After a mostly successful nights sleep, the bed was a little hard, we headed into the town for breakfast. One of the recommendations that looked was the Maine Breakfast. We were a little late for the early breakfast because I had to upload some files for work which was tricky on spotty wifi.
After we ate, it was time to head to Acadia National Park for the days events. As the person that does the least research for these trips I didn’t know what to expect. I was just happy with the words National Park since I love nature. It had been awhile since I had what the Japanese refer to as shinrin-yoku or forest bathing so I was ready for it. I’m sure my soul stunk of city.
If you don’t know, Acadia is basically a big looping park following one main (no pun intended) road. So you pay your ticket, which is $30 for a private vehicle, and start out to see the sites. Along the way are several stopping points but really the whole park is beautiful and you can stop most places along the road. There are various bike paths that criss-cross the road as well so I’m sure that would be an amazing way to see the park.
Shortly after entering the park we decided to take the tops off the jeep and really breathe the freshness.
We stopped at Thunder Hole to try and hear it but after waiting almost an hour we had to give up. A little while down the road we came to a small beach and stopped to collect some seashells.
From there we went to check out the Bubble Rock. I had no idea what that term meant and couldn’t look it up as my cell signal was terrible. The only thing to do was to hike up the hill and see what they’re talking about.
We didn’t bother to look at this sign before we started up the trail otherwise we may have skipped it.
After the exertion of climbing a mountain to look at a rock. Seems really stupid when you write it out like that. We wanted to check out Cadillac mountain since all the signs make it seem like its just around the corner. Cadillac mountain offers an amazing view of the surrounding coastline. Some very beautiful scenery there. We stopped at the gift shop and then decided to go have a beer.
Back in Bar Harbor there’s a couple of breweries but we decided to walk to the Atlantic Brewing company. They have a great spot which offers food as well as drinks. We had a great conversation with the bar tender and he recommended a couple of places to eat as well as going back to Cadillac Mountain to watch the sunset. While we enjoyed a couple of pints, we slowly realized that having been out in the sun all morning and with the tops of the jeep we fell victim to the radiation poisoning from that yellow bastard sun. The cool ocean breeze can trick you in Maine it would seem.
Not wanting to do any more damage to my already sunburned face I bought my first truckers hat. It may be the start of a collection of different hats from breweries we visit.
Of the places the bar tender recommended to eat, the one that seemed most appealing was Beal’s Lobster Pier. It’s a seafood restaurant outside of bar harbor by about 20 minutes where you sit right on the pier. They have some amazing food, a great view and 20oz beer pours. What more could you want?
After this we raced back to the mountain. Since we still had our pass we figured we would be remiss to not check it out. Apparently you don’t need the pass to get to Cadillac Mountain but they want you to buy one while you’re there. As we sat and watched the sunset the temperature began to drop. So we make a final plan to head back into Bar Harbor for some dessert.
A place that came highly recommended and was just around the corner from where we ate the night before is Geddy’s. They were very busy but as we only wanted some dessert we got seated at the bar. They have some great taps and an amazing blueberry pie that I can almost taste right now.
After that it was time to head back to the hotel and get some rest since the next day we were back on the road.