Adventure Bus Travel

04/11/2024

Every Maine kid learns in school about the story of 12 year old Don Fendler who survived 9 days while lost in Maine Wilderness on Mt Katahdin in 1939. It was either required reading or your teacher read it to you. Having summited Mt Katahdin twice, (Maine’s highest mountain) I can’t imagine what he went through and doubt I would have the strength to survive what he did. I can’t wait to see this movie on the big screen! If movies aren’t your thing, I highly recommend the book or the audio book too. Any form of the story is bound to be inspirational!

In theaters November 1, 2024 --- http://lostonamountaininmainemovie.com/---From producer Sylvester Stallone, starring Luke David Blumm , Paul Sparks, Caitlin...

23/10/2024

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It is with a heavy heart that we must share the news of the passing of our beloved matriarch and hero, Grizzly 399. At this time, we are uncertain of the condition or whereabouts of her yearling cub, Spirit, and we remain hopeful for the cub’s safety.

Our family at Mangelsen–Images of Nature would like to thank all our clients, friends and family for sending messages of condolences and good thoughts to Tom.

As you can imagine, Tom is grieving her loss and will be making a statement later to honor her life. Grizzly 399 was part of our family, and we will forever call her Queen of the Tetons.

09/10/2024

Hoping for the best outcome for all our wonderful Florida friends! Our thoughts are with you and hope you can ride out Milton someplace safe! ❤️

01/10/2024

Thinking of our many friends in North Carolina and other areas affected by the flooding from Helene. Hoping you are all safe!!!! ❤️ 🤞🤞❤️

28/09/2024

Happy National Public Lands Day! We love all the national, state, and local parks, wildlife refuges, forests and preserves we visit. Do you have a favorite in your area? Here's one of our faves from this past summer...The Cutler Coast Public Reserved Lands in Maine.

27/09/2024

And that's a wrap! The 2024 Adventure Bus season has come to an end. Although it was a shorter season than usual, the experiences were just as grand and just as fun…because Adventure Bus guests are THE BEST! We spotted incredible wildlife from HUGE herds of bison in Custer State Park to minke whales in the Bay of Fundy. We hiked the highest peak in South Dakota, Black Elk Peak and strolled along the rugged coast of Acadia. We learned some human history at Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore and some geological history at Badlands and Cutler Coast of Maine. We even experienced and survived the second largest tidal whirlpool in the world, the “Old Sow!” Throughout the journeys we enjoyed lots of pancakes, burritos, local seafood, apples, peaches, chokecherry jam, blueberry pies, whoopie pies and even Eleanor Roosevelt’s favorite tea and cookies! YUM! Our new Basecamp style tour was met with great approval and greatly appreciated. What a summer! Where should we go in 2025?

25/09/2024

After exploring Midcoast Maine, we headed to the Mountain region of Western Maine… and sampled lots of food on the way! Fresh donuts, local corn, peaches and apples, and best of all, maple cream cookies and blueberry pie from the fantastic roadside stand, Puzzle Mountain Bakery! Oh, and we visited a covered bridge, some waterfalls and did some hiking among the changing colors!

24/09/2024

Oh the Lighthouses!!! We saw so many on our Maine tour last week. Most of the group chose to do a scenic boat tour off Acadia where we saw 6 lighthouses, eagles, seals and a few porpoises. It was a gorgeous day. We also saw 3 more lighthouses in Midcoast Maine. We were blessed with the most perfect weather.

23/09/2024

Last week we ran our Maine Mountains and Coast tour with a small but mighty group. Our first stop was Acadia National Park! The views from the top of Cadillac Mountain were inspiring! The pink granite cliffs, gorgeous! We couldn’t have asked for better weather. The leaves were beginning to change and added some additional color. And of course, we started the first morning off right with some Maine wild blueberry pancakes and Maine maple syrup! Yum!

18/09/2024

The Super Moon is lighting up Camden Hills State Park and Penobscot Bay!!

16/09/2024

Acadia from the Gulf of Maine!

16/09/2024

Early morning stars over our campground in Acadia National Park!

31/08/2024

Day 6 Bold Coast of Maine
Our last full day was spent on the Cutler Coast. This is the Bold Coast at its boldest! But first, we had fresh made donut holes along with our morning coffee and breakfast sandwiches! Delicious! The mile trek out to the coast is a thick, mossy spruce forest filled with every color of green you can imagine. But the coastal views are just amazing. High cliffs with jagged rocks that seem to go on for ever and ever. We saw a pair of peregrine falcons and even a minke whale! The day ended with a campfire, s'mores, a beautiful sunset and endless stars. There might have been some singing too. What a week! ❤️

30/08/2024

Lubec, Maine is the eastern most town in the US. It is small in size and numbers, but big in adventure! It served as our homebase town for our Bold Coast of Maine tour. Here are some highlights from this bold little village.

30/08/2024

Day 5 of our Bold Coast tour.
Today’s adventure took us down the coast to machias Bay for a kayak with Sunrise Canoe and Kayak.
Our guide Rob, took us out to Hog Island to view some ancient petroglyphs. Along the way we saw several seals and eagles. Next, we were well rewarded for our efforts with Pie at nearby Helen’s restaurant . Blueberry, raspberry cream, coconut cream, lemon merange, chocolate coconut cream... you name it, they had it! And it was delicious! We ended the day with a visit to downtown Lubec and Monica's Chocolates. It was an adventurous and delicious day!

29/08/2024

Bold Coast Basecamp
Our basecamp for the week was at the Eastern most campground in the United States! We were perched up on a cliff overlooking Cobscook Bay. We witnessed the dramatic changing of the 20ft tides and all kinds of weather from being in a fog bank to clear skies with endless stars. We were awoken by the sound of birds every morning and could watch them feeding, along with the seals right from our campsite. Folks enjoyed their spacious tents with the cots and sleeping pads and loved not having to relocate throughout the week. It was a great place to wake up at and prepare and enjoy meals. Can’t wait to camp there again!

29/08/2024

Day 4 Bold Coast of Maine
Boat Tour and Quoddy Head!
Today's adventure took us out on the open water to encounter the "Old Sow" and to look for whales in the Bay of Fundy. The Old Sow is the largest tidal whirlpool in North America (approximately 250 ft) and the second largest in the world. (See comments for more) Five such areas exist in the world. Our captain took us right into the main whirlpool and we saw several smaller ones up close. Liquid Chaos is the only way to describe it! Later we journeyed further out in search of whales and we saw several Minke and Finback whales, along with several seals, eagles, razorbills, and guillemots. In the afternoon we hiked in Quoddy Head State Park along the misty cliffs, spruce forests, and peat bog. West Quoddy Head Lighthouse is beautiful!

28/08/2024

Day 3 Bold Coast of Maine… And Canada!
On day 3 of our Bold Coast tour we took a short journey (less than a mile) over the FDR Bridge and the Canadian border to step back in time and take a guided tour of the 34 room summer "cottage" of Franklin D Roosevelt. His "cottage" is now preserved as an International Park by the NPS system and Roosevelt Campobello International Park in Canada. We then took a walk to Friar Head Overlook above the bay and picked delicious black berries and raspberries along the way. In the afternoon we toured a few other cottages and enjoyed "Eleanor's Tea", a presentation about the extraordinary life of Eleanor Roosevelt where they served her favorite tea and cookies. It was fabulous and left us all wanting to know more about this incredible woman and her incredible life. We ended the day with a walk through Eagle Hill Bog and a couple of scenic lighthouses and even a whale sighting before crossing back over the bridge to our basecamp in Lubec, ME.