Bar Harbor, Maine

This past year, we have traveled from the top of the United States along the Canadian border, to the bottom of the United States along the Mexican border...from the shores of the Pacific Ocean, to the Gulf of Mexico, and to the Atlantic Ocean...and most of the states in between.  We have enjoyed pretty much every place we have visited, but a few of them really stand out as special...Bar Harbor, Maine, is one for the special list.

It's just an overall "good" feeling that certain places have, hard to describe, but when you find it you know it.

As probably everyone knows, Maine is famous for their lobster.  Our family loves fresh seafood, so we were all looking forward to some lobster dinners (and lunches ;)...).  Our first night in town was also our first lobster dinner.  Upon the recommendation of some locals, we went to a small restaurant just outside of Bar Harbor, Lunts Gateway Lobster Pound.  This was an excellent choice!  We all enjoyed our meals, 5 of us got the whole lobster...

...Audrey had her favorite food...clam chowder, and I chose a warm lobster roll.  Ya'll, that was the BEST seafood sandwich I have evah had (til I had another one the next day, hehe).  At the end of our meal, the waitress came by to offer dessert.  She asked the kids if they would like a Hah buh bah???  We were all totally puzzled and I'm sure we probably just looked at her with blank faces...til it clicked.  Hah buh bah = Harbor Bar...an ice cream bar!  Oh...okay, now we are following (hehe)!  Her accent was the best :), we enjoyed hearing her talk and the same for her with us and our southern drawls :).  This little restaurant was great...it had a very relaxed and casual atmosphere and the ladies running it were super friendly.

The next day, we were up bright and early and off to explore Acadia NP (I showed you some pictures of our time there in my last post).  The NP is right next door to Bar Harbor, so for lunch we headed into town.  As far as my overall favorite meal in Maine (maybe even favorite meal I've ever had, at least top 3!)...that would be the one I had at West Street Cafe in Bar Harbor.  What did I have?  So glad you asked ;)...I had the Downeast Sandwich Special: Lobster Roll, Cup of Chowder, Fries, Slaw, and Blueberry Pie.  There was so much food that I happily shared and it was ALL delicious!  Highly recommend!

a lobster roll from a little takeout joint...can't recall the name...and yes, that is ALL lobster meat!

When we were done with lunch, we went for a walk around town.  The waterfront drew us first, with the stacks of colorful lobster pots...

 ...and myriad of boats anchored in the harbor.

Big boats, little boats, working boats, cruise boats...all kinds :).  A busy little harbor, but everyone was happy and smiling.  No one seemed to be in a rush.

We got our fill of watching the boats and wandered into town to check out the shops.  As we were walking from shop to shop, we noticed a place called Jordan Pond Ice Cream.  They had a sign in the window advertising 99cent scoop days, so of course we just had to have a scoop.  Their ice cream is all handmade on location and the flavors vary from the usual to quite unique...99cent was a steal!  We enjoyed our treats and then did a little more shopping before leaving town to spend the rest of the afternoon in the NP (attempting to walk off all that yummy food!!!).

We had been watching the tides because we wanted to do some treasure hunting while we were in the area...check back with me soon to find out just what kind of treasures we found later that afternoon/evening :)!

Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island on Dwellable