Acadia National Park

This morning we headed over to the Bar Harbor Congregational Church this morning and then we decided to see if our favorite place for haddock was still in business.  Unfortunately, the place was sold and is now The Downtown Lobster Pound.  The menu was different and, although the haddock was really good, the atmosphere and the service just wasn't the same.

After lunch we headed to Acadia National Park.  We thought we would head up to Cadillac Mountain and get out and walk around, however, today was so busy at the park it was unbelievable.  First of all, there was some biking event going on and the park was just chalk full of bikers.  It was apparent that some of them were just not in the best shape to be heading up Cadillac Mountain and with all the car and truck traffic, it is wonder no one was killed.  However, we still managed to make a few stops along the way to the mountain and we took a few pictures.

The Tide is out!

A View in the Park just as you start heading up the mountain

There were three cruise ships in town today.  This is one of them.

There a bunch of tourists aboard this vessel today.  It was a great day for it although a bit nippy!

This is the same ship only at a different viewpoint in the park.

We passed a waterfall along the road.

         The colors aren't quite a full peak here, but still gorgeous!

Loads of traffic on the park roads today and bikers galore.  You can see just how much room we all have.  It got a bit scary on some of the curves, I can tell you!

That's Lee heading out to get a better view!

This was our last stop for scenery today because when we arrived at the top of Cadillac Mountain, the place was just jammed full of every kind of vehicle and tons of bikers everywhere.  We had to stay in line to pass through the full parking lot to get back to the road and out of the park.  

Back on the road again, we decided to head to the Jordon Pond House in the park and have some of their famous popovers before heading home.

It wasn't too busy when we arrived but it was way to early for dinner yet.  We decided to have tea and popovers.

We each had two of these popovers with jelly and they were delicious and just as good as we remembered!  Lee keeps saying they are made of air so they have to make a fortune on them!

Then when we finished the popovers we drove around awhile and ended up at another favorite haunt of ours when we were staying in Maine - The Blueberry Hill Dairy Bar which isn't far from Narrows Too. 

We both had a "small" dish of blueberry ice cream!

Foggy Day and the Lobster Pound in Trenton

As you can see from the picture below, it wasn't a day to do any sightseeing today so we drove down to Thomaston to visit the Maine Department of Corrections Prison Show Room Gallery.  When we visited Maine in 1998, we purchased a bunch of items from here as we were doing our family room in a nautical theme.  We decided to check it out again.  They have a wonderful selection of things but nothing that we needed at this point. 

On the way back it still looked just like it did when we started so we decided to visit Ruth and Whimpy's Lobster House in Hancock, Maine, however, the fog kept getting heavier so we headed back to Trenton.  We decided to try out the Lobster Pound near our campground.  It was pretty crowded inside and quite a bit more expensive than  Ruth and Whimpy's but we went for the lobster dinners anyway.

 Inside Lunt's Gateway Lobster Pound

This was my lobster.  He looked great but he was not very cooperative.  I should have paid much better attention to the directions on how to eat the lobster.  It was right on our placements.  Having done this before, however, I just went for it.  I managed to get through the claws just fine.  When I tried to open the body, it just exploded all over me!  Nothing like lobster inners all over your shirt, pants, the table.  Well, you get the picture.  I had a fun time cleaning up before I could eat anything else!  He definitely got his revenge!

Lee and his lobster.  His didn't give him any problems!

The people around us kept raving about the blueberry pie and I felt that I really deserved to eat something that wouldn't fight back so we both had pie and ice cream.  It was really good.

When I got home I headed to the bedroom to put my clothes into the washer.  They still smelled like lobster which is a lot like dead fish so the sooner they got into the wash, the better!!

Scenic Drive in Western Maine to Rangeley Lakes

The colors are peaking in northern Maine so we decided that today would be a great day to take a scenic drive to the Rangely Lake area.   We started out on Maine Route 26 and headed to Grafton Notch State Park.

The foliage was at peak today with vivid reds, oranges and yellows. 

Mother Walker Falls

Clouds trying to hide the mountains.

Umbagog Lake

At Errol, New Hampshire we turned onto Highway 16 and came back into Maine and headed to the Rangely Lake area.followed it to Errol, New Hampshire.

We traveled  Routes 4 and 17 as they wrap around Rangeley Lake.

Rangeley Lake

What a glorious day!