Bar Harbor, Acadia National Park, and Freeport, Maine

So we love Bar Harbor...even though it was misty and grey.  It was beautiful.  Acadia National Park is breathtaking.  IF you have never been.  Go.  Now.  Really.  Drop everything and go.  The weather is cool but I can seriously say after being in New Jersey for the past 2 hours in the humid 90 I wish it was 60 again.

We stayed at a cute little KOA right as you entered Desert Island.  It was on the ocean and large enough to walk the dogs.  However, the great thing about Acadia was we could take the dogs into the park!  SO nice!

On Sunday night after the dog walk we drove into Bar Harbor (about 15 minutes down the road) and had dinner.  The town of Bar Harbor is adorable and picturesque.  It has a lot of shops and restaurants and sits right on a well --- harbor with lobster boats and sail boats.  We ate at Stewman's Lobster- -- and decided to have the full on New England experience. We ordered lobsters (our waiter prepared mine --- even though I kind of wanted to give it a try---I was kind of glad --- lobster is ok drenched in a ton of butter --- the butter made my tummy hurt after awhile though), tried clam chowder (surprisingly good since I was too chicken to try it in Newport), tried mussels (I can scratch that off my list --- done),  and potatoes, corn, and the most amazing blueberry pie ever....  We survived and giggled a lot.  I am pretty sure the people next to us thought we were ridiculous.  We did have a great seat on the water and even though it was chilly and misty it was perfect!

Bar Harbor

I am going to eat you...

Please don't...

Here we go...

View from table

The harbor

We ate at a wonderful breakfast spot the next morning, Jordan's Blueberry Pancake House.  John, had wild blueberry pancakes and I had some wonderfully yummy granola and yogurt with fruit.  We bought some snacks for lunch as we were going to spend the afternoon in the park with the dogs.  We spent the afternoon driving around the loop of Acadia.  The park loop sends you right past the rocky shoreline and inland among the beautiful glacier lakes.  You can see a lot of the park this way.  Beautiful!  We took the dogs on walks along the carriage roads that run throughout the park.The carriage roads were built by the Rockefellers (they had in Bar Harbor).  These carriage roads are used for bike riders and also walkers.  You can also reach a lot of hikes this way.  John and I also took our dogs around Eagle Lake.  We thought a nice 1.5 hour walk would be good for them. This  turned in to 2.5 hours and, yes, had some elevation changes so we hiked up some hills and were ill prepared and ran out of water...Lesson learned :).  We ended the day by driving around the rest of the island, eating dinner in Bar Harbor at a little Mexican restaurant and wandering around the shops.  It was fun!  We can't wait to go back!

1st carriage road 

Witch hole pond 

View of Bar Harbor from roadway

Shoreline

Breathtaking!

Which way??!!

Eagle Lake --- yes we walked around the whole thing -- oops!

Maine Lighthouse

Morning walk near Jordan Pond 

Bar Harbor, KOA

We took the dogs on one last dog walk in the park on Tuesday July 2nd.  We decided to take a walk around Jordan Pond. Well---we never actually saw the pond on our initial walk --- well because we went the wrong way -- but we did see it in the end!

Freeport, Maine is 2.5 hours south and that is where we headed next.  L.L. Bean headquarters are here.  It is a compound of several stores, a hunting and fishing store, the flagship store, the home store, the bike and ski store...etc. Crazy...John and I spent a couple of hours wandering around L.L. Bean and of course bought stuff.  Fun!  Originally we thought we were going to make it to Portland for a visit but time ran out.  Oh well... we were trying to make it to the Jersey Shore to see family by the 4th.

Famous L.L. Bean boot

John's new backpack and the L.L. Bean complex

Dogs loved Maine and this fun quarry where we took a walk

Breakfast? Yes, please! 

The dogs loved their dog walk in Maine.  We walked in a quarry for a dog walk near our KOA.  We found some wild animal tracks (John swears it was a black bear track---mmm...not sure) in the quarry and the dogs were so excited to smell and track all of the animals in the quarry.  Even Ralph had a little bit of a moment --- running wildly down the gravel hills!

We left Maine for the Jersey Shore on Wednesday July 3rd...Almost done with our trip!

C&J + 4 sad to leave Maine pups :(

Lessons Learned 

1.  Try local foods but it doesn't mean you have to love it! 

2.  Lengths of hikes should always be checked AND water should be added accordingly 

3.  Presidential award winning KOA's are the best! (both Maine KOA's were)