New England – Fall 2010 – Days 2&3: Kennebunk to Bar Harbor

One of the battles we had fought with our travel agents in UK, DialAFlight, was based on the strange arrangement that they had agreed with their USA tour provider, American Driving Vacations, whereby we were to travel in hope and pick up all our information for the remainder of our tour at our first hotel. We had objected so strongly to this process, and kept on about it, to force DialAFlight to send us the details and fortunately I had downloaded it and printed it out. This meant that when our email reply from ADV was to go via the first hotel, Best Western Adams Inn, Quincy, on the way to the third, Best western Acadia, Bar Harbor, we decided against the detour that implied and continued on with what information we had.
We started by getting breakfast at the deli, Perfectos, on the next block to the hotel – the staff were most helpful even though we had to give them lessons in tea-making. We had a great bacon bagel and were soon in conversation with two local guys who gave us several travel hints. They also told us “if you don’t like the weather wait a minute”. We walked up and down the Main Street in the thin rain just to say we had seen the place but then decided to move on.
Having checked out of the hotel we followed our friends’ directions to Kennebunkport. It was very quiet and we started to realise that while much is made of New England in the Fall in truth it seemed that the holiday season was all but over by the end of September.
We paid to park in an almost empty parking lot and ventured into the town. There was a mist over the place which I hoped would lend itself to some moody photos but the results didn’t repay my creative optimism. Nevertheless it was a fascinating experience, much of the town is built on wooden stilts driven into tidal mudflats and the wooden walkways between buildings can be at any height, thus you can leave an establishment on the first floor and appear in the next two flights up.
As the day cleared there was a bit more activity but still very few cars were parked as we set off towards the sea shore to view Goose Island. This time we parked easily and nobody even thought to charge us. At this more remote area the feel was of a real working harbour which had no need of, nor courted, any commercial tourism. The boats were small working fishing boats and they were coming and going in pursuit of their trade. The only concessions to commercialism, if that’s what it was, were houses which were decorated by brightly painted floats and other fishing equipment.
As the weather continued to improve we set off to reach our next destination.
Its worth noting that in most journeys in England if you set off reasonably early you almost have a day to spend at your destination, in America often the travelling takes up the day and you only expect to sleep when you arrive.
This time we were hoping to have time to do some exploring after checking into our hotel but the final hour of the trip was dimmed by the return of the rain and we checked into the Best Western Acadia just outside Bar Harbour at about 4.00pm. From the folksy do-it-yourself approach in Kennebunk we drove into a motel which looked to represent corporate America but appearances did deceive, the motel rooms were brilliantly designed and the staff were helpful even to the point of directing us to the coffee free in the lounge all day and the regular shipment of free cookies in the afternoon.
The light rain persisted long enough to cancel any sightseeing that afternoon but we still needed to come to terms with the disjointed sleep-patterns so we napped before going out to the recommended restaurant, the Chart Room, which we found easily on the way in towards Bar Harbor.
We arrived without a reservation so we couldn’t expect a waterside table and indeed the place was very busy so we were seated on the road side of the restaurant. As was to become the pattern, we ate well but not cheaply, and the meals were not the huge, you wont need to eat again this week, portions which we were accustomed to in Oklahoma and Texas. In those places it is almost obligatory to leave with the uneaten part of the meal in a box to fight off hunger in future – also it was suggested to us that any meal of $10 or over could be split between a couple and the establishment would provide plates and silverware fort the purpose without question. In the Chart Room I ate a main course, “Baked Stuffed Haddock - Baked and stuffed with our Seafood Stuffing topped with our wonderful Shrimp Sauce $18.95” it was excellent and filling enough but Texans would have used it as an appetizer and expected to pay $6 for it. When we realised that two taxes were still to be added to the tariff and in the USA 20% is the expected tipping level we had to come to terms with the idea that most evening meals were going to break the $60 mark.
It was our first exposure to New England dinning and we noticed that a full restaurant at 7.30pm is emptying by 9.00 and very few new diners arrive after 8.00, this seemed to be the case nearly everywhere we went.
The following morning the weather had improved and we set out to the free buffet breakfast before investigating the Acadia National park. Breakfast was very nice and made better by the waitress, an older lady who really just kept everything topped up and explained the best features of the park to nearly every table of guests. She remarked at one point that she had been a hippy in the day and had never expected to be alive in 2010 so she still needed to work.
We followed her recommendations and entered the park. We paid our $20 for the carload, just two in our case, the lady at the desk asked if we had any over 60’s with us, this would have reduced our costs but, helpful as she was, she was unable to rent us such a person.
We left the visitors centre and set off round the Park Loop Road, the first stretch of this is one-way and alongside the coast, from this high position we could see a cruise ship anchored in Bar Harbor and when we parked to see Thunder Hole there were groups of cruisers labeled with their bus numbers. Thunder Hole is a small inlet, naturally carved out of the rocks, where the waves roll into. At the end of this inlet, down low, is a small cavern where, when the rush of the wave arrives, air and water is forced out like a clap of distant thunder. Water may spout as high as 40 feet with a thunderous roar! Hence the name: Thunder Hole. It wasn’t our day, or time of day, to hear thunder but it is a great view of the cliffs and rocky coastline and the weather was cooperating by providing great light.
We continued round our circuit and turned into the parking area at Jordan Pond. At the Jordan Pond House we were supposed to tackle a popover for lunch but the place was packed and we sacrificed this unknown delight to walk round the lake which proved much further than advertised. While the people were suddenly plentiful in the area the wildlife had taken a break leaving their sole representative, a cormorant, to sit contentedly on a tree stump, I imagine his popover lay heavily in his stomach.
On the Jordan House side of the lake the path became a board walk of one, two or three plank’s width, the planks were slippery in places but my poor choice of footwear, sandals, on gravel paths found much less problem with the planks.
When we got back into the car we drove up the Cadillac Mountain Road to the summit, where we were rewarded with great views an all directions. I include the following mainly for its final line!
At 1,532 feet, Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park is the highest point along the North Atlantic seaboard and is the first place to view sunrise in the United States from October 7 through March 6. Cadillac Mountain is largely composed of pink granite with forests of spruce and pitch pine. Views of Acadia National Park from the top of the mountain are spectacular. Bar Harbor, Maine, the most well known town on Mount Desert Island, is to the northeast. The Cranberry Islands are to the southwest. The winding and scenic road that ascends to the top of Cadillac Mountain is approximately 3.5 miles long and was officially opened in 1931. During the 1880's, there was a slow cog railway excursion to the summit, but unfortunately, due to a much faster descent, it was short lived. The wreckage of the winding gear is still there to be seen, it was hard enough to get it up there we could hardly expect anyone to bring it down just to tidy up.
After our descent we found our way out of the park and into Bar Harbor. In the dock area we were able to watch a Holland America Line cruise ship tendering her passengers to and from the ship at anchor in the bay. There was also a four-masted sailing ship returning from a shorter cruise round the islands. Apparently the Margaret Todd sails three times a day for a two hour cruise at $35 per head but the evening cruise is clearly the best value as free cheese is provided, is there anyone out there who can eat $35 worth of cheese?
All in all we found Bar Harbor beguiling but we didn’t spot anywhere obvious to eat in the evening, so when we returned to the motel we looked at the restaurant guide and selected a place, the Town Hill Bistro, on the land side of the motel. Following remembered directions from the map we left in the motel room we began to lose hope of success as everywhere seemed dark and deserted, and then we recognised a landmark, the Brewing Company, and shortly after pulled into the small parking lot. The Restaurant was in a small outbuilding and there was a short debate between two of the staff if we could be accommodated at such short notice but greed prevailed and we were given a table. The food was good but the homemade bread overshadowed it – superb and it kept coming while we waited for our main courses. The meal again broke the $60 barrier but we were already starting to expect that. We were full as we returned to the motel and asleep by 10.00pm.