Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park

When people would ask us where we were headed on vacation this year, more often than not we would tell them Acadia National Park.  And we were finally there – three nights spent in Bar Harbor along with two days in Acadia.

We stayed at the Bar Harbor Motel after it was recommended to us by friends who had been just recently before we began planning our trip.  This was one of the first lodgings that I reserved and then built the rest of the trip around it.  It’s a good thing we reserved early because many of the hotels and other accommodations in Bar Harbor had been fully booked for months before we were there.

The hotel is cute, very retro-themed.  The property has multiple bungalows, each with four rooms.  Ours was located towards the back of the property, not too far from the laundry room and ice machine.  It was a couple of minutes walk to the front of the property for breakfast or to catch the Island Explorer shuttle.  The room had a couple of chairs and small table on the porch, so we enjoyed sitting out in front of our room each afternoon.

The Island Explorer is a free shuttle bus service that has several routes that take you into Bar Harbor’s downtown, or around to multiple points of interest throughout Acadia National Park.  There was a stop directly in front of our motel, and there was one across the street.  We used the shuttle the first afternoon to figure it out as we had a schedule to keep the next morning and wanted to be sure we knew where to be and when to be there.  From the time we got to the motel until we left three days later, we did not move the car once!

During our time in Bar Harbor, we ate at two restaurants that I had identified as good gluten-free options:  Side Street Café and Geddys.  I was able to have fried fish at Geddys – it was so good!  We also got an ice cream one afternoon; I couldn’t decide on what flavor to get, so I had a scoop of maple walnut and a scoop of blueberry.

On the day we arrived in the area, we stopped at the Acadia Gateway Center which serves as a visitor center and a parking lot where you can catch the Island Explorer so you don't have to drive into Bar Harbor or find parking in the area.  This is where we got a tutorial on how the Island Explorer worked and were able to work out the timing for the places we wanted to go over the next two days.  I was also able to get my passport book stamped and pick up the souvenirs we wanted.

For our first full day at Acadia, I had booked a Carriage Ride for 11 AM.  The weather that morning was perfect.  We got the Island Explorer down to Village Green in downtown Bar Harbor where we then got on the shuttle that took us to Sand Beach which was on the way to the Wildwood Stables where we were to meet the carriage ride tour.  Because we were using the shuttle, we had to pay attention to the time, but we also wanted to make good use of our time.  That’s why we went to Sand Beach before heading to the stables.

Sand Beach is named that because it’s the largest place in Acadia where there is actually sand on the beach.  Although there are also a lot of rocks.  This isn’t really a place you’d go to the beach for a beach day (if you're from Florida), although I guess if you didn’t have any preconceived ideas about what a beach day might look like, you could probably make a nice day of it here.  It was pretty to look at.  Nearby is Beehive Mountain where a lot of people were hiking.

We got to the stables about an hour earlier than we needed to, but it worked out great because we just really enjoyed hanging out in the quiet and the fresh air.  We met several people who came and went while we were there, so that was fun to talk with them.  It kinda reminded us of being on a cruise ship in the way people were easily engaging in conversation.

Our carriage ride was an hour-long trek on one of the Rockefeller Carriage Roads of Acadia.  There were about a dozen of us in the back of the wagon that was pulled by Max and Little Bill.  Although at first I thought our carriage driver said the horse’s name was Moon Blll… which I like better!  They were beautiful gray draft horses, and they were so strong.  During the ride, the guide gave us a lot of information along with some tall tales about the area; he really made it interesting and fun for the kids who were on the tour, too.

The next place we stopped at was Jordan Pond.  This place was so crowded, but to be fair, we were there around 12:30 and it is the only place along the Loop Road that you can get food.  There were a lot of people trying to park so we were glad we were on the shuttle.  But it was worth weaving through the crowd to get to the lawn to look at the pond and its nearby mountains known as the Bubbles.

We got the shuttle from Jordan Pond up to the Hulls Cove Visitor Center.  In hindsight, this was a waste of time because they didn’t have anything different there than they did at the Gateway Center (except the NPS stamp for Hulls Cove was there).

We went back to the Village Green to get the shuttle back to the motel.  While downtown, we got a late lunch and then wandered around the town a bit before heading back to the motel for the rest of the day.

The following morning we had an early start, too, as we were taking the ferry to Winter Harbor so we could get a look at Schoodic Point.  The Schoodic Peninsula is the only part of Acadia National Park that is on the mainland of the U.S.; the rest is over on Mount Desert Island and surrounding area.  The ferry left from near the Bar Harbor Inn on the waterfront.  There were two cruise ships coming in, so we knew town would be busy, so we were happy to be going over to Schoodic for the morning.

The ferry ride was on a smaller boat.  It was windy and cold, so we sat inside on the way over with the idea that we could sit outside when it was a little warmer on the return trip.  It took about 50 minutes to cross; driving over would have been well over an hour.  The Island Explorer runs a shuttle around Schoodic Peninsula that makes a loop six times during the day, so we had to figure out what we wanted to do so we wouldn’t miss the shuttle back to the ferry.  They work in conjunction with the ferry service so the arrival times at the ferry dock coincide with the ferry arrival and departure times.

We got off the shuttle at Schoodic Point which is the main attraction in this part of Acadia.  It’s right at the end of the peninsula and really shows off the ruggedness of Maine’s coastline.  There were large rocks that you could climb out on, and because they were dry, we went out a ways on them.  I wouldn’t have attempted it if they were wet or if there was ocean spray because they could easily be precarious.  We spent about 45 minutes there and then the shuttle came back.  We were supposed to take the 2:30 shuttle back to Bar Harbor, but we really didn’t want to see any of the rest of the area (as a stop, we enjoyed seeing it from the shuttle), so we called and rescheduled to the noon return.

The ferry ride back was, as predicted, better from a wind and temperature perspective, and the sun was pretty cooperative for some pictures.  I sat out back but had to keep my hood on over my head to stay warm.  DH stayed inside for most of the return trip.  It felt so refreshing with the sea air.

When we got back, we got some ice cream and went back to the motel where we did some laundry.  Later we made dinner in the room (microwaved mashed potatoes, turkey, tomatoes) and just enjoyed the cool weather and hanging out on the front porch.  There may have also been a nap or two involved!

Our observations about Acadia National Park:  it was too busy!  They were talking about how busy it has been all year, and they are considering what to implement to help with crowd control.  We wouldn’t be surprised to see timed-entry like they do at other national parks.  We also didn’t get any “money shots” with our photos, most likely because we didn’t ascend to any mountain tops.  This is definitely a hiker and climber national park.  If we were to ever come back, I would book a tour that takes me up to the top of Cadillac Mountain (rather than trying to drive or hike ourselves) so I could see it, but honestly, I’m just as content to look at other people’s pictures who have put the work into reaching the top themselves.  The shuttle service was dependable and we would recommend using it if what you want to do will work with their schedule.  We saw full parking lots and cars parked on the side of the roads around the whole Loop road.  Maybe it’s because of the time of year or because it had been rainy the day before we got there, but you certainly can’t look around if you’re driving.

We left Bar Harbor on Thursday morning, headed towards Portland with an overnight in Brunswick.  But that’s for another blog entry.

~ Cindy D.