5 February: Scouting a location, I found some nice shots around the Loudoun County Courthouse.

18-24 February: Trip to New England, with time in Gloucester MA, Rockport NH, Portsmouth NH, Kittery ME, Portland ME, and Acadia National Park.

18 February:
Woke up before sunrise and got to Gloucester just afterwards. Interesting town - with a working harbor (rather than a postcard harbor), walked around the waterfront for a while, then headed up toward Rocky Neck and the Eastern Point Lighthouse. Low tide = much exposed seaweed next to the breakwater.

Headed to Rockport next; here's where the postcard perfect harbor is!

Headed to Portsmouth, NH next - went directly to Fort Constitution, which pre-dates the Revolutionary War; inadvertently parked at the Coast Guard base (missed the fort parking), but no one seemed to mind. Starting to cloud up. Decided to get a different view of Whaleback Light from the Kittery Point ME side, and it was a good deal - there was a perfect rocky beach at Fort Foster. Next had to hightail to Bar Harbor to make it there at a reasonable hour.

19 February:
Woke up at 6am to see if there was going to be a sunrise...to heavy snow. Back to bed! After a more leisurely morning and breakfast to a nearly full house (surprisingly for winter), I got in the truck and headed south out of Bar Harbor into the parts of Acadia National Park that are open in the winter - Schooner Head Rd, to Park Loop Rd along the southeast coast of Mt. Desert Island, up to State Route 3. 8 inches had fallen overnight, but since they are used to this kind of snowfall, all roads were open and passable with some care. It was still snowing with about 30 knot winds coming off the water.

Followed State Route 3 to Otter Creek and caught Jordan Pond Rd. Aside from a couple of rangers, no one was up there. The lake was completely covered with snow, with only a couple of ice fishing huts. High winds and blowing snow persisted.

Have to come back to Acadia when it's not so cold.

Anyway, after what could be the worst drive through a snowstorm I've experienced, I made it to Cape Elizabeth outside of Portland, ME, in time to catch the Two Lights with some late afternoon clouds and sun.

20 February:
Spent the night in Kittery, ME, right on the water across from Badger's Island. Woke up the next morning - more snow overnight had given way to bright sunshine! Had little time before breakfast to catch the town as it was waking up, and then headed to Cape Neddick after breakfast.

The Cape Neddick light is also known colloquially as "The Nubble", and lies on an island only a few hundred feet off the mainland in York Beach, ME. The straight is narrow enough that the light is hooked up to electricity from the mainland, and there's a aerial gondola operated by a pull rope strung across as well.

After this, I headed back to Boston, as I had to be in town for an afternoon event. It was definitely time well spent, and I hope to come back another time.