spirobulldog

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All of these photos were taken with my phone. Samsung Galaxy S5 Active(yes, it has been dropped in water and dropped many times on the ground--it is pretty durable) . Probably not as good photos as from an SLR, but a lot less hassle for sure.

We flew into Portland Maine on Delta, which we haven't flown on in years. Arrived about 15 minutes early both going out and on our return. Both pilots didn't look 25 years old and they landed in what was the foggiest of conditions I've ever encountered. I would say I couldn't see the ground until 15 seconds before we landed.

The following morning we stopped at Holy Donuts and Bard Coffee. These are right near each other. We had a Holy Canoli Berry(filled with a canoli type cream filling) and a Coffee Brandy donut. These are potato donuts and are somewhat similar to a Cake or Old Fashioned donut--Both were outstanding. Bard Coffee was great and the Latte Art was appropriately a heart.

We took the scenic route up the coast on HWY 1. Very nice fall foliage color. I think we were a few days past peak, but still very good. The further north we went it slipped just a little bit tho. Probably would have been slightly better about 1 week before we got there.
We had lunch in Bangor at Friar's Bakehouse. This is run by several Fransiscan Monks. We had a great sandwich and chowder. Also an awesome Whoopie Pie(our first one ever). This is an interesting quirky place to say the least.

From there we continued on to Acadia National Park. We headed to Schoodic area. Not a whole lot there, IMOP, but was interesting and the waves were crashing nicely.
We then checked in to our lodging. We stayed the next 3 nights at The Atlantean Inn B&B. We have never stayed at a B&B that we actually liked and frankly don't really care for them. This one, however, I would go back. Breakfast consisted of a fruit appetizer each morning then an entree. Maine blueberry muffins are served fresh each day. One morning we were served a really good Pineapple Upside Down French Toast. One day we had a vegetarian Acadia Pie. Don't know that I really liked it, but I'm glad he served it as it is something I was unfamiliar with.

As far as the park goes, we drove the park loop road, which is very scenic with varied views. We had lunch at The Jordan Pond House. Popovers, chowder, and lobster salad were all fantastic. We did a 2 hour carriage ride. This is slow-paced but was very nice.
We did a couple of hikes. One was Jordan Cliffs and Penoscobt Mountain. Despite being super foggy, this was a good hike. I can only imagine how good it would be had the fog not rolled in on us so heavily. It was so thick, a couple of times during the hike we could only see 10 feet or so in front of us. This made finding the trail pretty darn difficult. Thunder Hole is a nice easy stop along the park loop road that is a "must do" Great Head to Sand Beach is another good easy hike right on the loop road. We found the park to not be crowded at all, btw.

We had one meal at the Reading Room. This was about the only meal I was a bit disappointed in. It was ok and about like most of the reviews I read had said it would be. Blueberry pie was pretty good there. Travelin Lobster Pond was great. Side Street Cafe lobster roll and lobster mac n cheese were very very good! Again, the lobster roll was another first for us. Oh, we did eat at West Street Cafe one meal, and I probably wouldn't go back to it. It was just fair.

We did get to see the views from Cadillac Mountain on one of the days when the fog had lifted. The fog seemed to come and go. The temperature at the top of the mountain said 38 on my car. Luckily, we had brought many different kinds and layers of clothing as we didn't really know what the weather was going to be like. Walking out to Bar Island during low tide is a neat experience as well and not something you get to do every day(especially if you live in Oklahoma).

This was our first time to Maine and we did enjoy it. This was a rather relaxed pace trip for us. My wife probably enjoyed it a bit more than I did. I had intended on hiking the Precipice Trail, but it was super foggy and cold the day that I was going to, plus I didn't really want to do it by myself, so never did get to it. Overall a very good 25th anv. trip.

spirobulldog

And I forgot to mark this a TR. errrrrr

SandyBrit

spirobulldog:

I enjoyed your photos and I couldn't tell all taken with your phone. The colors were lovely. I noticed the 'boxed water is better' is that peculiar to Maine? Rather a good idea.

Thanks for sharing in detail your 25th anniversary trip.

Sandy

emalloy

Sounds like a very nice trip and the pictures were great in spite of the fog.

spirobulldog

SandyBrit,
I had never seen the boxed water either. Made sure to get a pic of it. Marketing at its best--caused me to buy one--HA

bigtyke

What were the dates you were there?

LeslieC

That lobster cookout looks great in your photos. Where was that taken?

spirobulldog

Oct 16-20th

Travelin Lobter Pound--About 5 or 10 minute drive from Bar Harbor. They had 4 or 5 picnic tables that you can eat your lobster/clams/mussels/corn at. Very good!