Retired Trippin' – Acadia National Park / Bar Harbor, ME

This is a beautiful area. So much so that we decided to extend our stay to 2 weeks instead of our usual 1. Rain continued to dog us but now fog has been added to the mix. Our first 3 nights we were set up in an ordinary area of the campground but Karen discovered a site being vacated that had a view so we moved to it. They do not take reservations at Bar Harbor Campground so you have to cruise around and find an acceptable empty site then claim it. The downside of our new site was having no sewer hookup so we had to be mindful of how much waste-water we stored. We managed a week and a half without having to empty the tanks.

Apparently the campground had once been a blueberry farm and we were surrounded by the bushes. Campers were constantly out picking them and one of our "neighbors" had picked 8 gallons of them.

Most of Acadia is located on Mt. Desert Island so on our first outing we drove the loop around the park. There are quite a few pull-outs that overlook Frenchman's Bay and Bar Harbor along with several that overlook the western part of the island. There are miles of old carriage roads set aside for hiking or biking. There are numerous places to access the rugged shoreline. Kodak moments abound. I'm glad I'm shooting digital pics as the cost of film processing and printing would be a budget breaker. I think I'm well over the 300 mark and that doesn't count those I deleted. Our first drive to the top of Cadillac Mtn. was a bust as, even though it was reasonably clear down below, the top was shrouded in fog. We drove over to Schoodic Point on a Saturday and discovered a lobster fest in progress in the little town just outside that section of the park. We tried our first lobster and learned why you want to choose the hard shell variety over the soft shell. The hard shell is filled out with more meat while the soft is younger and has less. We had seen lobster and crab rolls advertised everywhere and had to give them a try. They turned out to be lobster or crabmeat in salad form served on a hotdog bun. That was a little let-down as being a good southerner I was expecting something deep-fried kind of like an eggroll.

We saw several lighthouses around but none that were accessible. They were either still owned by the Coast Guard or being used as private homes. We made a day trip out of driving up to Lebec, ME and crossed the border onto an island in province of New Brunswick, Canada. The big attraction on the island is the Roosevelt-Campobello International Park maintained by both Canada and the USA. President Franklin Roosevelt had a summer home there for many years as did his parents before him. We picked up our first international geocache while on the island and I played 9 holes of golf before we crossed back into the US. We had considered taking the "cat" ferry to Nova Scotia but it would have taken a minimum of 6 hrs. round trip at a cost of around $250 so we opted out on that.

We kept a close watch on the weather and were finally rewarded with a clear day on top of Cadillac Mtn. The views were impressive. The weather did something of a flip-flop and a second trip to the top found us looking down at a fog bank that covered the bays and ocean in a thick, fluffy blanket. We were either getting the fog thing from the top down or bottom up. It made for some super Kodak moments. Parking in the park can be a problem if you arrive at certain locations between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. That's when the park is at its busiest. I had been afraid to do any biking due to my back problem but with only a couple of days left before moving on I rode some around the campground and, thankfully, it did not aggravate the problem. We had hoped to bike the carriage trail around Eagle Lake but on the day we tried we could not find a parking place. It rained some more and by the time we found alternative parking it was time to move camp.

We took one afternoon to walk-about downtown Bar Harbor. It has, by far, more shops, stores and eateries than any of the other costal villages we've visited. We saw one of the cruise ships that visit on a regular basis and heard that the QE 2 had visited just the week before we arrived.

We noted that practically every other vehicle visiting the area had either flat-water kayaks and canoes or bicycles attached and a lot had both. It's a real Mecca for outdoor activities.

Pictures will be attached and more will follow.

Bill & Karen

SHORELINE, INLET AND LIGHTHOUSE

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Bar Harbor Overlook & Proof We Were There

Lighthouse

Lobster Fest

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Fishing Village

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Fog Rolls In