The main part of the trip, in Maine!!
We arrived Monday evening and walked around Bar Harbor, deciding on Thai for dinner. After some walking around, we headed back to our hotel to get settled in.
Tuesday was our first full day in Bar Harbor. We were excited to grab some breakfast at the SunRise Café. Brian had a lobster crepe and I had the Nutella banana crepe.
After filling our bellies, we drove to Acadia National park and got a park pass. The park was crazy busy with people. We decided to drive the full park loop and farther over to NorthEast Harbor where we grabbed some lunch and then some cupcakes since we passed a little bakery, SeaSide Deli and Sweets.
After enjoying some food, we continued on to SouthWest Harbor and stopped at Echo Lake Beach. It was so pretty there, but a little chilly to be swimming. (we actually did head back here and take a dip on Wednesday)
We then headed down to Bass Harbor Lighthouse. This was somewhat of a mistake because there is a tiny road that leads to this lighthouse and a tiny parking lot. The cars were backed up the road, but it was very difficult to turn around so once you were in line, you were stuck for a while. We waited it out, about 30 minutes or so before we could grab a parking spot. It was very beautiful, but not sure it was entirely worth the long wait.
By then it was getting late and close to dinner. It was time to drive back to Bar Harbor and find some food. We ended up eating at Side Street Café and this was a dinner that stood out to me. I had a black bean wrap and we started with delicious pita and hummus. At first, I wasn’t super hungry, but everything was so delicious.
Wednesday morning we planned to drive up Cadillac Mountain for the sunrise, since we did the sunset last year. Well…the park added toll booths and we found out we have to reserve a spot in advance to drive up. This is definitely better crowd control, but we didn’t know. So there we were up before sunrise and couldn’t get to the spot. We ended up driving part of the park loop and seeing the sunrise from another spot without having to pay anything extra. However, it was quite cloudy with chances of scattered rain the week we were there, so the sunrise wasn’t the best anyway. It was a little disappointing, but hey we were up bright and early for sure.
After the sunrise, Brian wanted some coffee and food. We had walked around town the previous day and I noticed a smoothie place, Thrive Juice Bar. Since they were open early, we decided to go there. Brian had a breakfast sandwich and I had a mint green smoothie.
After getting some breakfast, rain came through for a bit. We had planned to do a hike, but due to the rain we opted to just head back to the hotel. I was more than ok with that because we had been so on the go the whole trip. It was nice to have some time to watch some youtube videos and get in a quick bodyweight workout while Brian napped. It’s a good thing he sleeps like a rock.
After a chill morning, we grabbed lunch at The Chart Room. I had another delicious wrap. I was really on a wrap kick. Then Brian wanted to go check out a brewery and did some tastings.
Since we had a while before low tide, we got swimsuits on and went back to Echo Lake. I watched Brian brave the water first and then took a short dip myself and we had fun with the Go Pro.
Later in the afternoon, we waited for low tide and crossed to Bar Harbor Island and did the hike up to the peak. It was a short little hike and we had plenty of time starting at the beginning of low tide. While we had waited for low tide, we actually met a person who was currently living the van life. She is able to work remotely from her van and travel different spots. Something we both aspire to. Maybe one day. As we chatted, it reminded me about something I love with vacation, just meeting different people and hearing their stories.
Wednesday evening we decided to order some BBQ and eat at the hotel. We sure did a lot of eating out, but it was nice to have take out and catch a movie on TV before crashing for the night.
Thursday morning we had a boat lighthouse tour scheduled at 9:30. We got into town at 8am for breakfast. The first place we checked out had an hour wait already by that time so we knew we couldn’t wait around. We ended up at another restaurant around the corner and I don’t remember the name. I had some delicious peanut butter bacon pancakes. I have really learned to go with the flow more because although I was disappointed in not getting into the one place, I was very pleased with my breakfast.
I’m not so keen on boat rides because I get motion sick on them easily, but I knew it was something Brian wanted to do. We couldn’t have asked for better weather though because it was sunny and beautiful. I stayed seated at the back of the boat for the majority of the ride, but I did get up and take some photos with my phone around some lighthouses. I really enjoyed the ride back when we saw the sea lions in the water. Brian took the camera and captured photos from the front. I just enjoyed listening to some of the history. I wish I could remember which lighthouse was which, but I didn’t take down notes. However, please enjoy these beautiful photos.
For lunch on Thursday we ate our leftover BBQ which was perfect. We then headed out of Bar Harbor for a bit, checking out a L L Bean Outlet store, but we both left empty handed from there. We then had a nice visit with one of Brian’s family friends and chatted for a while, enjoying the water view from her house. It was nice to get out of the tourist area of Bar Harbor.
Brian found another lobster spot for dinner, because when in Maine…while I ate a veggie wrap that was pretty good.
Then it was time for our mini golf date. It wasn’t crowded at all and at most we had to wait for 1 group of people to go. We made it through both courses. I scored 1 hole in one on each course. It’s always exciting when that happens! I beat Brian in the first course, but he won the second and won overall with the least points. It was still a very fun evening.
Friday was time to pack up.
I decided to stop here and continue the last part of our trip in a part 3.
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So many lighthouses! They look just like the one we saw in San Diego.