Acadia, Heading Homeward

 We've spent the past week in Acadia NP and what a majestic beast she is! About as far east as we can get and it's now westward and home.

So when Acadia received NP status in the early 1900's, John D. Rockefeller made it his personal ambition to create miles of walkable trails and "carriage trails" within the newly designated NP.

A man of massive wealth, derived solely from oil/gasoline products, he purchased a summer home on the island and had the foresight and intuition to see that automobile traffic could potentially mar a place as beautiful as this. 

A 1930's era overlook built on one of the Carriage Trails...well done JD.

A pretty typical view of the carriage trail in Acadia NP.

I find it ironic that the man mostly responsible for capitalizing on motor fuel products would develop over 40 miles of paths solely for the use of pedestrians and NON motorized traffic (carriages at the time). Good for you JD, I like where you're head was at. 

But, he built some epic trails. I took a day to cruise about half of his 40 mile horse drawn carriage paths and had the time of my life!

About 15 of my 20 mile ride was around two of the largest lakes within the entire park, Eagle Lake and Jordan Pond, and I must have ridden for about an hour or so and never saw any water! 

I swear, they need to cut some damn trees down so you can get a decent look at the lakes or ponds, or whatever the hell else you call these things up here! Yeh, try dropping that suggestion into the NPS comment box.

For the past week we have driven, walked, hiked and biked a decent chunk of Acadia NP but our best view of this wonderland came from a boat tour Debbie set up. Acadia Boat Tours, if'n you get up this way look 'em up.

Debbie and Lynne out on the high seas, and I do mean high, seas!

Went out for a 2 hour tour...a 2 hour tour...of Frenchman Bay and the outer islands. What a time we had!

Our tour guide was named Skye, a home girl, born and raised round these here parts, knowledgeable, funny and reared in a lobstering family, so had personal experience to discuss lobster fishing and all the ins and outs. 

I asked her, how does one get a permit to trap lobbies and how much does it cost? 

Usually, she says, it takes about 10 - 15 years depending upon your luck in the lottery. You first have to show 5 years of experience out on the water fishing, certified by a licensed captain, pass an exam and then you're placed into the lottery for licensing. But, she said the way to do it, is to start at an early age.

The State of Maine will issue a work permit for anyone over the age of 14 but if you want to work in the fishing industry the minimum age is 10 years old. At age 10 you can start to get the required 5 years of experience, if lucky hit the lottery right away and whamo you're in.

She knows of many lobsterman with their own boats and trap licenses at the ripe ole age of 15! And apparently these guys can make some bank. She never told me the cost for the license but I'm guessing it's all part of the deal.

Hey, a 15 year old Mainer can do this shit, how bout you?

Skye was the real deal, she is going places this one. She and all of the boat crew were fantastic and we highly recommend them!

Here's Skye giving us the low down on proper lobstering. She was asked, is the ginger crew member next to you related? No she says, in fact we have 3 crew members that are ginger and none of us are related.

Our good friend of 30 plus years, Lynne, flew out from SD to visit with us at Acadia and we had a ball! Thanks Lynne, we enjoyed the hell out of our time with you in Acadia.

Debbie and Lynne enjoying a nice time at Northeast Harbor, on the 'Quiet' side of Acadia.

Lynne and I hiked the Bar Island Trail out from Bar Harbor to Bar Island one evening. This trail can only be crossed at low tide cause at high tide the trail is under about 12' of water from tidal action. You have about a 90 minute window on each side of the tide and we nailed it! Epic stroll.

Lynne out on the Bar Island Trail, 60 minutes later and she would have be under 12 feet of seawater.

Here's the thing about Bar Harbor, from a Howie perspective...over hyped and underwhelmed. Think Carmel, La Jolla, and any number of coastal summer resorts with overpriced, shitty restaurants and tacky gift shops. No, head on out to the adjoining hamlets for a more relaxing time without the crowds and glitz. And these abound my friends, and we found them, they are extremely nice. Get outta Bar Harbor and explore.

We three met up with my sister Holly and Glenn for dinner in Ellsworth, ME at the Union River Lobster Joint. Very nice repaste and great to meet up with them as they vagabond around the land. I'm sure our paths will cross again soon and we're looking forward to it!

I briefly mentioned our enjoyable lunch at Abels Restaurant in the previous post but, it needs mentioning again, because it was that f'in good! Located outside of the muck and mire of Bar Harbor and alongside of a legit fishing village, the head chef  is Bill's nephew Matt Leddy and he has the chops fo' sho'. The food was incredible, but bummer that we were not able to meet Matt as he had an offsite catering gig going at the time...next time Matt, but cheers, your food was spectacular!

Abel's Restaurant, an unforgettable dining experience!

OK, I'll close this post out with an oft witnessed RV park observance. Every RV Park we have visited has the self appointed "Mayor". This is the very well meaning guy that engages all passerbys in conversation. When most folks walk by our campsite we extend them a pleasant smile, nod of the hand in a hello fashion and a muted howz it. But not the Mayor, he's gotta chat 'em up, give them the 'where ya frum' and so on.

So guess who pulls into the site next to us? The self appointed Mayor of this place. He even introduced himself to us as the Mayor! Nice guy, retired union ironworker from Fall River, Mass. Man o man, the people you meet, we love it.

Off tomorrow morning, heading west towards home, and moving on to Conway, NH, Vermont, the Adirondacks and the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence River in upstate NY. 

Next post will be in a  week from the 1000's Islands.

Love and miss you all and thanks for following along,

Peace out, Deb and Howard