Jace Vacation Update #5 – Maine is a BIG disappointment

How to describe our 2-week stay in Maine . . . ?

If Jace were to describe it, it would be summed up in one word: “Meh”.

Having never visited the Bar Harbor area before, Barbara and I were looking forward to seeing something new. Everything is new to Jace, so his input didn't matter. Rather than be close to the water, we chose a campground about 20-25 miles as the crow flies away, so that while we were here over the 4^th of July Grover would not be inundated with fireworks being set off over the harbor, and the campground we chose is in a no-fireworks-allowed town called Ellsworth.

Based on the weather, we probably could have gotten away with a campground closer to the water.

Forest Ridge campground is kinda different. I think it wants to be a 55-and-older place to stay but doesn't want to lose the family revenue. Rules regarding don't do this, don't do that, and if you do something we don't like we reserve the right to kick you out without recourse or refund. It's not a very relaxing place to stay, and if we do happen to venture to Bar Harbor again, Forest Ridge will NOT be on our list of places to stay.

But back to the weather.

Maine has been undergoing the wettest summer in recent memory, and our two weeks here have been no exception. Most times it was constant drizzle and low clouds, other times constant rain, and some times even heavy downpours. Maine was, in a word, dreary.

The weather our first week and a half kept us indoors - a lot. It kept us from doing anything but a cursory stop at Schoodic Peninsula, where waves can crash onto a rocky promontory and fly more than 40 feet in the air. It even kept us from doing anything but a drive-through in Bar Harbor proper, which is cute, but very crowded and very touristy. And NOT a place to get caught in rain.

Our first attempt at Schoodic Point was on a foggy day, but still impressive

Our second attempt in week 2 was much sunnier!

Maine might very well go down in Parental Parolees history as the worst place we've ever visited, and we've been to New Jersey!

One highlight was being able to join fellow 2020 Open Road 36LA owners Ed and Kathi Kaminsky for lunch. Ed and I have been email “pen pals” since he found our Parental Parolees blog online, and we've picked each other's brains on various problems over the years. Unfortunately, due to differing schedules and destinations, we've never been able to meet in person. How nice it was to find out they were camping only 20 minutes away from us this summer, and a meet-and-greet was on (even if it was raining that afternoon)! Really nice people (as you would expect), and we had a great time catching up with them.

After a week and a half, the rain had cleared and the sun finally came out, allowing us to get a couple of sightseeing things accomplished in the area.

The first was a drive up Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. Given my LAST experience with a mountain, I was approaching this with a bit of trepidation. Fortunately, the drive up is very comfortable with a wide two-lane road, and plenty of granite evenly spaced on the edges to keep wayward drivers from committing a big mistake. And unlike Mt. Washington, Cadillac Mountain features actual cement and stone trails visitors can walk. Sure, you can venture off the pathways onto naked granite all over the place, and we did, but we had a much better choice of safe and level routes in which to do that.

So no slip and falls for me that day. Grover even enjoyed his afternoon on Cadillac Mountain.

 

The views are spectacular from the summit. You can look down into Bar Harbor, and a good portion of the Mt. Desert area. We spotted a large cruise ship moored outside of Bar Harbor, and many of the islands that form a barrier against the ferocity of the Gulf of Maine. And on our way back to the campground, it was time for Barbara to enjoy her first lobster in almost 40 years!

 

Our friends Ed and Kathi had recommended an Island Cruise boat tour out of Bass Harbor, and we were able to take advantage of our last day's stay in the area with sunny skies and warmer temperatures to enjoy the tour. It's a two-hour boat ride for about 32 people on a converted lobster boat. Captain Eli and his first mate (his teenage daughter) are life-long residents of the area, and his narration of the history and people who make up that part of the Maine coastline makes the time fly by.

Sunny day for a harbor cruise!

The tour takes you past a local lighthouse, large rock formations in the water that are home to many seals (some of whom just stare at you from the rocks while other peek at you from the water), local water fowl and bald eagles (eagles can be terror on baby seals), and a large commercial salmon fishery. It finishes with a stop at one of the 5 lobster pens they have in the water, where the day's catch is brought up for inspection. Crabs are thrown back into the water, while legal lobsters are brought home for the captain's family dinner. Jace had a stare-down with one member of the day's catch, but wouldn't touch him.

 

Seals hanging out on rocks

These seals are very curious about us!

One of a pair of bald eagles hanging out within striking distance of the seals on the rocks

Anybody want environmentally-friendly, sustainable salmon?

Our first mate has crabs! (Sorry, couldn't resist the cheap joke here)

Captain Eli with his catch of the day. One of four he was able to retrieve from the trap.

Jace would look, but did not touch the lobster! (Wuss)

All-in-all, a fitting end to our stay in Bar Harbor.

Now it's time to pack up and head south to Massachusetts to visit my Dad and some long-time friends. Too bad my busted hand won't allow me to play some golf with the guys I used to work with at Xerox. After almost 3 long years of shoulder rehab, I was finally swinging a golf club again.