We left Lincoln with a fairly long drive ahead of us, another of those “traveling” days. The first part of the drive was very scenic as we drove back through Franconia Notch and had an even better view of the peaks covered in foliage.
After a few hours we crossed the border into our 49th state, it’s taken us 9 trips to the USA to get to this and exciting to think we only have one more to go. Bring on 2023! As we drove through the Maine woods you realise that Moose are a big deal here. There’s many roadsigns warning you to keep an eye out for them, but the only one I saw was definitely NOT going to charge us 😉
Our destination and “home” for the next three nights is Bar Harbor, a seaside town on Mt Desert Island that is the closest town to Acadia National Park. It’s in the area of Maine that they call “DownEast” and after we checked in to our hotel we walked down and had a look at the harbour front area. Bar Harbor is a very popular tourist destination, and we found out on arrival that it’s also a popular cruise port. As well as all the fishing and small tourist and leisure craft there was a huge Cruise ship moored out in Frenchman’s Bay.
Coastal Maine is renowned for its seafood and particularly for its lobsters. Every restaurant in town serves lobster ( in some form or another) even the Pizza and Indian restaurants! Lobsters, moose and various nautical items are the main theme in all the souvenir shops. There are many restaurants, but they need every one of them, the competition for a table in the evening is pretty fierce. We had a delicious meal of clam chowder and fish and chips at a harbourside restaurant called Testas – from our seat we could see the cruise ship sailing away.
We had an early start next morning as we wanted to get ahead of the crowds visiting Acadia National Park. There is a one way loop road that circles the park with parking spots and overlooks scattered along it’s length. The first half follows the shore and then turns in past the very pretty lake in the park called Jordan Pond. In busy times the parking lots and overlooks fill up and the park service offer a free bus that loops the drive, however we wanted to drive it ourselves and stop to walk some of the Ocean Trail so we set out early. It had rained overnight and was grey all morning but the views were still lovely.
After we drove the loop road we headed over to the other side of the island to see the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. Photos of this one are very common in advertising for the area but we discovered that getting the “perfect” shot was well nigh impossible – first we had to queue for quite a while to get a spot in the carpark and then had to scramble out over high rugged oceanside rocks to try to capture the photo. We’ve decided the “perfect” shot is only possible from the water! But it was fun climbing out over the rocks anyway.
WE drove back to Bar Harbor to find lunch. We were both keen to have the signature lunchtime meal here, a lobster roll. We found a seat at Cherrystones restaurant and had a really tasty lunch.
After lunch we were booked on another popular activity, a lobster boat sightseeing cruise. I’d researched the available options and had selected “Lulu’s Lobster Boat” . We strolled around the shorefront again as we waited for our departure time.
There was a new cruise ship in the harbour today. The number of cruise ships visiting the harbour has been growing every year ( barring the last two “Covid” years), During September and October they have had a new ship every day. We’ve noticed how crowded it is in the little town during the day when the cruise passengers flood the streets ( some of these ships have 3000+ passengers). It’s become so bad that the town council recently voted in a motion to cap the number of cruise ships from next year.
We picked up our tickets for the lobster cruise and waited where we were told “near the whale”.
The little boat arrived and picked up the 37 passengers. It had been very mild but felt much colder as we headed out across the bay. Our first stop was Egg Rock Island where we saw the lighthouse and the resident seals basking on the rocks.
Then we cruised to Lulu’s Lobster traps and the captain hauled up a couple of the traps. The tour guide had given us a really very interesting talk about the history of lobstering in Maine as well as what it takes to become a licenced lobster fisherman and how variable the pricing of lobster is. When the traps came up she brought around the catch of lobsters and I now know more about lobster anatomy and habits than I ever thought possible! She also showed a few crabs that had crawled into the traps as well. Anyone who wanted to hold a lobster was welcome , I was keen, Neil was not!
Back on shore we rested back at the hotel a little before dinner. I’ve been congratulating myself on my hotel choice here. Parking in town is next to impossible almost all day but as our hotel is close to the center of town we’re able to walk to the restaurants, shops and harbour whenever we want. We were a little later going down to dinner tonight and found there was a wait at several of the harbourside restaurants, so we went back up the side street a little and ate at the “Route 66” restaurant instead. The interior theming was all 50’s and 60’s signs and memorabilia but they still served lobster, crab cakes and chowder along with the burgers you’d expect. WE had a nacho dip for appetizer and then Neil had a tasty seafood pasta and I had a delicious blackened salmon.
On our final full day in Bar Harbor we had two plans – one was to drive up to the peak of Cadillac Mountain which is in the center of Acadia National park. This is so popular that you have to reserve a timed entry between the months of May-October. Our booking was for 9am and we were at the entry station right on the dot. It was grey again this morning but the views out over the island and out to the ocean were lovely.
After that we set out on the plan for the rest of the day. When we originally planned this trip Neil realised that Bar Harbor was about 2 1/4 hours drive from West Quoddy head lighthouse which is at the Easternmost Point of the United States… so of course we had to go there! The nearby town of Lubec is, of course, the most easterly town in the USA and is also on the Canadian border. The drive up was quite pretty in parts, more lovely foliage and we eventually arrived in the little town.
We walked along the main street of town which was pretty quiet. They do have a reasonable number of visitors here in the summer but by now things were starting to close for the season. This town used to be one of the largest Fish Canning locations in the USA and there are the remnants of some of the original buildings in a small museum – which was closed! Down by the water we waved at the Canadian lighthouse across the narrows.
Luckily we found a busy little restaurant at Fishermans Wharf where we had some tasty Maine crab cakes looking out across the water to Canada.
After lunch we drove the short distance to see the West Quoddy head Lighthouse and to set foot at the most Eastern spot in the USA.
The drive back was in the sunshine and I couldn’t resist taking more pics of the fall foliage.
Tonight we didn’t have to walk far to have a lovely meal at the Atlantic Brewing Company Taproom. They usually just do bar snacks but are currently serving an Oktoberfest menu of German favourites. After all the seafood we’ve had we both enjoyed a change, I had a schnitzel and Neil a selection of sausages – and Neil thoroughly enjoyed sampling their range of brews!
We’ve really enjoyed the last few days, Bar Harbor is very touristy but it’s been fun. Tomorrow we head south.