We decided to skip the sunset cruise and go find a good spot near the top of Cadillac Mountain for a viewing. We pulled over and found what appears to be a popular spot for the show. It was quickly becoming busy so we raced over and found our companion for the evening.

As you can see, it’s a rock cairn, though it isn’t the Bates style cairns found elsewhere in the park. In fact, it isn’t even a cairn meant for marking a trail; it was just sitting there, though I love the little bird like structure on the top.

Okay, so you can’t really predict how a sunset is going to look. The winds could shift the clouds and cover the sun completely, but we figured we might as well try. We waited, and waited, and then waited some more, and the skies gave us this.

Not bad right? Well, let’s wait a little more. Hey look! The light is getting better! Let’s not forget our little companion, and my even more lovely companion.

Wait a little more, and we get this.

Well, if you were expecting more…I’m sorry to say “that was it.” It was downhill from there. I blame it on those shifty clouds, but here’s a photo of cute dog named Surely Goodness and Mercy , because everyone loves a cute dog.

Surprisingly, there weren’t a lot of people there that evening. Most of those who were there ended up next to me, which seemed to be best spot anyways for photos, and some of the were behind me, just enjoying the sunset. The next day, however, was completely different. The crowd didn’t thin out until way after the sun had actually set, which you’ll see in the photos below.

Okay, so maybe there weren’t THAT many people.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on the all the mosquitoes. It nearly rivaled the time I had 200 bites on my back in a 15 minute span. Alaska was far better. I must have been lucky.

By the way, if the photos are ever too big on your monitor, you can zoom out by holding down “CTRL” and hitting the minus sign “-” until it fits. Hit “CTRL” and “0″ at the same time will reset it.

For the image above, I waited until the sun was completely covered by a cloud to get the effect I wanted. For the one below, I waited until the sun reached the edge to help bring out the colors in the tidepools and rocks. It’s always amazing how much the light changes things. I chose not to clone out the child in the photo to give you a sense of the size.

By the way, both of these were taken right next to Thunder Hole in Acadia National Park.

Below is a view of the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse, a few minutes down the road from where we stayed. This is one of a several photos I have of the same location in different lighting conditions. I will upload the others later.

Ceremony :: Dwight Memorial Chapel

Reception :: The Study at Yale