Baa Haa Baa (or Bar Harbor to the rest of us!)

Whenever and wherever we travel we use Rick Steves or "1000 Places to see before you die" as a guide for our journey. Maine was listed as having 4 places to see before we die:  the Lobster Festival, Camden for its sail boats, Kennebunkport and Bar Harbor, and Acadia National Park. Today was our day to see Bar Harbor and the Acadia National Park.

We had a 2 1/2 hour drive to get there and though it was 1/2 on the freeway it was a beautiful drive. My first thought was that it reminded me of Flagstaff and then I noticed the trees more closely and saw that they reminded me of the different kinds of Christmas trees we see during the holidays. Some were the beautiful noble firs and some were the scraggly kind of nesting Christmas trees. The forests were green and beautiful and though moose signs were posted we never saw one!

We arrived at Bar Harbor starving and happened to find a restaurant that served lobster, chowder and blueberry pie! All 3 Maine items in one place! We had a delicious lunch/dinner and then went walking down at the Harbor.

Bar Harbor is the playground for anyone who has toys. I have never seen so many canoes, kayaks & bikes on top of cars going in and out. I would say one out of 4 vehicles had something connected to it.

Acadia National Park posseses the unusual combination of ocean and mountain scenery. There is granite everywhere and forests and water. We drove to the highest point, Cadillac Mountain, which offers a spectacular view of the coastline. Though we could have driven the entire loop road (3 1/2 hours min) we decided that since we had (or rather Jim had) another 2 1/2 hour drive home we would cut the loop drive in half.

We decided to take the coastline road home but didn't see much coastline due to the forests. Every once in awhile there would be a clearing and we could see water. Of course along our drive we saw a plethera of blueberry stands, lobster stands, lawn sales (or as we would call a yard sale) and antique shops. Truly this would be an antique shoppers heaven.

It was wonderful to see this part of the country as we haven't ever seen it before. I told Jim that it is really "old" ocean vs "new" ocean. You can feel it in the air and see it in the buildings. How many novels, poems, movies and stories use this as their setting? It's just there and you can't help but feel a part of history just by being here.

We are off tomorow to who knows where. We have no reservations and will drive down the coast a bit and see if we can find a hotel to stay at. Print this post