Moose Wild Goose Chase

Abbott, Maine   High: 77   Low: 57

OK, here's the thing.. There aren't any to be found-- lately. We think the 3:1 ratio of moose to people is a PR stunt to bring the tourists to the middle of Maine. We've studied all the literature and handouts about moose on where to find them..Sparky asks every native Mainer, WHERE ARE THE MOOSE? Everywhere we go, Sparky pesters the locals as to the best spot to find moose. We've traveled all over the Greenville area looking high and low for moose. No moose. Where are they? Heck if we know! They aren't at the DOT bog spot in Shirley, just outside of Greenville, although someone saw one a few days ago. They aren't hanging out in the bogs and ponds around Abol Campground near Baxter State Park, WA-A-A-Y up north from Greenville on bad roads, although they have been spotted at a nearby marshy area and viewing spot a few days ago. They aren't at Lily Bay State Park, although they were a couple of weeks ago and the gate attendant tonight said the mother shows up and wanders around every few days. She (the gate attendant, ha ha) drives in from Shirley, quite a distance to the south and says she usually sees them at the DOT station there. We've checked there two days in a row. Everybody else is checking there, too, at dusk. All these people are waiting for moose to come out of the woods, sitting by the Shirley D.O.T. station. Some sit in their cars for hours. They are probably still waiting. Bet the locals are laughing their heads off as they drive by. And isn't the red car something? What do you do in Maine when you just got married? Go looking for moose! What a guy to take his bride moose watching! There weren't any. We left. They probably came to the bog after our departure. We'll hear about it tomorrow most likely.

They aren't on the Golden Road around Baxter State Park, where people usually see them. We've driven LOTS of bad roads at dusk in that area daring them to show up. We even took a moose watching trip two years ago, getting up at the ungodly hour of 4:00 AM to go out kayaking on a marshy pond by daylight with the Northeast Guide Service out of Greenville. Great guide by the name of Ashley, but no moose then, probably no moose now. Checked this pond....nada.

Late today we went on another moose wild goose chase...Word had it that the Lazy Tom bog was a good moose spot. We went, we saw--NOTHING but beautiful scenery and lots of mosquitoes around 6:00 PM. We went on past the Lazy Tom Bog and found another beautiful spot that looked promising.

It wasn't.

We even asked our blog follower friends we met at Campobello Island, Susan and Mike Wilhoit, where they had seen moose, and they said mainly in Canada.

Zero, nada, nope, no moose in central Maine--ain't gonna happen. WE GIVE UP! For now....

Locals say best time to see moose is in late spring, like May and June, when the mothers are out foraging for grasses. Somebody said that this late in the summer, the grasses are turning more bitter, the moose are moving away from their usual spots and looking for greener pastures on the other side, or should we say greener marshes someplace else?

So, without any moose photos, other than this one from the internet...

We'll leave today's blog at short and sweet. Here are a few more facts Sparky wants to share about moose so she won't feel so badly about not seeing any:

Moose are the largest of the deer species.....their antlers can grow to six feet in length from tip to tip. From bottom hoof to their shoulder, they can stand 7 feet high.....the flap of skin under their chin is called a "bell"....they are good swimmers and can stay under water for more than 30 seconds....They can run up to 30 miles and hour for short bursts...A moose calf weighs about 30 pounds at birth and can outrun a person by the time they are five days old...They eat 40-50 pounds of plants a day!....They eat willow, birch, aspen twigs, bushes, saplings, pond weeds and grasses...A grown moose weighs up to 1600 to 1800 pounds!...Average lifespan of a moose is 8-12 years in the wild....See you at another pond...(Guess we are going looking again tomorrow? Maybe we should try the early early morning time, suggests E.) Maybe Sparky will just sleep in...We'll see.....We are going to try ONE more trip, into the heart of Baxter State Park tomorrow...Maybe the third time is the charm?

Boring Day in Bangor? NOT!

Bar Harbor, ME   High:  79  Low:  61

We pulled out of Mount Desert Narrows this morning around 9:15. People are coming in our site today for four days. We really didn't want to move to a different site for such a short time, so we decided to head over to Abbot, ME to be closer to moose action for a few days. THEN we'll come back to Mount Desert Narrows for another ten days before heading out to Michigan.

We needed an oil change and a 30,000 mile checkup for our Tiffin Phaeton, so we headed to the Freightliner dealership in Bangor. Sparky got Eldo backed into the bay without any trouble. The tech guy was impressed! Nice job, he says. Snug as a bug in a rug.

There wasn't much of a waiting room, so Sparky and Eldo set up shop outside in a nice shady corner of the dealership by the office in their two camp chairs. Sparky got on her computer with the portable mi-fi card and Eldy played on his phone. After awhile, an office lady came by from Freightliner, and asked if we would like some free tickets to the museum across the street. We said, sure!

Sparky went and checked it out....Five dollars admission for seniors, kids are free. It didn't look like much from the outside, but the minute you stepped inside, WOW! This museum is NOT to be missed if you are in Bangor. It's the Cole Land Transportation Museum.  

It's open every day 9-5, May 1-Nov. 11. It's filled with vintage Maine land transportation vehicles, the largest snow removal equipment collection in the United States, over 2,000 photos of early life in Maine, trains, quite a few vintage fire trucks that are just absolutely unique, over 200 vehicles that are related to Maine's history, and military weapons and uniforms from the Civil War to Desert Storm. There's everything from roller skates to diesel locomotives! The exhibits are well marked, well explained and beautifully set up to maximize the museum space. Also on the grounds is the State of Maine WWII Veteran's Memorial and the Maine Military Order of Purple Heart Monument.

This is the dream of a Galen Cole, the founder of the museum, who was a 19 year old combat infantryman who was the sole survivor of a German tank hit on his squad in WWII. He made a pledge if he survived, "I would do my best to leave my community and fellow man better than when I found them." His mission and vision is to show visitors how people plowed snow, fought fires, planted crops, hauled freight and harvested the forest in the harsh Maine environmental challenges. Here's an excerpt from the museum's statement of purpose, which really resonated with Sparky:

"To inspire patriotism in young people and help build their aspirations--after seeing what these Maine pioneers accomplished with hard work, honest endeavor, and primitive tools--to believe that with today's improved knowledge, advanced equipment, and similar efforts, they can also become creative doers and builders of a bright future for themselves, their communities, and their fellow man."

When Sparky walked into the museum, the first thing she saw, was a memorial exhibit to the founder's sister. Galen's sister had a nutritional disease back in the thirties and forties that robbed her bones of calcium. She never grew any taller than about four feet, and she was never able to walk. It was a very touching exhibit, full of love...there were motor powered little cars that her dad built for her so she could get around, and other adapted furniture pieces. There was a recording of her singing at her dad's birthday party. Sparky pushed the button and listened to it. When it was finished, as she turned to go on exploring the museum, an elderly gentleman came out and said, "I just wanted to come out and meet the visitor who wanted to get to know my sister better." It was Galen Cole, 86 years young, the founder of the museum! We had a wonderful chat about his sister, Jackie. She was inspirational to everyone who met her and a shining light in everyone's life who met her. He asked about our traveling, mentioned that he used to own the Freightliner dealership where our rig was being serviced, and we talked for a bit longer. A very nice man with a wonderful vision and a wonderful museum. I hope you can see the photos. They are showing up in my preview, but Eldy says he can't see them. Not sure what's happening if they don't, but just know it was a wonderful place to see! I'll throw one of my favorite pieces at the side here, the "bone shaker" bike--believed to be the oldest bike in New England, just in case the rest of you can't see the video either.

There were some special items that had meaning to Sparky...one of the items was a stroller from the fifties. Sparky has a photo buried in storage of her at two years old sitting in the exact same stroller. Aw-w-w-w....that make her pretty vintage...sigh!

This trip to the museum and meeting the founder, Mr. Cole, was one of those instances where you stumble upon something marvelous, wonderful, and unplanned. It made an ordinary day extra special......

Everything checked out ok at the dealership, and off we went to Abbot, Maine, about twenty miles south of Moosehead Lake. See you soon at Balsam Woods Campground....

Gorham Mountain Trail

Bar Harbor, Me   High: 77  Low: 57

This is an 1.8 mile total out and back Acadia hike to a 525 foot peak. There are fantastic views to be seen once you get to the top! But first, you have to find the trailhead, located on the Park Loop Road, turning left at the sign for Sand Beach. Follow the Park Loop Road for about seven miles. The trailhead and parking lot are just past the Thunder Hole area.

sample cairn at the top of the summit of Gorham Mountain

This was a cool, historical trail, marked by special historic cairns, which are stacked stone trail markers established in the style of Waldron Bates, an Acadia pioneer for the trail system. Cairns are the traditional, historical way to mark trails where there are no trees. Bates, back in the 1900's established cairns that have a distinct look to them....Like this one on the right....

You see this cairns all over the place all over the country--at beaches, on mountains, anywhere where there are rocks. They can be small, they can be tall.  People build them for fun, but sometimes they cause problems if people add them to the trails or mess with the ones that are already there that were made for hikers. People move the rocks, change them or reassemble them. Acadia is trying to discourage people from building them or tampering with the existing historical ones. Hikers depend on these for direction. Bate's cairns have a certain style with indicator rocks placed on a "bench" to mark the way. Acadia is hoping people will respect these historical cairns, as they are trying to re-establish them on the historical trails and they have mounted a campaign, "Leave no trace behind"--as in "leave the landscape alone"-- as part of their message.

Gorham Trail is considered a "moderate" trail by the park service. That means mild changes in elevation, and some physical effort to complete the hike, like climbing over rocks or uneven footing. A moderate trail also is traversed in about an hour to an hour and a half, says the park service. Uneven footing is definitely the case on this hike! The start wasn't too bad....

It starts to get rockier and wetter very shortly....If there has been rain lately, which we've had....

It may be a short hike, but you are climbing steadily to the top of Gorham Mountain. We used our hiking sticks and saw some spectacular scenery along the way to the top.

As you are climbing, you see the ocean and hear the buoy bell. Cool! We also saw what looked to be blueberries, but apparently, they are another berry called "bunchberries." At the intersection of the Cadillac Cliffs Trail coming into the Gorham Trail, there is a marker/plaque for Waldron Bates, the guy who developed the basic cairn style seen at the park.



You know, it's hard work getting in shape and staying in shape, but see how it pays off?....And Acadia is a great place to do that, with all the hiking and biking the carriage roads.

There's a lot of boulder climbing along the way....

But look what awaits you as you near the summit.....And we are not even at the top, yet!

Now we are, and here's what everybody does when they get to the top....Sit and admire the view! Once you get to the top, you can see Egg Rock Lighthouse and Frenchman Bay....We met this family at the top and the little boy just had to be the king of the mountain. He's pictured underneath this photo.

Sparky can't resist calling this photo below, "Kid Rock"....He was an energetic cutie, scampering all around the rocks and beating us back down the trail for part of the way. He was curious about our hiking sticks, asking why we used them. We later heard him on the trail on the way down tell his dad, "Old people don't have very good balance, do they, Dad." Nope, we don't!

To complete the hike, you can return the way you came (we did, the old knees were creaking a little!) or tack on another side trail a little further on the trail and add the Bowl Trail, the Beehive, or a loop back on the Ocean Path. We got enough exercise for today, it was getting late in the day, so back we went, retracing our steps...It was an AWESOME hike today....Short but sweet!

Sixth Annual Canon in the Parks Photography at Acadia

Bar Harbor, ME   High: 78  Low:60

Sparky was really excited to see this FREE workshop event show up at Acadia. Last year, they were not able to hold the event due to the tsunami and the fallout from that affected Canon to the point they couldn't fund it. So, thankfully, this year, it came to Acadia. The group of instructors had been to Grand Teton, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, and others and now Acadia for their last stop. It was a young group of instructors, but they sure knew their stuff!

They had a lot of instructors available--around nine. There were no advance reservations or calling ahead. You just show up about fifteen minutes to a half hour before the starting time and sign in. They have three time slots each day at each location in Acadia. Today the location was Jordan Pond House. They brought 75% of their camera line and lenses with them. If you wanted to try the Canon equipment, you could leave your driver's license and a credit card to check out the camera and lens. No fee, they just hold your credit card and license so they get their equipment back! Sparky asked what kind of price ranges the cameras and lenses fell into, but they were not able to discuss that. It looked like expensive equipment. The group that came to take the classes today was a very experienced group for the most part, and they were batting around models number, setups, and lenses like major league afficionados! Sparky was a little intimidated, but that didn't last long.

They then divided the group into beginner, intermediate, and advanced groups. Sparky chose the beginner group because she really doesn't know her SLR Nikon 3100 very well, nor does she understand F stops and aperture settings and ISO stuff. There were about ten people in the beginner group and EVERYBODY had a Canon except for Sparky. Which was ok, you don't have to have a Canon to take the class. But it would have helped. Sparky had to wait patiently to get help after instructions were given to the Canon group, then the instructor had to take a look at her camera and figure out what to tell her. But we got along.....We stayed at the Jordan Pond location the whole time for the hour and a half class.

Sparky learned some neat things about the SLR...In particular, the F stop thing.....Chuck Turner, the insructor, (in his early twenties, maybe?) gave us an analogy that really helped. He said to think of F stops like a loaf of bread placed in front of you. A low F stop, like 5.6, is going to focus on 5-6 slices of bread clearly, then anything after that is going to blur the background.  A high F stop, like 22, is going to focus on all 22 slices of bread, and bring in a lot more details of the background from the forefront to the rear of your setting. AHA! Sparky now understands a LOT better! Here is a practice photos at the right with trying to do what the instructor taught us about F stops. This was taken with the low number F stop setting (5.6) and a 55-200 lens. Got a lot more to learn, but I like this photo...

We also learned about white balance, something Sparky has a lot of trouble with, getting the balance right. Chuck talked about how to move white balance settings up and down to correct various lighting situations. And, we talked about ISO settings...lower is better in most instances as a general rule. Chuck really encourage us to get off the "automatic" setting and start playing around with taking photos, experimenting! That's the only way to really learn how to handle your camera, that and reading the  manual. HA! Sparky had read her manual several times, purchased the "Dummy" book, read the "Missing Manual" series and STILL has trouble figuring out things. Being a retired special ed teacher, Sparky thinks some of her learning "quirks" may have come from teaching in that field too long, OR she has some learning difficulties herself that are more evident when she is trying to learn something or find her way around places! (Whew! Glad SHE said that, says E.) It's probably the latter...

Sparky feels the need to go back and practice some more. She needs LOTS of repetition and reminders of how to use her camera, so she thinks she will sign up for another class, and maybe another!...There is one more location where a series of classes are going to be offered at future dates, it will be at Sieur de Monts Nature Center, coming up later this week. It appears that the basic instruction will be the same, that groups of people will be divided up according to skills, but each instructor offers his/her own take on the information being presented. There are no "topics" for these classes, just skill levels. Sparky will check out another beginner class and report back. Stay tuned!

But first, we have to leave Mount Desert Narrows...Someone is coming in tomorrow that has requested our site. They will be on it for four days...So we are going to Abbot, Maine for those four days, and then we will be back to Mount Desert Island for one last hurrah! Ten more days at Acadia, and then we will be leaving for Michigan soon.....See you later!

Biking Jordan Pond to Ampitheater Bridge

Bar Harbor, ME    High:  77   Low:  58

Sparky is getting better at navigating carriage roads and not getting lost! Woo-hoo! Today she biked the Amphitheater valley that was carved out by glaciers. The carriage road that runs from Jordan Pond to the Amphitheater Bridge has THREE beautiful bridges. It's a trip out and back of about 4.8 miles, with some significant climbing, to an elevation of about 580 feet, a great workout for Sparky!

This time she had her map, her supplementary directions, and having been out this direction before, remembered (thank heaven for small miracles, offers E.) how to get back!

You start at the south end of Jordan Pond. Cross over the Jordan Dam Pond Bridge and follow the carriage road for .1 of a mile. Take a LEFT at intersection 14, and the road climbs and climbs.  In about  a half mile, the road turns sharply to the left, and TADA! The first bridge on this stretch of road. This is the West Branch Bridge.

It has a very narrow, six foot wide arch and is modeled after a bridge in Central Park. Several of Rockefeller's bridges are modeled after some of his favorite ones from New York's Central Park. Not long after crossing West Branch Bridge, there is yet another bridge that is awesome! It's the Cliffside Bridge. The Cliffside Bridge is 230 feet long. The bridge looks like an English castle with the tower viewing sections.

There are viewing platforms and fancy chutes that drain water from the carriage roads. They sort of look like gun turrets.

Viewing tower on the Cliffside Bridge

Here's another shot from a different angle of the Cliffside Bridge. It is really high up and there is no easy trail path down to be able to see the bridge from down below. It's very massive, though! The view out across the landscape is spectacular!

One more bridge to see....Sparky continued onward to the next intersection, taking a RIGHT at signpost 21. As you come to the end of the Amphitheater valley, here comes the Amphitheater Bridge, the longest in the carriage road bridge system at 245 feet. It is WONDERFUL!

This bridge curves hugs the curve in the road to cross the Amphitheater valley. What makes this bridge so extra special is the Amphitheater Trail, like so many of the trails in the park, comes down beside the bridge, then follows the brook UNDER and THROUGH the bridge.







Here's what the trail looks like passing under the bridge.

Because it's been raining quite heavily off and on, there was a waterfall to be seen through the bridge tunnel. The waterfall is much heavier and faster in the spring, I would imagine.

A spectacular ride today...Sparky has seen quite a few of the bridges, there are just a few left to find. Not all of them are accessible on the public carriage roads, there are a couple that are off limits to bikes. But these that she has seen are just absolutely wonderful. The care with which they were designed to blend into their surroundings is a crowning Rockefeller achievement, that's for sure!

A Little of This, a Little of That Kind of Day...

Bar Harbor, ME   High: 78   Low: 62

Antiques & bookstore in Trenton, ME

It was a catch up day today....Sparky did laundry this morning...Then this afternoon, she went to the antiques/bookstore in Trenton to check it out. Nothing too interesting, prices seemed very high. Sparky didn't check out the books, she didn't see the book section and was pressed for time. She did see a few things from her childhood, like these Stangl "Sportsman"duck ashtrays. My dad used to be quite the smoker--I remember smelling his pipe and tobacco scent on the ashtray when I was little. This ashtray was 36.00. There were two more besides this one. There also was an interesting potato masher that caught Sparky's eye. Didn't catch the price, but I thought about it. (And she doesn't even mash potatoes any more! Go figure! says E.) It's just cool, I like it!

Sparky thinks it's more fun looking at "Dusty Old Thing" on Facebook, than browsing this particular shop. There seemed to be mostly furniture,  china, dishes, and jewelry at the store, which of course, is common. Sparky likes to try and find things from the fifties that she used to see in her house during her formative years. She remembers lots of hatboxes. "My dad wore a hat every day to work in the fifties, and he kept them in men's hatboxes in his closet. They had a very masculine smell to them. His more formal hats were stored in tissue paper in the hat boxes. Every once in awhile, I'd go looking in his closet, get out his hats and try them on when he wasn't home. I'd get in BIG trouble if I was caught doing that!"

Other than that, there wasn't much else she could relate to....So, time to head back home again....

Time to try to fix the living room Fantastic Fan...We think yesterday's heavy rain got to the rain sensor as our living room fan quit working. Or, maybe it was a fuse. Eldy got the fuse out, we checked it, it looked fine. Sparky went to put it back in, got a bad case of the "butterfingers" and that little fuse popped out of her hand and went rolling under the slide, wedging itself below the edge of the floor tile. Since Sparky is the more flexible one, SHE had to get down and get dirty.

No amount of sweeping with the fly swatter could budge the fuse up over the thick edge of the quarry tile which stopped under the slide kitchen cabinets. Sparky heard Eldo use some BAD WORDS....Oh-oh! She needed to redeem herself. So she thought of the ingenious method of making a little wire loop extension from her extensive craft wire collection. See, Eldo? Craft stuff comes in handy. (No comment)

She fished and fished with her little wire contraption until---SUCCESS! She lassoed the fuse and we were back in business. Inserted the fuse more securely in the slot, and the fan worked!

Later this afternoon, we went to Bar Harbor  to look at bikes at the Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop. This is a full service bike shop with over 300 Trek bikes for rent, about 25.00 a day. We think we heard that every year they sell off the current rentals and purchase new bikes. They sell Treks, Cannondale, and Specialized. Sparky went for a spin on a couple different bikes...a "Specialized", and a Trek Hybrid. Sparky LOVED the Trek hybrid. But first, she had to get more information from the fellows that run the shop.

There are two brothers that run the shop, Al and Joe. They were absolutely wonderful to talk to. Al spent over an hour discussing our needs, what might be beneficial, what the different bikes have to offer. It was interesting to learn that there are basically just three major manufacturers who make all the bike frames sold in America. From there, the bikes are customized with gear setups, crankcase options, and stuff like that. Al was extremely thorough in his questioning and suggestions. He told us more stuff-- like disc brakes (yes, they have now have them on bikes!) and all kinds of technical stuff in easy to understand layman's language. He managed to find out--hmmm-m-m-m, Sparky didn't tell him---that we are seriously under inflated on our current bikes. Sparky is always afraid of popping a tire and having it explode in her face, so we've been running tire pressures on our bikes at about 45 pounds. Guess who always leaves the tire inflation up to Sparky! Guess Eldo might be a little afraid of blowing up a tire as well!

Al said we should be running the MAX pressure listed on our tires--60 pounds! Bike tires are NOT like RV tires, where you DON'T run tire pressure stated on the tire, you run pressure according to weight distribution on the RV. On bikes, you should run just about at the top max pressure stated on the tire. He had Sparky's tires pumped to correct pressure on the Navigator, (60 p.s.i) and WOW! What a difference in rolling down the street! No wonder hills on the carriage roads have been so difficult for us! We've been REALLY under inflated all this time. No excuses now for Eldy not to come out on a bike ride, is there? (Well, yeah, our comfort bikes are still very heavy, and it's still WORK to get up hills on them, he says.) True, true....

The bike shop encourages you to take the bikes out for a RIDE--not just around the parking lot or a little ride down the street. They want you to take a hybrid from the bike shop all the way over to the carriage roads to try it out. The back entrance to Acadia is just a few blocks from the bike shop, the carriage roads a little further. You can't say Sparky breezed up the three hills to get there, but she never got off the bike once to walk up. And it was a HECKUVA lot easier navigating those hills! The hybrid is a lot lighter than our comfort bikes. It was lots more fun to ride. There's a lot less rolling resistance on a hybrid because of the narrower width of the tire, the bigger size of the tire and a higher running tire pressure. There might be a bike in Sparky's future soon. We have to find out what kind of trade in we could get for the Navigator 3.0 which is what we have now. Sparky can be quite impulsive, but Eldo holds in the reins and makes sure Sparky will be happy with her choice. He suggested we go home and think about it, so we did!

And that's where the day went...Tomorrow, Sparky takes a Canon Photography in the Parks class, IF she can get in on a Saturday morning class. If not, there are quite a few more times and days that they are offering the class. Sparky is REALLY excited about this! It's the sixth annual Canon Photography in the Parks offering. The classes are FREE at the national parks, and they even offer to let you use SLR cameras and lenses. WOW! Can't wait!  Until later......

A New Lifestyle for Eldo and Sparky?

Bar Harbor, ME     High:  73    Low: 64

Time out from Acadia today....it was foggy and rainy all day...went bike looking, old bookstore browsing and window shopping. Here's what's on our collective minds today. We have to have them collected because there isn't much going on in Sparky's head at the moment! (It's a good thing SHE said that, and not me, laughs E.)

We've been feeling guilty...We've been reading many blogger friends' journeys to eating healthier, and becoming vegans. We know that David and Sherry have gotten through some serious health issues with David with great results because of excellent dietary habits. We know that we have bad eating habits and need to do better! Sparky has a morning Coke each day to get her going, Eldo has his several cups of coffee. Coffee is actually very good for you, Coke is not! Sparky has one entire vegetable bin in the RV motorhome fridge (that's residential size) stocked NOT with veggies, but with all kinds of CHEESES. We eat quite a bit of meat. We don't eat enough fruits or veggies. Eldo's veggie of choice is french fries with lots of salt. (I know Karen and Al, Merikay and Sherry and David are cringing at the moment, says E.) Well, we decided to jump on the bandwagon---for a very short ride. For now. Are we going to become vegans? Nope. Are we going to try and eat better? Yep.

What are we doing? Well, Reader's Digest has a plan called "Change One". You try to change one thing each day about how you eat...Change one bad eating habit for a better one. It's the baby steps theory. Sparky's idea of baby steps is, let's change one bad dietary habit for a better one once a WEEK!  So-o-o-o, this week, and from now on, Sparky and Eldo are going to drink more water. We are doing that. Well, that was too easy, and didn't require much effort or motivation so let's try something else.

Change #2. Sparky is not going to eat potato chips any more with sandwiches. She is going to eat VEGGIE chips. Here is Sparky's contribution to the blogging world to eating healthier. (HA! says Sherry and David. Try again, Sparky, we're not buying it) Not even Terra Exotic Vegetable Chips?...Aren't they pretty? The bag alone, caught Sparky's eye, being she's VERY visual. And the word VEGGIE. Veggie chips, they gotta be better than regular potato chips, ya think?

Not sure how healthy they are, as they have 9 grams of fat per serving, and Sparky thinks regular potato chips have around 10 grams per serving. BUT--8% vitamin A, 8% vitamin C, 2% iron, 2% calcium, and 1 gram of protein. Here are the veggies in them--exotic, for sure! Taro, yuca, sweet potato, ruby root veggies, and batata (Cuban sweet potato) and parsnips.  Never heard of most of those! They are cooked in sunflower/canola oil. That's good, right? (Try to overlook the braunschweiger sandwich, says Eldo. You won't catch ME eating that stuff, ugh!) But the sandwich is on whole wheat bread, another positive change for us. We are WONDERBREAD kids, and love our squishy soft white bread. So this is another positive change for us, switching to whole wheat bread.

Terra also makes sweet potato chips. About 17 chips gives you 50% of your vitamin A for the day, along with some more calcium and iron, too. Here's the bad news, they are about 4.00 a bag. Ouch! But that means eat less at a meal. Just have a few, right? So, we're trying! Little by little. Baby steps. Well, until yesterday...Eldy is really interested in trying to eat healthier while eating out, too. So he says, "Let's go get veggie Chinese." Eldy NEVER suggests Asian or Chinese, and Sparky LOVES it, so she says, GREAT! Let's go! We know, we know, MSG, sugary sauces, but Sparky is figuring steamed veggies with chicken would be good.

We hit a Chinese buffet in Ellsworth for supper, can't remember the name of it.  Just about everything on the buffet was sweet and sour, deep fat fried, or rich buttery sauces like shrimp with lemon egg sauce, there wasn't a simple steamed veggie dish with plain meat anywhere. Lots of sodium in the soy sauce. Fried rice, bad, but good. YUM! Steamed white rice was available. Do ya think either one of us picked plain rice? Nope! Tch! tch!  Besides, we know that white rice is not as good as brown rice. BUT, everything was delicious, just not healthy at all. So we just tried to eat less than we normally would at an all-you-can-eat buffet. We should have ordered off the menu, but it was much more expensive than the average Chinese restaurant we've seen in our travels.  We'll keep trying to change, we ARE inspired by our blogging friends to do better....Really, we are!