Acadia National Park and the Bar Harbor Area (2012)

November 2012

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In late November 2012, Paul and Anne took a 'photography vacation' to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, Maine. November is a lovely time of year there. Brisk weather, and not crowded.

We stayed at Graycote Inn (map location; it is now The Elmhurst Inn). This is a nice but relatively unassuming Victorian style house on one of the side streets of downtown Bar Harbor. Our room had a large canopy bed and a fireplace. There was plenty of space to sit and review our pictures on the laptop. They even let us use an electric kettle all week to heat water for my tea.

Large canopy bed with a lace canopy in the inn room

Victorian inn room with floral wallpaper, lace curtains, fireplace, and an upholstered chair

Breakfasts were included with the stay. This was one of the criteria we used when selecting a place to stay. Particularly since this was an off-season trip, we did not want to be searching out places to have breakfast. They are a "green inn" and feature local produce, plus whole grains! This made an excellent and delicious way to start each day. (Side comment: they had a link from the inn website to the Bouchard farm. I went to college with one of the Bouchard children. Karen, I think, although it was too long ago now for me to be certain of her name.)

They also provided a light snack in the late afternoon. This time of year, it was mulled cider and cookies. We were spending most of our time outside this week, so having the warm cider was very welcome.

Downtown Bar Harbor has an very large dock near the Village Green. Even this time of year there is some activity on the dock. The site seeing pier next to it is only used by birds in November, though.

Weathered sightseeing pier in Bar Harbor with gulls perched on the railings and ticket booth

Two antique cannons overlooking the water toward a wooded island

These antique canons mark the beginning of the Shore Trail. This mile long trail hugs the coastline. I'm certain it is very popular in the summer; we encountered other walkers when we traversed it's length.

Shore Path sign beside the gravel walkway along the rocky coast

Gazebo on the Village Green with houses and an antique cannon beyond it

The little Egg Rock Lighthouse can be viewed from the path.

Distant view of Egg Rock Light beyond a rocky breakwater and gray water

Bar Harbor has some informative signs that are like museum labels, informing us about various interesting things. They have these Museum In The Streets signs set up in various spots, including this one early on the Shore Path.

Museum in the Streets sign explaining the large boulder on the shore

Large pale glacial erratic balanced on the rocky shore

You wouldn't know, from our picture, how large that rock is if you didn't have the museum sign for reference here!

The walk goes by many properties, both inns and private residences.

Brightly colored Adirondack chairs beside a large boulder on the lawn

We had some chilly weather during our stay. We didn't mind at all. That type of weather simply takes a bit of planning.

Ice clinging to layered shoreline rocks above a narrow inlet

Despite being off-season, there were a number of restaurants open in Bar Harbor for our suppers. Our favorite was Siam Orchid. One of the fun items on the menu was Seaweed Salad, which they told us they purchase from a company just up the coast from there. We were rather startled, however, when we got our bill from the meal: $6403.42. Hmmm, did he accidentally give us something stating their seasonal sales total? Is it in some other currency? After a moment, we realized that the $5.95 salad had accidentally been rung in as 5955.95 (which of course also resulted in a very large tax on the meal). The waiter said he was going to put this on his facebook page. We enjoyed the restaurant so much (and the corrected bill) that we went back another day.

Another restaurant we ate at was Geddy's. If you have been on Main Street in Bar Harbor you probably remember this restaurant, with it's rather loud exterior. The food was good and we certainly wouldn't hesitate to go back. Check out their video cam to see current pictures of the dock area. You can see the camera in this next picture; it almost looks like a lamp in the center of the second floor exterior.

Geddy's restaurant exterior at dusk with a lighted moose on the roof and glowing lobster signs