MAINE-LY RAIN (DAY TWO)

September 5th ....  Remnants of ISSAC came through with heavy rains and some wind creating a gloomy Maine day.  A cruise ship was in the harbor so we figured the streets, restaurants and shops would be full of cruisers, so took a drive around Mt Desert Island to all the little towns and harbors along the way.

Southwest Harbor,  the “land of the rich”, we skipped.  Headed  down to Northeast Harbor which is more of a working harbor.  We stopped for lunch at a lobster pound in a little town of Bernard and we’re getting the jist of the lobster pounds. 

Pick a lobster running around $8.50/lb and any sides run $2 unless you get the dinner which has cole slaw, corn on the cob and blueberry bread for $30.  The steamers were right out front and the lobsters were waiting to be cooked!  

This time we opted for lobster rolls hoping to find a place to buy some lobsters and bring them home! 

Many, many years ago when I was camping in Maine, I saw a pile of wooden lobster traps for sale alongside the road.  I stopped and bought two, $5 each, and brought them home, cleaned them up, scraped off the barnacles and had glass tops put on them to make coffee tables.  I had these for years, finally ending up in Florida as planters in my gardens before the sun took its toll on the wood.

Today your lobster trap table would be green or yellow plastic covered metal.  It may be practical, but not as charming as the weathered wooden ones.   I do want to bring home some of the wooden buoys to hang on my porch.  Those are still charming.

Visited Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse which is a private residence manned by the US Coast Guard.  You can walk down to the lighthouse and see the craggy shore.  Unfortunately the lighthouse was being repaired and covered with scaffolding so didn’t make a great “lighthouse picture”.   

 As we walked down the path, the little squirrels were busy, busy running under our feet and eating the pine cones.  This one didn’t even move away as I got closer; just set himself up for a better shot! 

 We stopped at a working wharf to see how much the lobsters were.  Crates of salt dried herring were sitting alongside the walls to be sold to the fishermen as bait.  A boat was unloading for the day and the forklift truck was heading down the dock to pick up some crates.  We can pick up fresh lobsters for $5.45/lb which is the cheapest I’ve seen them.   That’s the retail price and it’s a deal!

Many of the boats in the harbor are on mooring balls.  What I found interesting is that in many harbors they have floating docks with moorings on each side and on the ends.  A lot of the Lobster boats use these as they can unload their traps right onto the floating dock and transfer to the dinghy.    Wonder if this kind of mooring would work in FLA??

Tried a different route across the island to see what would be the best departure with the MH.  Ended up in downtown Bar Harbor so decided that one wouldn’t do.  We’d like to avoid a tight intersection in the heart of the town.

Last night I walked over to the Amphitheater for the Ranger’s Talk.  They have a very large screen and speaker system.  The program was on Art in Nature and very interesting.  Paintings dating back to the mid-1800’s of Acadia scenes were discussed.   Acadia has always been a great draw for artists because if its majestic shoreline and mountains that drop to the sea.   It was a great way to end a day.

0906 – MAINELY HANGIN’ AROUND

With Hurricane Leslie coming up the coast, we took a drive over to Thunderhole to see if the waves were kicking up.  As we were standing there, we could hear the roar of the waves as they came into the “hole”.  

The Ranger said that during the height of August season last year, a hurricane came up the coast creating huge swells.  There were 10,000 people parked on both sides of the road walking all over Thunderhole.  Several were swept out to sea to be rescued but a child didn’t make it.  Today people were ducking under the barricades to get closer to the water.  Idoits!

I learned that our Cadillac was named after Cadillac Mountain.  Yellowstone was the first National Park and Acadia was the first National Park east of the Mississippi.  Cadillac Mountain is the highest peak on the east coast. 

Champlain came down and discovered Acadia I think by crashing into Mt Desert.  He wanted it for France and that meant wars...of course.  Acadia is made up of Isle of Haute (pretty tall in French), Schoodic Penninsula and Mt Dessert.  Schoodic Penninsula was donated by two sisters who didn’t want it to be named anything French.  The head of the NP Service suggested Acadia and they were happy …. guess they didn’t know it was French. 

The Granite from Mt Desert and surrounding areas has been used in buildings throughout the US.  The feldspar gives it the pink hue.  There are many, many quarries in this part of Maine digging out hundreds of millions year old granite.

We decided to spend the afternoon downtown in Bar Harbor.  Picked up a boxed lunch of lobster rolls, clam chowder and blueberry pie and sat down on the water at the harbor to eat lunch.  Dave caught up on emails as we have no phone or mifi service out at the CG, and I walked around town to see what I could buy!

Lots of restaurants and small hotels, B&B’s.  Gift shops that started repeating themselves.  I figured the best places to eat here are out of town.  Each restaurant out does the other with prices (upward).  They say there aren’t many people here.  I’d hate to be here in August when upwards of 10,000++ visit the area.

Walked back around to the harbor and we left to find the brewery we saw the other day.  Stopped in, had some tastings, and headed back to Blackwoods.   Took the scenic route back through Acadia National Park Loop Road.  It was beautiful.