Bar Harbor, Maine

As the photos will reflect, we had a great time at Acadia National Park and in Bar Harbor!

One of the first things we did when we arrived was to extend our stay by two days.

We knew it would be a good idea to extend as soon as we saw the RV campground and picked up literature on things to do in Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.

The campground was only 7 miles from Acadia so we made frequent visits. We especially enjoyed the views while driving up Cadillac Mountain. We did a little off road exploring at the overlook areas and a couple of times we stopped in for lunch at Jordan Pond House. They are famous for their popovers, so we had to try them. I would have preferred a cream puff, but once I added the butter and strawberry jam, I forgot all about the cream puff! We had the same waitress both times we were there, so perhaps that’s why she gave us each a complementary popover to take home 😋 at the end of our second visit there.

Downtown Bar Harbor is beautiful! We walked around and looked in many of the little touristy shops and really enjoyed the fishing pier and wharf. Happily, we managed to go over there several times. We stopped in the Irish Pub one day for a hot coffee to warm us up and another time for a cold drink because it was so warm outside. That’s Maine weather! On one of our visits to Bar Harbor we had lunch at the Fish House Grill and I had a terrific lobster roll and Kenny enjoyed haddock fish tacos.

As I mentioned in the last blog update, we met Wendy and Ken from Vancouver when we were in New York and they were also going to Bar Harbor, so we made plans to meet there. Once they arrived, we stopped in for drinks and visited with them at Mt. Desert Narrows Campground where they were staying. They have a very nice class a motorcoach! Another time we met them for lunch in Bar Harbor. The plan is to meet up with Wendy and Ken again somewhere in the southwest.

Back to eating… Neither Ken nor I had ever eaten a whole lobster before this trip to Maine so that was definitely on our list of things to do. It didn’t take long to figure out the place to go because patrons of Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound fill up the parking lot and overflow takes up the shoulders of both north and southbound highway 3. We had already planned dinner there when Wendy and Ken said they had tried them the night before and gave them a great review. So, the evening comes and after a leisurely nap, we head over there just before 6:30 p.m. and of course the parking was crazy. There was a short line for selecting our lobsters but then we had a long wait in line to pay and turn in our order form for drinks and sides. I will say the prices are amazing for whole lobster, so this place was ideal for a couple of rookies who didn’t know if they were even going to like it! Turns out that the claws were delicious. Then the tail… Yuk! What is that green mush inside?! Did the lobster crap itself when it hit the boiling water?! Both mine and Ken’s looked the same. I’m done. Glad it didn’t cost a fortune to find this out. The head was not enticing to me either. Ken stayed the course and found the tail to be chewy and avoided the head. Did I say that the lemonade and drawn butter were to die for? LOL. It wasn’t until we were back at the RV that I googled how to eat a whole lobster and discovered that the green stuff was the liver, which is completely edible. Uh, I still wouldn’t have eaten it had I known before.

On to more pleasant things… We went on a whale watching expedition! Looking back at the photos I took with the cell phone makes me wish I had brought the good camera so I could share with our readers just how amazing it was to see those massive, amazingly beautiful creatures. But really, I think no matter what you would’ve had to be there and see them with us to really appreciate the awesomeness. But, perhaps the pictures will give you some idea of the treat it was.

Back to Acadia. We wanted to see the bridges on the Carriage Trail. Between 1913 and 1939 John D. Rockefeller and a group of businessmen collaborated to build a 45-mile carriage road and bridges throughout the park. We couldn’t hike it all, but we did do a 3-mile hike of the carriage road and saw the original, or first bridge, that was constructed in 1917 and made of cobblestones. The other two bridges we crossed were built in 1933 and 1939; both were made of granite mined from the mountain. We also took a Day Mountain carriage ride to take in another section of the trail. The carriage driver, Tommy, told us that David Rockefeller is 102 years old, still lives on private property on Acadia, and is sometimes seen driving his carriage. We believe we spotted his private stable at signpost 31 on the trail.

One afternoon when we were in Bar Harbor we went down to Bridge Street and walked down to the bay, where at low tide it is completely passable to walk across the gravel all the way to Bar Island. Warning signs tell you to get back before the tide comes in or you’ll be stranded! We didn’t have time to walk to Bar Island and back but we stood and watched a kayaking group load up and push off. Now, I want to go kayaking!

Schoodic Peninsula is part of Acadia National Park, but you have to take highway 1 north for about an hour to get there. Part of the drive is the scenic  Schoodic Byway with a great view of Frenchman Bay looking across to Bar Harbor. Once we were inside the park we stopped at several overlooks, and walked out on Frazer Point, but the main attraction was Schoodic Point where we spent some time walking out on the rocks alongside the ocean. There were lots of tourists there and the weather was beautiful with almost no fog. We were excited to see couple of dolphins there, too. We stopped at the Pickled Wrinkle for lunch on the drive back and shared a great pizza (more food!).

I think that about sums up our time at Acadia and Bar Harbor… so glad we extended by those two days, but I can honestly say we could’ve used a couple more… There was more we could have seen and done! But, we have places to go and things to see, so we packed up and left there on Saturday, August 1st.

We are currently in Grand Island, New York and after a couple of days rest, tomorrow we will see Niagara Falls! But I’ll save that for the next update.

We cannot believe it’s August already… The 14th of this month means that we have been out here exploring the U.S. for six months. We want to take a moment and thank God for the safe travels we have enjoyed and thank family and loved ones for the support you’ve given us. Friends too, have offered tremendous support and excitement over our travels, which has spurred us on. In other words, we couldn’t have done it without you! So, until we meet again, love and blessings from us.