocking the southern sky here in site #78, and when it gets breezy the satellite signal goes in and out.  It is this same block of trees, as you might recall, that required me to deploy our Winegard portable satellite dish when we first arrived at SDC.  I spent about an hour trying different positions, but was largely unsuccessful in improving the signal.

I next moved into the trailer to do minor tuneups on our bicycles (the two Cannondales and my Intense 5.5 mountain bike).  Ultimately I decided to get dressed in my MTB togs and take a ride to Echo Lake.  There is a single track trail that heads out through the woods out by our woodpile taking you to the crushed rock road that leads you to Echo Lake.  As I found out later, if you turn the wrong way on that road (Lurvey Springs Road)  you end up at Long Pond instead of Echo Lake.....

......they are right next to each other, so if you make the wrong turn you will end up at a different lake.  Ironically, 'Long Pond' is anything but a 'pond'.....it is quite a big larger than Echo Lake.  To make a long story shorter, I turned left instead of right when I hit Lurvey Springs Road.  The crushed rock road eventually gives way to a paved road which takes you down a steep descent to Long Pond Beach........

 Long Pond Beach.....I originally thought this was Echo Lake Beach until otherwise informed

Long Pond is quite long

......I spent about 20 minutes enjoying the view before heading back up the 9% grade road.  When I reached the fork where Lurvey Springs Road joins Long Pond Road I kept riding down Long Pond Road.  I discovered within a few minutes that Long Pond Road takes you into Southwest Harbor.....cool!  I ended up riding a 4.25 mile loop taking me through town, and back to SDC where I arrived about 20 minutes before TLE returned from her Ellsworth shopping day.  I am looking forward to making a right turn on Lurvey Springs Road next time to actually reach Echo Lake.

Once TLE had put away her groceries I turned on the TV to watch the second World Cup game of the day, which we had recorded, pitting Uruguay against Saudi Arabia.  The match was much closer than I expected ending in another 1-nil game with Uruguay the winner.  The third and final game of the day was between Spain and Iran.  Again I was quite surprised at how close this match was.  It was tied nil to nil at half time, however Spain came out in the second half on fire, and within 5, or 6 minutes had scored a goal, and then held on to win the third 1-nil game of Wednesday.

Undeterred by my experience the week before TLE gave me a nice filet mignon to grill on our Sea-B-Que around 5 pm.  The steak came out a perfect medium rare, and I had no issues with meat sticking in my throat.....smaller bites, and thorough chewing work every time!  TLE prepared a wonderful hollandaise sauce for the steak and asparagus, and there was also  a baked potato.

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