My entire review of our trip up and down the Maine coast is on the Maine forum, but here%26#39;s the Bar Harbor/Acadia portion. Pictures are in my original post on the Maine board.
Bar Harbor: About a 3 hour drive from Portland, we went up 95 to Bangor and then over to Bar Harbor.
We arrived before we could check in so we went directly to Acadia and got our park pass. It was only $10 since it was not peak season yet. We drove the loop road and stopped several times for pictures. Walked down to Sand Beach and got some great photos and experienced first hand how frigid that water is! After we drove the loops we checked in at The Manor House Inn.
It is a beautiful Inn with several cottages to choose from. We stayed in the Acadia Cottage behind the main house. It was built in 2000 and my only complaint is that the wall between our bedroom and the neighbors bathroom was too thin. We tried to keep the A/C or tv on when we were in the room so we didn%26#39;t have to hear too much. But the man next door our first night must have had something his stomach didn%26#39;t like for dinner because we heard him puking several times. Fortunately they left the next day and we didn%26#39;t hear much from the next couple. Our room was large, the bed was comfortable, and the bathroom had a very big 2 person jacuzzi tub. Only 4 rooms in the cottage and there was a nice common room and a great big front porch for us to enjoy. The breakfasts were served buffet style and we could eat it wherever we wanted. They have beautiful porches and gardens, so many places to sit and enjoy breakfast. We ate in the garden the first morning and on the front porch of the main house the next 2 so we could watch the people go by. Even saw a woman walking a pug one morning, and I love pugs! Again the location was just perfect, less than 5 minutes to Main St. Parking at the Inn was a little iffy when they had no vacancies, but we got by and managed to back out of the drive without doing any damage!
Ate at Geddys our first night and the food was mediocre as best. My husband had the island special: clam chowder, lobster, and blueberry pie. Chowder tasted like it was from a can, the lobster tasted about like any lobster I guess, we much prefer other types of seafood, and the blueberry pie did not taste homemade. I had the Italian pizza and it was really not good at all. I ate a couple of slices and my husband who will eat anything finished the leftovers off later that night. Our meal at Geddys was our only really disappointing meal the whole trip. The food was edible just not that impressive and like I said, very mediocre. It kind of reminded me of Joe%26#39;s Crab Shack.
After dinner we drove up Cadillac to watch the sunset. We got there early so we could walk around and explore and take lots of pictures, then we found a rock away from the groups of other sunset watchers and had our own private and quiet view of the sunset. It was so beautiful, a great start to our stay in Bar Harbor.
First full day in Bar Harbor we ate breakfast, walked around Main St. then did a 3 hour sea kayaking tours with Aquaterra Adventures. It was $45 each. They supplied water shoes, a jacket, and all the gear. There were only 6 people in our group. We kayaked from noon-3. My husband loved it, I didn%26#39;t enjoy it quite so much. We didn%26#39;t see much wildlife (we saw what might have been a porpoise but not sure) and I was just flat out scared most of the time. My husband was in charge of steering the kayak and I didn%26#39;t like the feeling of not being in control and having no idea where we were going! The views from the water were pretty and I%26#39;m glad we did it in retrospect but I was so glad when it was over. The guide said that in his 10 years only 2 kayaks have ever capsized but even that didn%26#39;t help me calm down. He was a great guide and we were happy with the experience, I%26#39;m just a wimp and spent much more time stressing about what might possibly happen than enjoying what was actually happening.
After getting cleaned up we had an early dinner at Poor Boys Gourmet at the recommendation of our kayak guide (plus he gave us a coupon!) We got there early so we saved money on their early bird special. DH had baked haddock and I had a huge grilled chicken caeser salad. The food came out very fast, we barely had enough time to eat our bread! We sat on the patio and the breeze felt so nice. DH had a lighthouse ale and I had their home brewed root beer. We heard their desserts were fantastic so we had the blueberry pie with shortbread crust. Everything was so so good. With tip our meal was less than $40 and it was just delicious. I would eat there over and over again if I could.
Played mini golf at Pirates Cove down the road. What a great course! Very well maintained and challenging at times. We did both courses and won a free game that we never ended up having time to play but it never expires so we will be back! Best part was the balls float so my husband was able to retrieve my ball from the water features whenever I overshot!
Second full day in Bar Harbor: After another great breakfast we went back to Acadia for some hiking. We hiked South and North Bubbles, probably took less than 2 hours to do both. As our hiking guide said the hike was ';strenuous but short with a great pay off';. Fantastic views from the top of both. We saw Bubbles Rock and Jordan Pond. After our hike we drove to Jordan Pond House for popovers and lemonade. Afterwards we drove over to Somes Sound to see the fjord. It had clouded up by then and gotten quite foggy so we didn%26#39;t do any more hiking.
Did a bit more shopping in Bar Harbor (got some nice personalized ornaments at a Christmas store) and had another early dinner at McKays Public House. We had the crab cakes as an appetizer, they were delicious and worth the minor allergic reaction I had! DH had the McKays salad and I had a cheeseburger. Their bread was delicious. Another fantastic meal that did not break the bank since we both ordered off the pub menu. Another place I would definitely visit again and again. Since the restaurant is literally a house the rooms were small and pretty quiet, it had a nice atmosphere.
Bar Harbor/Acadia trip reviewThis report is so detailed and information-packed that I think you should make it a ';Go List.';
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