After 5 days of driving, we finally arrived in Bar Harbor Maine and setup the RV just outside Acadia National Park. This stop is the start of our summer journey, Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. On this first leg we are joined by Irene and Jim who live in Boston, a mere 5 hours away, and we are all enjoying their first visit to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.
When in Maine . . . . Skip the fancy restaurants and choose a lobster shack. Wearing plastic bibs, we got down and dirty, tearing a lobster apart with our fingers. Sitting elbow-to-elbow at wooden tables on a warm evening, with a breeze off the harbor, this is the perfect way to say, “Welcome to Maine!”
What makes Acadia so special for me is the juxtaposition of granite mountains and ocean, dense forest and sandy coves, lakes and tidal pools. The geological extremes are the result of glacial activity and a melting process that totally shaped the area. It was the first National Park east of the Mississippi.
The weather on the Maine coast can be shifty. Up on Cadillac Mountain the sea mist rolled in, you couldn’t see a thing. Then, the wind would blow and off in the distance white puffs attached themselves to islands. It is all very moody, and in the end was fun to photograph.
We enjoyed a two hour excursion along the park’s “carriage roads” that loop up hill and down dale. “About 45 miles of gravel road were designed and built in the early 20th century by John D Rockefeller Jr.”. The financier once owned much of the park’s 75 square miles and spent summers here. On these lanes, no motorized vehicles are allowed (not even e-bikes), horses do the work; we admired the scenery in comfort, without building up a sweat – as we traveled over – or under – elegant stone bridges. We saw maples, aspen, birch and soaring white pines.
The best way to view the park, of course, is from the water. We chose the 4-masted “Margaret Todd” sunset tour. The boats’ crew hoisted the sails, we traveled into the bay, with a glass of wine, live music, good friends, this had all the right elements. Except one…. the sun. Unfortunately, the clouds became thicker, the mist turned to rain, yes, the weather here is shifty. After all the point of being at sea is all about enjoying the ride, feel the boat’s moods and the weather whipping the sails.
Then there are our trusty kayaks, for years they have provided us with exercise, beauty, and a singular way to leave people behind. I love being in our inflatable Hobies’, especially when the loons are wailing.
The next day Dave and I took a course on photographing coastlines. I hope it serves us well as we travel through the Canadian coasts.
