Day 52 - Bah-Habbah

This post concludes with a sad commentary, but first...

Ladies and gents, I give you Bar Harbor! (click pic to enlarge)

This place is truly spectacular. There is no way photos can capture the look and the feel of this area. Speaking of feel, this is our third time here and the first time we been sweating profusely. The temps are near 90 and the humidity is similar. Hey...you might as well close your eyes and think Houston. That aside, days this hot and humid are a rarity up here. Everyone you see is in gym shorts and sleeveless attire. That is, notwithstanding yours truly and my Maine Squeeze. We were not prepared for this kinda weather.

 Main Street

 Street Scene

 Schooner and Cruise ship

Wharf - Lotsa aquatic adventures from here.

As if the ride up here and the scenery ain't enough, we decided to splurge and stay at the Bluenose Inn...a really special place. It was where we stayed on our first trip to BH.

 Our room

The view from our room

And that brings me to my sad commentary...
Let me start with a disclaimer. Cliff notes version: "I ain't no saint." I suppose, however, I'm like every crusty old grandpa that ever referenced "the good old days." Certainly that's not to say that things aren't pretty good as a whole, but sometimes it feels like, "what price glory?" There's a line from a song Lizzy and I ran across recently at a Kathy Matea concert at Poor David's Pub. The song is entitled, "Mercy Now." Sometimes a song just touches you in a deep and meaningful way. The line from this song that grabs me is, "People in power, well they'll do anything to keep their crown." Sadly, this sentiment appears to be painfully true. It applies to our government, our economy and many facets of our daily lives here in the good old US of A.

Traveling routinely, and essentially living in different parts of the country for extended bits of time, slides you right out of your comfort zone and forces you to experience things in a different way than you do in your more established routine. Eating at different restaurants, shopping in different cities, encountering people from different states, and driving all kinds of roads collectively create an enthralling novel of great proportion. As we experience others while reacting and interacting with them, We're forced to look deep inside ourselves as well.

Holy Crap!, you say...who put the bug up Burton's butt? Hey! I get it, so I'll cut to the chase. We are Diamond members of Wyndham Rewards, the hotel folks. That's not to brag; rather it's a point of reference. We are finding that being overcharged in this awesome computer age is the norm. In fact, of late, we are overcharged more often than not. Today, at the prestigious Bluenose Inn, once again we were overcharged. Let me define, overcharged. I mean that we 1)spot the charge at the front desk, 2)call it to the attention of the desk clerk, 3)receive assurance that the oversight has been addressed, and 4)find it posted to our credit card incorrectly only moments later. Addressing/correcting the situation can and has involved days and even weeks of persistent, self-initiated phoning and prodding. So... I guess that's what it means to be a Diamond Member.

I am not so gullible and naive as to believe that this practice is not overt, engineered and proactive. I find that to be both sleazy and disrespectful. Simply stated, we find ourselves to be in a buyer beware cycle that is offensive and unnecessary. I feel no pride personally, locally, or nationally in dealing with such gross, aggressive, greed. The sad part is our aggressive migration towards impersonal, electronic interactions both allows and creates scapegoats for "oversights" that systematically seem to benefit the vendor and not the customer.

So...there's my sad commentary. We find our personal interactions as we travel to be, abundantly delightful. We find the more obtuse, and impersonal interactions like credit cards, lodging and, especially, motorists' driving behavior, to be disgustingly primal.

So what's to take away from all of this. Well, we all have a decision to do as we would have others do...or...do as everyone else does. Sadly, it appears that, as a society and a nation, we have chosen the later. So...we're trying to focus upon and augment those interpersonal delights and overlook the impersonal blights as much as possible.

"Life's like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get."
F. Gump circa 1994

Thus endeth this chapter of "Lessons From the Road!"

Hope I didn't alienate our dear friends with a raucous rant! At least it was authentic and not a repost from an Internet site.