7-5-2010 Maine Day 2

Breakfast at Hotel and off to Bar Harbor. The countryside was more open – very rural. You could tell by some of the places along the road you were headed to a vacation destination – kids amusement parks, pee wee golf, water parks, but it was not too heavily commercialized – not like Myrtle Beach. We noticed a steady stream of cars headed the opposite direction. Picked up lunch and fruit and drinks in Ellsworth – got a card for the local grocery chain and saved $11! We first went to the visitor center, got oriented and our pass. We decided to drive the loop Road this first day and we first went to Cadillac Mountain, the highest in the park. The visitor Center flick said it was the place that first got sunlight on some days of the year???? We could see all around the Northern part of Desert Island and the haze was not too bad. The weather was slight overcast and not too hot, so it was a good day for this. Called Tim from the top of the Mountain – I was reminded of our trip to Philmont and the memory-planting session at the top of one of the hills on the first day. Long time ago but still there in my mind.

We then drove to Sand Beach, stopping along the way to poke around various places. We could see the Egg Rock lighthouse in the harbor from the road. (Chalk up another lighthouse!) Sand Beach parking was jammed – the crowds in the park are not too bad – the Visitor Center was pretty packed but traffic is light and most stops were not crowded at all. We ate lunch by the Ocean, at Otter cliffs next to a trail between Thunder Hole and Seal Cove. Very nice – the air was very fresh, full of sea-smell and the scenery was gorgeous. Nice Day.

We finished the drive with a nature trail walk by Jordan Pond, saw huge tadpoles in a stream, a diving Loon (under the water for 30 seconds or so, and more great Mountain views with reflecting calm water).

Back to Bar Harbor (Ba Haba) to check in at B&B – nice room, simple but comfortable. On advice of the lady running it, walked down to a restaurant downtown and ordered Lobster – got soft shell for $16 a piece – early bird special. I still found the green goo inside disgusting but the other parts were pretty good. Dessert was apple-blueberry cobbler with blueberry ice cream – when in Maine … After dinner we poked around the downtown shops – it got pretty cold so I bought a Maine sweatshirt and Sue wore it. Sue had remembered to bring a fleece – not I. Went into a naturalist store and got a set of CDs of bird calls – I had been thinking of doing that since we had isolated the Cardinal’s call on one of our recent walks around Alexandria. And it’s vacation. Wound up at the village green where the community band was warming up for an 8pm concert. Waiting, we went into a beer brewing store and I got three bottles of local brew. Listened

to a bit of the concert – they weren’t all that good, but enthusiastic – and then walked around some side streets – lots of B&Bs and old ones to boot. This has been a vacation spot for well over 100 years. On the way back to the hotel we came across an old Episcopal Church with Tiffany windows – just like Staunton, VA. It was closed – have to go back. The Church is named for an original Jesuit colony on one of the small islands.