BarHarbor
Old Episcopal Church In Bar Harbor
Sand Beach crazy people.
Blowing rock.

Friday July 18, 2008

Today we took off for Acadia National Park. It was a 2 hour drive, but of course we have to stop at Rooster Brothers in Belfast to get more coffee so it took us a little longer. When we arrived we decided to check out Bar Harbor first so we got out the bikes and rode around the town. Went to an old beautiful Episcopal church, ate a lobster roll lunch on park benches, got blueberry ice cream, bought a print and then took off for the actual National Park. The park loop road runs along most of the coast with views of things like Blowing Rock (where the waves come in and crash and spray), Sand Beach (where crazy people swim in 57 degree water), then goes inland where you can see beautiful vistas overlooking the coast and inland lakes. At almost the end of the loop you can drive up to the summit of Cadillac Mountain and look out over the coast and Bar Harbor. We did a couple of hikes…one to view the Rockafeller House, one along the summit of Cadillac Mtn, and one to “the Bubbles”. The Bubbles hike was a little rough, all up hill and very rocky…not much of a trail. We made it almost to the top to a beautiful overlook and it started to rain. Fear of sliding down the side of the mountain on rocks caused us to turn back…it was beautiful up there. After Acadia we headed home but we were looking for a place to eat. We ended up at Young’s Lobster Pound in Belfast. It is the biggest pound that I have seen with probably 20 huge tanks with lobsters of all sizes in them. We ordered our meal at the counter downstairs and watched our lobster and clams go into a net bag and into the steamer. When they came out we had the best lobster so far on the trip. They are served with, of all things, a bag of chips…makes no sense to me. We also had some lobster stew. The thing about these pounds is that they don’t serve alcohol. Luckily we knew that and had beers in the cooler! Never go anywhere in Maine without your cooler filled with water for the hikes and beer for the pounds! It was a rainy night and we were happily stuffed, so no fire, just checking on places to stay and reading. Great day