We had a hard time finding parking in Bar Harbor, but we got lucky and found a spot on a side street. The town itself is very quaint, with lots of expensive-looking places to stay. The marina there didn’t really compare to Camden or Boothbay Harbor, but it was a nice walk around anyway. We walked around town, bought some blueberry wine, and had some homemade blueberry ice cream. Can you tell it was blueberry season?

We headed out to do the Dorr Mountain Ladder trail. Our Frommers book recommended it and it sounded like a cool, although strenuous, hike. It turned out to be strenuous all right. The trail was mostly comprised of a series of stone steps. They varied from small to large, and they led steeply up the side of the mountain. Along the way, there were three iron ladders of various types (regular ladder, rungs, and rickety hanging ladder) and passed through a few crevices cut into the rock, one of which was barely big enough to fit us. At the top the view was amazing, making the hard hike worth it. We rested our hot, tired, weary legs and had lunch.

By the time we got down from the trail, and went back to the camp to shower, it was time for dinner! We had made reservations (our first dinner out of the trip) at Maggie’s, a restaurant in Bar Harbor that grows their own organic produce and only uses fresh local ingredients. We loved our dinner, and it turned out relatively cheap. We had lobster cheddar baked potato, smoked mussels with dill potatoes, cornmeal-encrusted Boston Blue fish, scallops and bacon with a corn salsa, banana ice cream topped with cashew crunch brittle, and strawberry rhubarb with vanilla ice cream and almond crunch.

After a short drive to Acadia National Park, we stopped at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center for information on the park. There is a main road running through the park called the Loop Road, so we drove on it and pulled off at some of the many scenic overlook areas. The views of the water and the landscapes were extraordinary. We continued driving towards Sand Beach where we ate a quick lunch in the shade of the beach parking lot. Sand Beach is a nice white-sand beach but was overly crowded with families and children.

From Sand Beach, we walked the easy Ocean Path trail towards Thunder Hole and Otter Cliffs. Some of the trail was along the road but overall, the views were again spectacular. There are many areas where you can go off the trail and climb on the granite rocks along the coast. We continued on the trail to Thunder Hole which wasn’t that thunderous because it wasn’t yet high tide. Further along the trail, we reached Otter Cliffs which were fantastic. On the way back we stopped back at Thunder Hole but it still wasn’t thunderous, although the water did make some interesting gurgling sounds.

After that I bribed Theresa with ice cream to go on the Beehive Trail, which is labeled as strenuous, involving sheer cliff faces and iron rungs. It was supposed to be less than a mile so we decided to give it a try. We both agree that it was one of the coolest trails, if not one of the coolest things, we have ever done. It was definitely strenuous, but different than your usual long strenuous hike. We climbed on lots of boulders and rocks in the beginning. The trail proceeded to get more difficult when we had to use the iron rungs as footholds and also to pull ourselves up. The trail was basically like mountain climbing, but without needing the equipment. At some points along the trail, there was nothing to stand on but an iron ladder, and some of the cliff faces were definitely sheer. That fact, and the awesome views, produced an exhilarating feeling. We both agree that our mothers would have been nervous if they knew we were on this trail. We continued onto the summit of the mountain known as Beehive and were rewarded with panoramic views of the entire area from Sand Beach to Otter Cliffs. Impressed with ourselves and looking forward to an ice cream treat, we headed down Bowl Trail towards our car at Sand Beach.

We then took the Loop Road up to the Cadillac Mountain Summit and were once again greeted with sweeping views of the ocean, including the Porcupine Islands. We walked around the short loop at the top taking in the views. As promised, we decided to get ice cream but we did it at the summit instead of in town due to time constraints. The ice cream bars we got were somewhat disappointing and we vowed to get better ice cream in Bar Harbor the next day.

The Mount Desert Narrows Campground was very nice. We planned on staying for 3 nights while we checked out Acadia. The bathrooms were very clean, modern and well maintained. Our campsite was quite large, and near enough to the water to have a nice view while we typed this log.

The town of Camden is situated on a picturesque harbor. There were many beautiful expensive-looking schooners in the harbor. The river flows right through the town, even under some of the buildings. We walked around Main Street and by the water. We enjoyed the scenery very much.

We then drove to Camden Hills State Park where we hiked the Megunticook Trail. The trail ended up being more difficult and longer than we expected, due to climbing on lots of rocks. When we finally reached the top of the trail it was definitely worth it - the views of Penobscot Bay were truly awesome. We sat on top of huge granite slabs/boulders of rock and had a light snack of grapes and trail mix. It was sunny and very breezy at the summit.

From there we decided to go to the Blue Hill peninsula which sounded nice and was recommended by someone we know. On the road there, it started raining torrentially which made driving difficult. The storm passed rather quickly and the sun was out by the time we got to the town of Blue Hill. We walked around the really small town and wondered why it was highly recommended in the travel book. We thought that possibly we went to the wrong place because it wasn’t anything special, and ended up staying there only about 15 minutes.

That night we called ahead to the Balsam Cove Campground. It was a pretty scary-looking place on first glance with lots of hillbilly types running around. The two sites across from us were occupied by 15 or so migrant workers. They were living there while they worked the local blueberry fields. They seemed nice enough, but often stared at us and played their Spanish music loudly. The site right next to us was occupied by two youngish guys who were in charge of the migrant workers (or as they called it, “the blueberry crew”). Everyone went to sleep fairly early but at 5:00 am, we awoke to lots of voices and again, Spanish music. It only lasted for about 15 minutes or so but it was still a nuisance. The bathrooms at the campground were not well maintained. The camp staff, however, were really helpful. For example, our site didn’t have a picnic table, and they brought us one right away. The camp map said that they were completely renovating the campground so hopefully these things will improve over time.

The day started at the Maine Maritime Historical Museum in Bath, which was really great. The main building houses lots of artwork and ship-related artifacts, and interesting exhibits about maritime trade in Maine. The museum, housed right on the shore of a river, also had a schooner available to tour. It was nice to be on the boat and see what life was like for fisherman. We also saw the lobster exhibit which explained all about the importance of lobster fishing in Maine.

After spending a few hours at the museum, we drove to Boothbay Harbor and ate at a local restaurant, The Lobster Dock, where we finally experienced the Lobster Roll. We had seen advertisements for lobster rolls all over Maine and were not really sure what they were. The roll was just okay, turning out to be a fifteen dollar sandwich of lobster on a white bread roll. It was, however, really nice sitting outside at the restaurant overlooking the harbor. The rest of Boothbay Harbor has lots of shops, restaurants, and ice cream places.

On the way to Pemaquid Peninsula we took a few wrong turns and ended up in the middle of nowhere on Southport Island. Pemaquid Point Lighthouse was the highlight of the day. You can go up into the working automated lighthouse for a great view of the rocky coastline. Most of the coast in this area has been eroded by the waves exposing interesting layers of rock. We were able to walk out on these rocks and sat there watching the waves for a while. It was very scenic, picturesque, and tranquil. The sound of the waves crashing on the rocks was very soothing. We had a really nice time there.

That night we decided to camp in Rockport at Megunticook Campground by the Sea, which did not seem to be on the ocean. When we arrived it started to rain with lots of thunder and lightning. We sat in the car for a few minutes and decided to set up our tent and canopy in the rain - which was a good decision, because it was still raining at 10:00 PM. Since we were trying to set up as quickly as possible, we ran out of room and ended up setting up the canopy right next to the tent.

We drove to Kennebunkport via Route 1 and 35. On the way, we stopped at the drive-thru at Congdon’s Doughnuts, a local donut shop with yummy homemade donuts recommended by Frommers. There was a Dunkin Donuts next door, but who would go there? Congden’s had lots of different flavors such as blueberry (local from Maine) and honey dipped.

After parking in the Kennebunkport visitor lot, we saw a car accident on the road. There will be more to come about that later. Kennebunkport is a cute little town with lots of shops and rich teenagers abound. We bought locally made blueberry jam and honey. The jam was delicious (we had a sample).

Next we drove to Cape Elizabeth and Two Lights State Park. The park was relatively small but picturesque. It is located on the shore’s edge, with rocks that you could climb down to the water on. A lot of the rocks looked like petrified wood. The view and the breeze were refreshing. We had an impromptu picnic lunch on the rocks looking out into the ocean. We then drove to the lighthouse, but it was not much to look at.

Our next stop was Portland. While driving to the parking garage, we saw another car accident.. yes, the 2nd of the day. An amphibious tour bus/boat combo had moments before hit a car, smashing the car’s back window in the process. We spent a few hours walking around the Old Port and downtown areas, where there were lots of shops and bars. I had a locally brewed Brown Ale and some chowder at Gritty McDuff’s. We drove to the Eastern Promenade area which is basically a large park with great views overlooking Casco Bay. The view of the bay, with the boats in the harbor and the islands, made for a nice walk.

After Portland, we continued on to Freeport which is a town with lots of outlet stores. Not wanting to do much shopping on this trip, we decided only to go to the original L.L. Bean retail store which, according to the guide books, is open 24/7/365. The store, which sits on a large L.L Bean campus, was huge and had everything that you could possibly think of for the outdoors.

After touring the impressive store, we drove to our campground, Desert Dunes Campground which is supposedly next to a “desert”. We didn’t actually check out the desert, but the campground was fairly nice.

Our Maine vacation started at Fort McLary in Kittery, Maine. It was the first wooden fort we have ever seen, and the views of the bay were nice. The next stop was in York Harbor, where we went on the “cliff walk”. The cliff walk is a trail that runs around private property, but is open to the public as long as you keep quiet so as not to disturb the locals. The trail runs along the coastline and gives you a chance to see the granite formations along the coast.

Nubble lighthouse was next on our itinerary. It is a lighthouse (said to be the most photographed in Maine) that sits on its own island. The colors of the island and the house were very vibrant, with the green of the grass offsetting the white lighthouse and the red roof of the lighthouse keeper’s building. We ate homemade ice cream at the local favorite, Brown’s, which will show up later in our trip journal as well.

Next it was off to Wells, where we went on a trail at the Laudholm Farm and Research Center. The mosquitoes were attacking! We cut the trail short to go back to the car and put on bug lotion. On our way back, we met a couple that shared their bug spray with us, sparing us the extra walk. The trail was just alright. The highlight was seeing some kind of big bird in the distance through the binoculars in the marshes. We think the bird was a Great Blue Heron. That night we stayed at Dixon’s Campground. The site itself was just ok (it was a narrow site between the road and a chain-link fence). However, the facilities were definitely above par (clean and modern).