Bar Harbor

Glacial Eratic Rock on Beach

Acadia National Park has always been on my bucket list for national parks, and I am so glad we got to spend a few days exploring the area. First, I did not realize that it is a 47,000-acre Atlantic coast recreation area primarily on Maine's Mount Desert Island, and everyone pronounces the name of the island differently. The island itself is quite large, and the park takes up roughly half of it. As a rock nerd, the first think I noticed was all the glacial formations and the beautiful Maine granite. This is going to be great! But let's talk about Bar Harbor first.

Bar Harbor Harbor

As we came down the eastern side of the island on Route 3 to our hotel, the road was under construction and only the lane going in to town was open. Everyone who checked in (including me) panicked. How will we reach the hotel again if the road doesn't go back north!! The hotel clerk said it had been like that for over a year. And the ENTIRE Visitor's Center for the park was closed. Any other park would have brought in a trailer and set up someplace to answer visitor's questions, so strike one against this park. :(  The road situation was taken care of by a detour from downtown Bar Harbor through the park, where we could re-enter Route 3 southbound towards our hotel, much like using the bypass around Gatlinburg in the Smokies. 

Bar Harbor Mansion now a hotel

Bar Harbor reminded me of Newport, RI in many ways. By the 1880's, the rich and famous tried to outdo each other with entertaining and estates, often hiring landscape gardener and landscape architect Beatrix Farrand, a resident at local Reef Point Estate, to design their gardens. A glimpse of their lifestyles was available from the Shore Path, a walkway skirting waterfront lawns.

Walking across sand bar in Bar Harbor

There actually is a sand bar at low tide from the harbor to Bar Harbor Island which you can walk across, but be careful to check the tides first and give yourself enough time to get back before the tide comes back in, or you may have a long stay on the island.

Cruise Ships

The downtown area of Bar Harbor isn't very large, and parking is very limited. The parking meters on the street take credit cards, so I guess they would just charge you if you were late in getting back- $2.00 per hour. Everything is expensive - restaurants, hotels, you name it. I couldn't believe it when we saw two huge passenger cruise ships in the harbor, accompanied by two smaller cruisers on one day. The town, cognizant of the street congestion that the passengers cause, has capped the daily number of visitors who can come ashore — 3,500 in summer, 5,500 in spring and fall. YIKES! Thank goodness we arrived before the "season" actually began and didn't get caught in any traffic jams. During the season, there is a shuttle service to take you through the park, since the traffic is so bad, but it wasn't operating yet, and we had no trouble.

Waco biplane

We enjoyed our airplane tour around Kauai in Hawaii last year, that we decided to try it again. Only this time we found a bright yellow biplane to ride in. 

View from above

At a speed of only 80 mph, the trip was leisurely with plenty of photo opportunities on the side of the plane where you sat. They asked if either of us were over 300 pounds in weight. Ha! The two of us had a hard time getting both legs inside the front cockpit! I think it was designed for younger more agile people. Next post...Acadia National Park.