Maine - Day 3

Sunrise! After debating about whether we should wake up and go to the top of the mountain to see the sunrise, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that our hotel had a Wonder View of it. So we enjoyed it from the balcony and the comfort of our beds :) After getting up we had a nice breakfast on the porch of the main building, then headed into Acadia National park. 

We first stopped by a visitor center which was super crowded and watched a short film, we then headed up to Cadillac Mountain the highest point of the park.  We could see the bar of Bar Harbor and took a short walk and did some shopping~chocolate covered blueberries!

This was scheduled to be our whale watching day, so we drove back into Bar Harbor, bought some lunch at the local grocery store, found a parking place and walked to the boat dock. It was a beautiful, warm day but our trip got cancelled due to fog out on the water. We rescheduled for the next day and ate our lunch on the dock.

Next we headed back into Acadia to Jordan Pond. Again crazy crowded, we think everyone was taking advantage of the possible last sunny day of the year and came. We circled for parking but finally found one. There is a famous restaurant with popovers and tea which was our agenda but when we saw the lines we decided we could skip it and just enjoy the scenery.

We walked about a third of the way around the pond, part of it on a small board walk. We saw a frog. 

Back in the car we headed to the coast to do the Ocean Walk. We started at sandy beach. It was fun to see kids playing, it was too cold for us. 

We walked along the path with the road on one side and rocky cliffs over the ocean on the other to the Thunder Hole.

There was a visitor center and tons of tourists and rocks to scamper on. I climbed up high and saw the Coast Guard marker. Often at high tide, the water crashes up and it sounds like thunder. However, we were not there at high tide :)

We decided that we had walked enough so I ran back to get the car and then we drove the rest of the Ocean Path to Otter Point. There were fall leaves to walk through.

This was my favorite place/moment. The weather was perfect, the view amazing, other people enjoying it too but not super crowded. I climbed all over the rocks and the sisters enjoyed the view. The bay side was quiet and the ocean side had the roar of the surf hitting rocks. There were tide pools with a sea star in it. Not much visible wildlife in Maine, a chipmunk or frog here or there and shore birds, we thought we saw a seal but no otters at Otter Point.

After soaking it in, contemplating nature, not rushing and living in the moment, we got back in our car to head back to our hotel, with one last stop at a little beach.

In the visitor center's movie about the park one part had a ranger showing children the stone bridges that were built by Rockefeller, and she wisely states that when we see one of these bridges be sure to remember that there are 16 in the park. So when we saw one like the one above, we would make fun!

Back in town we have a Maine-ly amazing dinner: Clam chowder, Lobster Mac & Cheese and Blueberry pie. All amazing and in a fun setting with live music at McKay's Public House.

This was the entrance to our Wonder View Inn and since the month before I had a picture with a moose statue in Grand Teton NP, I thought taking another would be fun. 

Maine - Day 4

Twice a day, the tide goes out and reveals a sand bar. This bar is large enough to walk on over to a small island. This is the bar where Bar Harbor got its name. There is a sign which a picture captioned: Bar Harbor bar, Bar Harbor, Maine. I thought this was hilarious and fun to say so I proceeded to say it for our trip (and teach it to my daughters when I returned) to the point it made Kathy physically ill. Ok, I know she was annoyed and did get sick at the end of the trip so it might have been causal or not. For reference this picture below is the same spot later in the day. 

After breakfast on the porch again, we began this day by walking across the bar and along the shore of the island. There were some jellyfish washed up and seagulls fighting over food, including a sea star. I think this was my second favorite thing to do. While planning in Texas, I was nervous about getting stranded when the tide came back, but this wasn't a worry as you could see both shores and there were tons of people around, but it does happen but not to us.

Back on the mainland which is still an island, we were Go for the Whale Watching tour on this cloudy, misty, cold and windy day. We got on the huge boat with tons of people.

We tried to stay warm and spent most of the ride back inside. We had a peppy grad school guide/announcer who loved shore birds which was good because we saw a ton.

We passed Egg Island and its lighthouse which was once voted by the people of Maine as the ugliest which goes to show that all the lighthouses are awesome.

About 30 miles off shore we came to Mt Desert Island which had tons of seals on it. I don't think the Yankees were impressed with seals but we were! And there is a lighthouse where whale studying grad students stay for a few months. 

We never saw any whales, just a Mula Mula big fish and a pod of tuna and a pod of Atlantic dolphins. The guide was super excited about these because you have to go far out to see them, but we thought we can see dolphins off the jetties in 'our country' which is what we said a lot comparing Texas to Maine :) Mom was impressed that I called the dolphins and tuna before the guide but that's what you get being married to a marine biologist. 

Back on shore after a cold, fast, visible whaleless ride back, we needed food and to warm up. Right across the street was a cafe-Gayln's. We sat upstairs and enjoyed the view of the park while eating more Maine food. 

Another walk, this one called the Shore Path and it runs along the shore by a park and people's houses in the town. There is a rock that fell from a glacier and tons of rose hips, which were all over Maine.  

After our Shore walk we had more time, so we went to another part of Acadia-the Wild Gardens. It was small but pretty. Kathy was starting to not feel good so she slept in the car while Mom and I explored among the trees, plants and flowers.

Back at Wonder View, our bones were still cold (don't judge the Texans) so we got hot drinks from the breakfast area and enjoyed the amazing view from our balcony and sat in three chairs which we might have gotten by climbing over to another room's porch but that cannot be confirmed.

We needed to eat again, so we headed into town with a few thoughts of places to go, and no parking places at any of those, but we finally found one by a nice cafe-West Street Cafe and there was a wait but we shopped and enjoyed the view (theme on this trip) before eating more Maine food like this lobster bisque!

Maine - Day 5

We woke up this morning and said good bye to the Wonder View Inn and headed to the other side of the island where there is more to Acadia National Park.

Bass Harbor Island. This one is a Coast Guard home (please don't ring the doorbell) but you can walk and climb around the rocks.

 

This lighthouse is one the Maine's National Park state quarter. 

Aren't we cute!

We left Mount Desert and headed back south (away from Down East, whatever that means) and stopped at the world's largest bridge observation deck. We rode the elevator up and saw the pretty views.

Below the bridge is Fort Knox (not that one, the Maine one) which never saw fighting but was used for a long time for various things. We wandered around for a bit. Then we continued our drive back to Portland, stopping at a cafe for lunch and ice cream at the Good Kettle in some small town! Finally! Maine LOVES its ice cream and we never really felt like getting it, but this was good.  Another thing Maine loves is gold lettering on signs and calling things Wicked Good and little pretty churches and lobster and blueberries, the stereotypes are true.

Back in Portland, we went back to our LQ and then to the other port part of town for a stroll along the harbor and for dinner at a fast food pizza restaurant-I think Amato's- a friend who's family lives here recommends. We finally got a Whoopie Pie.

This evening was spent on our phones and watching tv in the hotel room because it was dark and we didn't know what else to do.

Maine - Day 6

Our last day...we headed south of Portland to see two lighthouses, the Portland Headlight

which is in a pretty park and tour buses joined us there.

Then a little further is the Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse. Great name!

Kathy rested in the car, Mom enjoyed the view and I scampered on rocks.

Beside the lighthouse is a famous restaurant-Two Lights, there was a great view and we got three things to split and all were the same size-whoopie pie, blueberry pie and a burger. After this we drove to the airport, turned in our car and hung out before flying back to Texas. First leg I sat by a young guy from Syria interviewing at dental schools, second leg by an Indian family who didn't talk. Back home to Texas! Great trip to Maine, which I had been wanting to visit since I did a report on it in elementary school.