Northeast Travels - the grand finale post

Wow! Happy Friday!

If you have been traveling along with me this week, thank you. It was fun to share some of the adventures and different tips we picked up along the way.

Today I will wrap up our visit to Acadia with some stories and photos and then share a few observations I made along the way. If you are planning a trip out there, I suggest doing some research but leaving yourself open to just happening onto some surprises.

There is so much to do and see that you can’t possibly squeeze it all in and remaining flexible is key to enjoying your time.

On Saturday we got a good start visiting the Park. We knew for certain that we wanted to see the Bass Harbor Lighthouse. It was about a half hour drive from our inn. We arrived around 8:30 and there was already a bit of a crowd there.

To get a glimpse of the lighthouse you have to climb out on huge rocks. You can only see it perched on the cliff from closer to the water. It was so peaceful and majestic and we enjoyed once again just finding a place to sit and watching the tide slap up against the rocks.

The next stop we attempted was Seal Harbor, but we found that every road that would get us close to the water was a private drive. We never figured out how to access the Park property to the beach, so we gave up and headed back towards Bar Harbor and the Acadia entrance near there.

Along the way we saw a sign for the Acadia Mountain Trail Head. We parked alongside the road and after a false start that led only down to the water, we found the starting point of the trail.

Signage is an issue on all the trails and somehow we figured out we ended up on one of the passes in spite of the map we were trying to sue. I may have suggested a turn that had resulted in leading us up a steep rocky trail and multiple stairs. We had asked a ranger if we could do the trail and he was skeptical, but the hikers we met along the way encouraged us it was steep and straight up, but keep going.

And so we did.

It took about an hour and a half until we reached the summit. The view was incredible and this newly enrolled Medicare citizen was light hearted and exhilarated to see we had climbed up 681 feet.

We could see the ocean and bays, and it was amazing. The climb down took about 50 minutes and while it was technically down hill, it was still tricky navigating.

From there we drove to Jordan Pond House hoping to get some late lunch, but the wait was too long and the hour was getting closer til our dinner reservations. While I regret saying we never had a popover in this famous dining establishment, we did find an express counter where we purchased a must-have Whoopie Pie and the Blueberry soda they were selling everywhere in Bar Harbor.

Since we had only had one bottle of water to share on the entire mountain climbing adventure, the snack and drinks were golden. We walked down to the pond and just did a short little distance. We made plans to return and do more and headed back to get rested and ready for our dinner reservations.

A store owner had recommended McKay’s, a lovely restaurant with red umbrella tables in the the front and porch or indoor seating in an old home converted into an upscale establishment. We rested and got ready for our final celebration dinner. Since we had time, we did our souvenir shopping and then headed to our table for two on the porch of McKay’s.

It was such a nice evening and the atmosphere and food were perfect. I had the seafood risotto which was jam-packed with fresh lobster, shrimp and some of the best scallops I have ever had. Russ opted for short ribs and if he ever claimed to have had the best beef up this point, it paled in comparison.

Sunday we got up and packed our things, had one last breakfast at the inn and headed to the Park Loop Road. We checked out Otter Cove which was yet another beautiful “beach” made up of the most beautiful rocks. It was lovely and peaceful and this one we had to ourselves.

From there we drove to the Jordan Pond parking lot and got a great spot right by the Pond House. Popovers were a faint hope, but first we decided to walk the carriage trail. This was purported to be a flat and easy path that afforded many beautiful views.

I suggested we go to the right instead of the left. From here we proceeded to walk well over an hour up what was a steady incline. We saw many bikes going both directions the entire time and they earned our undying respect and concern for their mental health.

At one point I saw an arrow indicating the direction to a trail.

I suggested we see what it was.

What it turned out to be was the trail to the top of Mount Penobscot.

Once again we found ourselves scaling rocks and dancing over huge tree roots and maneuvering across creeks. Hikers coming back down assured us we had a long way to go and it was steep and rocky, but we sure would be sad if we quit now.

So we didn’t.

And eventually after scaling boulders that required serious effort, we were on top of the mountain looking out across an expansive, rocky mesa and a view that took our breaths away.

Okay, what breath was left.

We have proof of the elevation of 1194 feet and when we eventually made our descent, we scoffed a the carriage path and finished our hike via the more rocky trail to the edge of Jordan Pond.

We were at the far north end of the Pond and traversed the mile plus trek back around that half of the lake to the Pond House. This path involved more rocks, narrow board walks and increasingly more crowds of people. The whole ting took four and half hours, and since we had only planned to walk a short distance we had not taken water bottles.

Follow me for more hiking tips.

The water bottles were right where we had left them in the car and were hot. They tasted wonderful. We had walked 17, 383 steps and climbed 22 floors…we were satisfied we had left everything on the field. We took a pass on the popovers and bid farewell to Acadia.

It had been a long while since breakfast, so we stopped at one of the many “Lobster Pound” places where pots were boiling non stop. Ironically, for our last meal in the area, we both had barbecue. It smelled so good and was so good and we couldn’t resist. The place was named “Smokey’s BBQ & Lobster Pound” so it seemed like the right thing to do.

Our trip ended in Portland where we had a good night’s sleep and started our trip home.

Here are some observations to share from our time in New England:

<3 Trails in Acadia are not clearly marked, nor are the trail heads. We used maps we got from the hotel so I would strongly recommend visiting the main headquarters of the Park and also either downloading a trail map from an app or purchasing the paper trail map. Please note; there is no cell service in most of the park so you have to have that already saved to phone. Also, even people who had these items were having problems navigating.

The trail we took to the summit of Mount Penobscot did have small blue paint marking patches marking the general direction. As you made your way along, you had to be paying attention because the “trails” don’t really look like trails.

<3 The areas we visited were all so clean. Litter is almost non-existent. I saw one dropped receipt, one lost bracelet and a couple of small orange peels in the entire park and the streets of the towns and villages we visited up and down the coast were void of dropped garbage. New England, please tell us your secret.

<3 We were surprised by the high humidity, lack of air conditioning in stores and restaurants and general moist environment in our hotel rooms.

<3 Blueberry is king here. It is in everything and everything it is in is delicious.

<3 The personalities of the locals is a stern kind of friendly. It took a minute to realize people were trying to be helpful and were not angry with us. Particularly in Boston. This was mostly true of Mainers. A lot of the people working in shops and restaurants in Bar Harbor work seasonally. They live elsewhere and come up for the summer to work the tourist trade.

<3 “Columbus Day” is a marker for the change of season everywhere we went. The way we reference “Labor Day” in the Midwest was kind of how people threw out Columbus Day. They said it’s a big deal there. Not so much here, as we know.

<3 There was a general sense that Mainers are proud of Maine. All the gift shops featured products made in Maine, the people we talked to were big ambassadors of their state and products. It was refreshing. While the roads have a great deal of traffic and the tourist towns are congested, we found almost across the board the driver’s are very courteous.

<3 When selecting trails, take the term “moderate” with a grain of salt. Sea salt, of course, but definitely salt.

<3 Do not hesitate. Do not waiver. Do not question the market price. ORDER THE LOBSTER ROLL and TAKE THE TRAIL

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