Bar Harbor, Maine/Acadia National Park

Mount Desert Island (MDI) is the second or third largest island off the east coast of the USA. I guess it depends on how you measure it. It is not as big as Long Island but larger than Martha's Vineyard. Slightly more than half of the island is occupied by Acadia National Park, the first NP east of the Mississippi. On the map below the National Park is the area in green. The yellow dots are the areas that we visited and that are mentioned in the blog. We stayed at the KOA which is at the upper left yellow dot. It is about 18 miles from the KOA to Southeast Harbor.

There are four townships on the island. The official names do not correspond to the common names. Bar Harbor is on the east coast of the island. It is the most visited town and the most famous. Northeast Harbor, Southwest Harbor and Somesville are the 3 other towns. Cadillac Mountain is the highest spot (1530 ft.) and provides a fabulous 360 degree view.

There are 6 Airstreams for rent at the KOA on Mount Desert Island

We saw this sign on the trip to Bar Harbor. They serve pizzas and Italians!

I messed up our reservations and we had 2 nights before we could get into the Bar Harbor KOA.
We went to Freeport, Maine. Basically, the whole town is a giant outlet mall. LL Bean is the magnet store in town.

Bar Harbor has a nice downtown marina and dock area.

Main Street, Bar Harbor.

Ellsworth is a working town about 15 miles from Mount Desert Island. We took our Ford Expedition in for servicing and had lunch and visited the downtown while they were working on it.

We were in this restaurant when a woman came over to us and said, "Dr. DiBona ?!!" Her husband was one of my favorite patients in Aiken SC. They lived part about 7 months in South Carolina and 5 months in Maine. Her husband died about a year ago. He was an avid Red Sox fan and we always argued about who was the best team, the Sox or the Phillies. The Phillies won it all in 2007 and the Sox in 2008. We were hoping for a Phillies- Red Sox World series in 2011 but both teams were eliminated in early rounds of the playoffs. I hope the Sox are in first place in heaven.

Anyone know what a "Sestercentennial" is?  The next photo will tell you.

250 Years!

Our first three days on MDI were cloudy, misty, and rainy. We still managed to get 2 nice bike rides on the Carriage Roads in the Acadia National Park.

Northeast Harbor has a quaint main street. It was very foggy as we entered the town.

Northeast Harbor

Northeast Harbor

Northeast Harbor

Acadia National Park has 45 miles of carriage roads which were developed by the Rockefeller family.

Acadia National Park 

Acadia National Park 

Acadia National Park, the Brown Gate

Southeast Harbor was having its' Flamingo Festival while we were there. But no Airstreams in sight!!

Southeast Harbor

Chicken was $4.99/lb

Most menus had "Whoopies" for dessert.
They are made of a large flat chocolate cupcake sliced in half and filled with a whipped filling.

Southeast Harbor

Lobster traps in Southeast Harbor

Southeast Harbor

Somesville is a lovely town in the center of the island. 

Somesville 

What beautifully manicured homes in Somesville 

This woman sat next to me at the Cadillac Mountain visitors center and said, "89". I thought she was speaking to the temperature, which was about 80 F. Her daughter explained that it was her 89th birthday that day. Happy Birthday!

The view from Cadillac Mountain

Rosie and Debbie enjoying a walk

Acadia National Park is very popular and Cadillac Mountain is one of its' main attractions.
No "getting away form it all' here.

As we leave Bar Harbor/Mount Desert Island/Acadia National Park we are reminded of how lucky we are to live in such a wonderful, beautiful country and how great freedom is! We are truly blessed, we Americans, and Debbie and I. We know it and remind ourselves of it every day.

Ciao, Frank