Day 40, Bar Harbor, ME

Slept until about 9:30.  Decided to take a bit more relaxing pace today.  Headed into Bar Harbor downtown about 10 minutes away.  First stop Bar Harbor Cellars Winery for a wine tasting.  Sampled 4 wines including cranberry and blueberry wines.  No purchase this time and I think I’ll stick to the grape wines.  Next stop the Tea House 278 for a gaiwan tea service. A lovely little shop for which we were the only customers and the owner gave us plenty of attention and a sample of her favorite tea.  Then Rosemary selected an oolong tea and we were served in a pretty tea garden with a running stream.  The weather was perfect - blue sky without a cloud, mid 70's and a good breeze that a few times almost blew our table umbrella over.  Had at least 5 steepings and spent almost 2 hours there - very relaxing.  Rosemary purchased a gaiwan and 5 small tea cups.  Next was lunch at “Blaze” where we each had a woodfire grilled lobster.  Grilled beats the boiled or steamed lobster.  Walked around downtown for awhile then decided to drive the park loop road again.  It was about 5:00 and a different experience as the crowds were mostly absent and the weather much cooler with the sun lower and behind the mountains.  Also saw a few sites we had missed the day before.  Dinner was Mainely Meat BBQ which is operated by the Atlantic Brewing Company.  The “Coal Porter” beer was good but I have to stop going to BBQ until I get back south.

Day 39, Bar Harbor, ME

Spent the day at the Acadia National Park.  Beautiful coastline along the loop road culminating in a drive up to the summit of Cadillac Mountain, elevation 1,530 feet for spectacular views of the area and islands.  Did a little hiking and rock climbing.  Also drove around the entire Mt. Desert Island which is the island on which the park and Bar Harbor are located as well as a few other small towns.  We were in the town of Northeast Harbor at lunchtime far away from the tourist area and only found 2 restaurants.  Ate at the Colonel’s Restaurant & Bakery.  Had a “Crab Trap” special - a crab and provolone grilled sandwich on anadama bread (that’s bread made with molasses and cornmeal) with fish chowder.  Although chicken was on the menu, Rosemary had a grilled haddock sandwich.  By about 5 pm, our age was showing in that we were both totally exhausted.  Back to the coach for a light dinner.

Day 38, Bar Harbor, ME

Campground allowed us a late check out so left the coach hooked up and went to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay.  Beautiful gardens and weather.  Then a driving tour of Boothbay Harbor.  Back to the coach for lunch and depart about 2:00 for Bar Harbor.  Check into Mt. Desert Narrows RV Resort about 4:30, hookup and head into downtown Bar Harbor. Dinner at West Street Café was twin lobsters for Rosemary and the Downeast Feast for me which included one lobster, chowder, fries, coleslaw and Maine wild blueberry pie, complimented with Cadillac Mountain Stout by the Bar Harbor Brewery.  A delicious feast it was.  Walked downtown shops for a couple hours and back to the coach.

Day 37, Boothbay, ME

Depart Scarborough (Portland) and head 20 miles to Freeport, home of the flagship LL Bean store.  Store is huge and made up of about 5-6 buildings.  Rosemary got a new very light, fold up into a pouch  backpack supposedly to help carry things when we go on a hike.  Depart LL Bean and head about another ½ hour to Bath, ME, and the Maine Maritime Museum.   The museum is located on the only intact wood shipbuilding yard, there being 4 buildings surviving.  The Percy & Small Shipyard operated from 1894 to 1921 and built only 4, 5 and 6 mast wooden schooners.  The largest, the Wyoming, was a 6 mast ship measuring 440' from spar to stern with a 330 foot keel.  Each mast was 177' tall. It primarily hauled coal, 13 million pounds at a time.  The ship was lost near Cape Cod in 1924.  On the site where the ship was built, there is a full size skeleton sculpture except the masts are only 120 feet to avoid having to install and maintain air traffic lighting.  The skeleton really allows one to realize how huge the ship was.  The museum also included a boat ride on the Kennebec River of a little over an hour during which we saw several lighthouses and also an active shipyard, Bath Iron Works, where the new US Stealth Destroyers are being built.  The USS Zumwalt is already in the water and is getting its finishing touches.  I will refrain from commenting as to whether the 34 billion dollar cost is a prudent use of our tax money.  We also bought a couple of lobster rolls at the museum café and brought them on the boat for lunch and washed it down with my Shipyard Summer Ale purchased earlier on the trip.  Saw a couple ospreys and a bald eagle nest with an eaglet.  If one goes to a maritme museum, this is the one to see.  Headed to Shore Hill Campground in Boothbay about 45 minutes further east.