Our first major stop on our vacation was Acadia National Park on Maine's East Coast. I will do separate posts on this jewel in America's National Park system. This post will focus on Bar Harbor - our central station during our stay.
Bar Harbor is the largest village on Mount Desert Island with just over 4,800 residents. Bar Harbor has a long history being settled first in 1763 and incorporated in 1796 under the name Eden. It was renamed to Bar Harbor in 1918 after the sand and gravel bar, visible at low tide, which leads across to Bar Island and forms the rear of the harbor. Dan & I walked across the sand bar at low tide and it was there we observed this beautiful star fish. Kids were scouring the intertidal zone looking for sea treasures and found several large star fish. I was excited to be able to see and photograph them.
This is the sand bar at low tide looking towards Bar Island:
We had mixed weather during our four day stay, typical of the east coast. Nearly every day started with fog - some days the fog stayed later than others and on this day the fog was replaced with beautiful blue skies!
Even the fog can be beautiful though - here are a few images as the sun was breaking through the morning fog.
As the word got out in the 1800's of the beauty of Mount Desert Island, the rich and famous came from Boston, New York and Philadelphia to establish summer "cottages" and resorts. In the fall of 1947, a great fire devasted the area. Nearly half the eastern side of Mount Desert Island burned, including 67 palatial summer houses on Millionaires' Row. All of the old hotels are gone either torn down or burned down. Of the "cottages" that were spared, many of the are still private homes with many more converted to welcoming inns, guest homes, and bed & breakfasts.
The research I had done on New England highlighted the many glorious inns and I was intrigued, yet cautious, about staying at these. Cautious because it was something new - i had visions of lining up to use a single bathroom to several rooms and trapsing through someone's private home when we got home late. I had initially tried to secure reservations at some but with the craziness of changing jobs and such, we left on our trip without a single reservation. The first two nights we spent in Bar Harbor were at the Bar Harbor Grand Hotel - a very nice hotel on the main street, close to shopping and restaurants. Once we decided we wanted to extend our visit on Mount Desert Island, the hotel was fully occupied and we had to find another place to stay. Some quick searches on the internet for Bed & Breakfasts and we found the Thornhedge Inn. This summer "cottage" was built in the late 1800's and was spared in the great fire of 1947. The mansion is beautifully restored to its original glory. We stayed in the Birnam room complete with an antique brass bed, library furnishings and fireplace. Our first experience in bed and breakfast accommodations was very positive and we sought out special places to stay for the rest of our trip. The B&B was nothing that I had feared - each room had its own private bathroom and there was an entrance for guests as well as public areas.
We enjoyed delicious meals in Bar Harbor, included this lobster feast Dan indulged in at The Quarterdeck Restaurant overlooking the harbor.
My favorite meal was Pasta Galyn at Galyn's Restaurant . I know, it isn't seafood. For the most part I indulged in scallops, salmon or shrimp but this one night I was trying the more familiar. Rapununi served wonderful seafood with a twist and Guiness and Porcelli's combined delicious seafood with classic Italian pasta.
There is lots to do in Bar Harbor without even leaving the town to venture into the Park. We chose a few different activities:
- Sea Kayak with Aquaterra Adventures
We chose the shorter 2 hour tour around the harbor which included instruction and fabulous narration throughout the paddle around Porcupine Island and harbor. I wasn't able to bring my camera with me unfortunately - we saw some amazing scenes including an eagle's nest with two juvenile eagles peaking their heads out. This was one of our sunnier days and it was wonderful starting it out with a refreshing and scenic paddle.
- Whale Watch with Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co.
This could have been a wonderful experience and I am sure it normally is. Unfortunately, the day we chose to do this tour was very foggy. Even though the tour operators warned us that there was a strong possibility we would not see whales due to the fog, we decided to take our chances. We took our spots at the front of the Catamaran prepared to see the whales. What we didn't know was that we had to travel 25 miles into the ocean to get to the feeding grounds and this was at very high speeds. The waters were rough and as I mentioned it was very foggy. All these conditions led to sea sickness for both myself and Dan. Dan didn't spill his cookies though like I did. In a mad dash to get to the edge of the boat, I lost it and splashed my breakfast all over myself and anyone downwind - how embarassing... So, the rest of the trip was spent at the back of the boat with sick bags, a newly purchased sweatshirt and blanket (in an attempt to warm up) and newly purchased sea sick wrist bands. In other words - a very expensive trip with no positive returns. - Run / walk along the Bar Harbor Shore Path
One of the few runs I did while on vacation was along this beautiful path. Check out the link to see some photos of scenes along the path. Here is one I snapped when Dan & I walked along the path initially:
- Shopping
There are some very unique and quaint shops in Bar Harbor. We enjoyed many hours of searching for the perfect keepsakes.
I will add more photos of what we saw in Bar Harbor shortly...
Marlene!!!!!!! your photos should be in books!!!! Guide books, tour books, I see a whole new career!!
Posted by: Katie Squires | August 12, 2009 at 03:44 PM