Daily Archives: August 24, 2009
Bar Harbor and Bubbles…
Today we made the 50 mile trip down to the Bar Harbor area to see some of Maine’s Atlantic coast. The drive was pretty uneventful, except for a 25 minute wait right outside of Ellsworth for road work. Luckily, by the time we came home they were finished for the day.
Right after we got into the Bar Harbor area, we stopped for lunch at a small seafood place called Gateway Diner and had lobster rolls and sweet potato fries, and then split a pumpkin crumb pie with ice cream. Great food, but unfortunately for me, the place also had a gift shop with a lot of moose stuff.
Mucho $$$$ later, we stopped at the Bar Harbor Visitor’s Center right down the street to check out a tip that the lady at the diner mentioned about a loop road through Acadia National Park.
Getting directions, we headed out around the loop.
The first place we stopped was a scenic viewpoint overlooking Frenchman Bay, and this was just the start of a lot of beautiful scenery.
Frenchman Bay
The dock area on the right side of the picture is Bar Harbor.
The next stop was Sand Beach.
Sand Beach
Although the beach was closed today, apparently people really swim her, even though the water temp usually doesn’t get much out of the 50’s.
And some of the other views in the area are amazing.
Sand Beach 2
Sand Beach 3
Sand Beach 4
Sand Beach 5
Leaving the Sand Beach area, we drove down to a spot that unfortunately has been in the news lately.
The area is called Thunder Hole because of the noise of the waves when the right conditions makes the sounds reverberate and sound like thunder.
The area is also popular because you can go out on a rock that juts out into the Atlantic ocean and stand where the waves come in over your feet when the tide is right.
Thunder Hole
Thunder Hole 2
This point is where about 20 people were smashed by a 25 foot wave caused by a combination of high tide and Hurricane Bill. 11 people were hospitalized with broken bones, and 3 people, a 7 year old girl, her father, and an unrelated 12 year old girl, were swept out to sea in the 55 degree water.
The 12 year old girl and the father were pulled from the water by the Coast Guard, but his 7 year old daughter was later found dead.
When we were there, the area was still closed off, but a ranger said the waves have to get over the top of the handrail before it’s closed off.
Leaving the area, we drove further around the loop to more fantastic scenery.
Thunder Hole 3
Thunder Hole 4
Thunder Hole 5
Thunder Hole 6
Thunder Hole 7
Thunder Hole 8
Toward the end of the 27 miles we passed the Jordan Pond Inn, a restaurant we had been told about and thought we would later have dinner there.
Leaving the loop, we headed over to Bar Harbor to look around. The first thing Jan found, wouldn’t you know it, was a couple of moose stuff gift shops.
She really wanted this one, but we couldn’t figure out how to get it in the rig.
Wicker Moose
So she settled for trying on the latest in moose wear.
Moose Hat
Walking down the hill we were able to look out over Bar Harbor itself.
Bar Harbor
And of course the many flower beds everywhere.
Bar Harbor Flower
One of the ships I noticed in the harbor was a beautiful 4 masted schooner called the “Margaret Todd”.
Margaret Todd
And rather than being an old ship, she’s only about 10 years. She was launched in 1998 and built to give Windjammer cruises to the tourists.
Here’s what she looks like under full sail.
MTodd
Before heading back over to Jordan Pond Inn for dinner, we drove down to the end of Bridge St. to take a look.
Bar Island
When it’s low tide, a sandbar is revealed that extends over to Bar Island in the distance, allowing people to walk over to the island. Unfortunately, at high tide it just looks like a boat launch ramp. Timing is everything!
Our dinner at Jordan Pond Inn was fantastic and we had a great meal. The restaurant was really something,
Jordan Pond Inn
and the scenery was something else.
The view from the outside dining are is of an island called “The Bubbles”
The Bubbles
Of course, the locals call it by another ‘B’ word, but I’ll leave it as an excercise for the reader to figure out what the word is.
After a really great day, we finally headed home about 7 pm. Luckily, the morning’s road work was over, so we were home in about an hour.
Today is our last day here in Bangor. Tomorrow we head about 130 miles northeast to Houlton, ME, which is about 2 miles from the Canadian border.
We’ll stay there for three or four days, cleaning up some loose ends before we head over the border.
More later…
