Advertisement
Published: August 1st 2008
Edit Blog Post
Hello, Axel here! Laurie and I went to Bar Harbor, Maine last weekend for a quick getaway. I had never been to Maine before, but heard from my friend Dave that Bar Harbor was an amazingly beautiful place and definitely worth the trip.
So, based on such good advice, I made a reservation at a Bed & Breakfast right in the center of Bar Harbor for Friday and Saturday night (12-14 October). I was able to sneak out of school a little earlier than usual on Friday and headed straight for Boston to pick Laurie up from work. Theoretically, Newport to Bar Harbor, ME is a 6.5 hour trip which would get us there for a late dinner. Accordingly, I had made reservations at what seemed to be a nice restaurant in town. My perfectly crafted plan however, did not account for one critical detail, having to pick Laurie up at work in downtown Boston...in the middle of rush hour. 8.5 hours after I left Newport, and one disgruntled Subway dinner later, we arrived in a sleeping Bar Harbor, Maine...worn but relieved.
Our little roof over our heads, the Ullikana (http://www.ullikana.com/) turned out to
be a real gem. Laurie and I would recommend it in a heartbeat, and we plan on returning to see Roy and Louis (the friendly black Lab with the baritone voice -- prounounced Louie, like in French) again. As promised, the room key and a little note awaited us in the warm and inviting foyer of the Inn. Although we were tired from the long drive along the wet twisty roads of Maine, the sight of our chocolate-coated strawberries and chilled champagne was very welcome indeed (a tradition of ours).
The town of Bar Harbor is located on Mount Desert Island (MDI to the locals) just to the Northeast of Penobscot Bay in Maine. It first achieved a certain renown in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when the so-called robber barons of the era built themselves fantastic "rustic" lodges on the island. Most famous of these men of course, is John D. Rockefeler whose influence on the island's development is still felt today. Rockefeler personally financed the construction of 57 miles of spectacular "carriage roads" throughout the heart of the island to allow him and his guests to enjoy the scenic beauty of the island on
foot or horse-drawn carriage without the interference of the automobile. These roads would have made the Romans, the consumate road-builders of the ancient world, proud. Although they are only surfaced with gravel, they survive practically unmaintained to this day!
Most of the carriage roads are now part of Acadia National Park which also covers almost half of the island. When we come back to Bar Harbor we plan on renting bikes so that we can take advantage of these roads. The park also has a cars-allowed Loop Road, which is mostly a one-way thoroughfare along the Eastern rim of the island. After a nice Saturday morning breakfast at the Ullikana (including poached quince!), we received our "briefing" for the day. This is where Roy pretty much told us what we were going to do that day; "Axel, this is what I want you to do..." Since we didn't have much time on the island, Roy encouraged us to limit ourselves to driving the Loop and stopping at a few picturesque spots for short 1-2 hour hikes--so we did just that.
As you can hopefully see from the pictures below, MDI and Bar Harbor are
a very special place. There is a lot of water on the island and it is teeming with life, even Moose! The weather on Saturday was magnificent, cool (low 60s at noon) and clear. It seemed like at every turn in the Loop road there was yet another magnificent view for us to ooh and aah over. We lucked out in that the fall foliage was at its peak that weekend. Although there are a lot of evergreens on MDI, occasionally we would be dazzled by a splotch of vibrant red or a bright yellow among the dark green firs.
One neat thing about MDI, was the air. It had this amazing pine scent which reminded us of a Christmas tree store. There was also water everywhere. It is a very rocky island and it is not an exaggeration to say that almost everywhere we looked we could see water dripping from overhangs or cascading down rock faces. The audible drip-drip of water was constant and gave the impression of a lush, vibrant ecosystem.
We (or I should say, Laurie) didn't want to leave the island without first
checking out some of the shops in Bar Harbor, so we spent the last few hours of daylight on Saturday checking out the charming little town. Blueberries, lobster and carved lobster trap buoys (go figure) were the major offerings. After a full day taking in Mount Desert Island, we finally came back to a warm fire at the Ullikana just as the evening chill set in (low 40s at night). We washed up for dinner and then made our way downstairs where we met some very interesting well-traveled people who had gathered in one of the common rooms around a blazing wood fire. After sharing travel tales over cups of hot apple cider, Laurie and I headed out for dinner. I had made reservations at a nice restaurant called Michelle's Fine Dining which turned out to be a good decision. It was expensive, but at least both the service and food were up to par. On the menu: fresh caught LOBSTER!! The bisque had big tender chunks of lobster in it, and both my lobster thermidor and Laurie's lobster pasta dish were very satisfying.
Sunday morning involved yet another delicious breakfast and a morning brief from our dear Roy.
We didn't have a lot of time to spend touring the island since we had a 6+ hour drive back to Newport to look forward to, so we decided to concentrate on just seeing one or two things. Roy directed us to Thuya and Asticou gardens on the middle part of the island which he promised wouldn't disappoint. I have to admit I headed out a little dubious that a garden could be worth a trip. I was pleasantly surprised. Thuya was especially beautiful, not to mention the fact that we were ALONE. There was no entry fee, and we were able to simply walk right in. As you can see from the pics, it was very lush and somewhat wild under the trees. A little Eden...
We were anxious to try out the famous Rockefeler carriage roads we'd heard so much about prior to leaving the island, so we did a short loop around one of the ponds on the island. The jury is out: the MDI carriage roads are a great feat of civil engineering. We crossed several impressive bridges made of hewn stone, one of which towered over a ravine
some 60 feet deep with a cascade on one side...beautiful. I only wish we'd thought to bring the camera with us! We finished our jaunt in Bar Harbor with a lunch of lobster rolls and clam chowder right there on the harbor.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.106s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0466s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb