Day 7: Aug. 9, 2009

We slept later than the past few mornings, and missed breakfast. Oh well, Acadia National Park, here we come. Taking the Park Loop Road entrance near our lovely positioned hotel, we zipped in and enjoyed the breathtaking views along the main drive. Pulling off every once in awhile on designated pull-off areas of course, to take pictures and take in the awesome scenery. It was a very clear and sunny day, only a few marshmallow like clouds in the crystal blue sky, and here we are in one of the most beautiful National Parks! Wow, we felt so lucky!

Continuing further along Park Loop Rd, we came upon Thunder Hole. We entered the visitors center and the one of park rangers that work there spotted doe and fawn in the back so naturally we had to get some pictures of that. Ok so Thunder Hole, It's a little hard to explain unless you're looking at it, but there are a lot of rock formations here along the shore, and there's a certain rock formation shaped in a way that when the waves crash into it at high tide, it sounds like really loud rolling thunder. Pretty damn cool. We stopped at the Thunder Hole gift shop that's run by two park rangers, and there was some excitement! One of the rangers quietly told us that if we wanted to slowly sneak out back, there was a doe and her new baby! We got some pictures from not too far away. It was a cool experience! By then, we were mighty hungry!
Back in town, we enjoyed an awesome parking spot right in front of the Portside Grill, and decided to get lunch there. Jen had the Shrimp Carbonara with fries and coleslaw, I had a South of the Border Burger which had salsa, avocados and fries. A good lunch for a long trek through Acadia. We also stopped into a little ice cream shop where I had Maple Walnut and Jen tried a scoop of pistachio and a scoop of blueberry. The girl serving us commented on what a weird combination that was, but Jen said they were surprisingly good together.

We decided as we were leaving town that we wanted to drive up Cadillac Mountain that afternoon instead of the next day, so we took the awesome curvy road all the way up to the top, stopping here and there to take pictures and take in the scenery. Once we reached the top, which was absolutely breath-taking, we took a ton of pictures and walked a trail up there. We found out that when you're at the top, you're 1,530 feet high! It was really windy and chilly, but beautiful.

After a short chill-out time, we went to The Looking Glass. This is the restaurant shared by our inn and the one next door. It's really nice in there, but still pretty casual. The food is delicious! I had some great clam chowder, and Jen and I both got the "Downeast Macaroni & Cheese". Now I know what you're thinking: we come to Maine, and we get mac n cheese?? Listen- this was some kick ass mac n cheese- it had three kinds of cheese: gruyere, parmesan, and white cheddar- and tomato and ham. Jen also got this drink called "Blueberry Pie a la Mode" that tasted exactly like blueberry pie.

We like going to downtown Bar Harbor best at night, so we went back to stroll for awhile.

Pictures off the top of Cadillac Mountain:

Day 6: Aug. 8, 2009

Got up a little early again today to enjoy our full country breakfast at Pentagoet Inn. This morning they had raisin scones and some sort of sausage breakfast bake. We got our things together and relaxed in our room for a little while longer. When it was time to check out around 10:30am, we loaded up the car and talked with the owners of the inn, Jack and Julie. They personally helped us check out and cashed out a few special things we found in their tiny but adorable gift area. Since they knew it was our honeymoon, they gave us a gift of two of the awesome mugs they use for coffee every morning. They are hand thrown pottery mugs with a carved little picture of the inn on them- Julie even wrapped them up all pretty with tissue paper and ribbon. Jack runs the Passports Pub at the inn himself, and he gave us some great suggestions of new things to check out and do when we got to Bar Harbor. Plus he was hilarious to talk to! Great people :) and very down to earth.

The drive to Bar Harbor was pretty short- only about an hour and a half, including a stop to Cadillac Mountain Sports- Phil wanted to stop and admire some kayaks. Got into Bar Harbor way too early to check in, but we drove around to check out how much things have changed since I was here with the fam about 12 years ago. It has gotten MUCH busier around here, but there is also a lot more to do and a lot more to see. Some of it is tourist garbage, but there are a lot of new (to me) cool shops and places to eat, too. We also took a quick drive through part of Acadia National Park to see where we might want to take some photos there within the next couple days. Stopped for lunch at Cottage St. Bakery & Deli: good sandwiches and potato salad- amazing blueberry squares and turnovers! Vacations are soooo for eating!!

Checked into Wonder View Inn- sure isn't as nice as the Pentagoet, but I don't think any place we ever stay again will be! Even though it's a little further from town than we thought, it's nice and quiet here and we have a balcony with a nice view of their courtyard and the mountains and ocean in the distance. I took a short nap while Phil tried to figure out the map for Acadia and the surrounding areas.

Once we got situated, we found a parking spot downtown (which was a damn miracle) and did some of the shops. Phil and I fell in love with a store called "Window Panes" that has a lot of awesome and fun housey kind of stuff. I wanted to buy a lot of stuff for other people! Things are also very pricey there, sadly.

Beat the dinner rush and got a patio seat at Parkside Restaurant. Very relaxing to sit out there, with their little lights on under the awning, just people watching. I got a frou-frou drink called "Nutty Monkey"- it was amaretto, banana, and ice cream. Our waiter had never served one before, and it turned out to be so delicious! Phil had clams for the first time ever- he loved them- and also got some amazing lobster bisque. Not that my soup wasn't good, but I totally regretted not getting that bisque! After dinner, and once it seemed most people were settling in for dinner, we walked the now less-crowded strip. I totally freaked out when I saw they still had the "Cool As A Moose" store that we went to so many years ago. Phil had to tell me to shut up- but I could tell he was excited too :) For as many tourist-oriented shops they seemed to have added over the years, there are still many new unique shops. It was really enjoyable to walk around downtown and at the harbor at night. Slowly made our way back to the car and back to the inn for the night.

Day 5: Aug. 7, 2009

We rose early to make sure we took full advantage of the full country breakfast that was provided at The Pentagoet Inn: seafood quiche, bacon, eggs, blueberry muffins, fruit salad with granola and vanilla yogurt. Oh yes, and coffee waiting for us outside our door, Mmmm good. After enjoying a hearty breakfast, we took a spin downtown, just to make sure we didn't miss anything. We enjoyed some local art, a shop called Historical Handiworks, and the whimsical Bird Song gift shop located at our Inn. It was nice to chat with the local shop keepers.

We made our way on the outskirts of town to find a lighthouse nearby. The lighthouse keepers still live in the house next to it, so you can't actually get very close to it. You can take a narrow winding public path through a field and some woods to get down to the beach, though. Dyce Head Lighthouse, not the most elaborate or unique but none the less, a lighthouse. On our way to and from we spotted this really nice inn, called The Manor Inn.

Once we got back to the downtown area, we stopped for some lunch at Bah's Bakehouse. Both of us got Mexican BLTs which consisted of turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado, chipotle mayo and a little salsa. Jen also got Broccoli & Cheese soup and I got Haddock Chowder. We ate this out on their 2nd story deck, it was quite pleasant.

After that it started to get cloudy and began to sprinkle. We headed back to our room and relaxed. We had made dinner reservations earlier in the day for the dining room at the inn. We were the first ones to show up for dinner tonight, so we got first pick of where we wanted to sit: a nice little table with a small candle right on the front porch next to all the pretty flowers. It was a little fancy, we ordered a glass of Pinot Noir from New Zealand and both got the Lobster Linguine with pine nuts, capers, arugula and a white cream sauce. Very Good! Before that they gave us small slices of warm bread and garlic white bean hummus. For dessert, Jen of course got a Key Lime Tart and I got an Espresso & Sambuca. Better watch out for those LaSalles', they're getting some culture! After dinner, we changed out of our "fancy fou-fou clothes" as Jen likes to call them, and walked down to the harbor for a bit. We will be spending the rest of the night in our room, it's quite chilly out this evening. Good thing we purchased jackets at LL Bean yesterday!

Some Harbor Pictures of Castine, ME:

Day 4: Aug. 6, 2009

Got up for our continental breakfast at Coachman Inn. Set out for Castine, ME. We drove over some really cool bridges.
Got into town a little too early to check in, so we decided to get some recon out of the way. Parked next to the Pentagoet Inn where we are staying, walked around the small downtown of Castine. Went into a cute little bookstore called Compass Rose and found an awesome book with herbal recipes! A short distance from here was a restaurant right on the water, called Dennett's Wharf- friggin delicious fresh local shrimp! You got a whole heaping plate of the stuff, and Phil and I's entire meal was still cheaper than if we had both eaten at Applebee's or something. It was nice to eat out on their patio overlooking the ocean and harbor. The breeze smells nice here :) Phil also wants me to add that he had some great local blueberry beer at lunch as well- I sampled it and have to agree it was excellent. Still had more time to kill, so we checked out Four Flags, another local gifty shop sorta thing. Lots of cool nautical-themed stuff. Finally able to check in, we entered the Inn and were led up to our room. It is so gorgeous here! We have never stayed anywhere like this before! Check it out here: The Pentagoet Inn. Our room is beautiful- and I can't get over the fact that it isn't insanely expensive to stay here. There's a cool little pub downstairs near the restaurant that we want to check out tomorrow, too. Once we brought our luggage up and relaxed for awhile, we drove to Ellsworth to find an LL Bean Outlet. As we were leaving Castine, we spotted this sweet schooner.After LL Bean, we ate dinner at a place called Hillfire Grill- it may be a chain, but we'd never eaten at one anyway. I got a delish frou-frou drink called "Berries of Blue"- it was Island oasis blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, and strawberry with Citron vodka and ice. Holy crap. So good. We also both enjoyed their home-made portabella and spinach stuffed ravioli with sweet red pepper sauce. Very very good- and filling!! As we made our way back to Castine we came upon fire trucks and flashing lights- we spot the remnants of a car that caught fire! Whoo! Quite a commotion. Now in for the evening plan tomorrows next sites.

Day 3: Aug. 5, 2009

The day started with getting up moderately early to close up camp (sweep, tidy, loaded up the vehicle, etc...) and we said farewell to the Boonville cabin until later in our journey. We put the Coachman Inn, Kittery, ME as our destination in the navigation system and headed east, way east. Five and a half hours later we arrived at the Coachman Inn. We received our room key and unloaded our luggage into our modestly sized room. We got cleaned up and headed out to find some grub. We were told to check out Warren's Lobster House, one of the most well-known seafood houses in the area. So we did, come to fine out everyone else knew it was the destination too. So we ditched our recommendation and sought out other options, we checked out this really cool looking place called Terra-Cotta Pasta Company. Too bad we don't have an oven in our hotel room or else we would have gotten something from there. We ventured on and found Loco Coco's Tacos, I know what you are thinking, we are in New England, what the heck are we doing eating Mexican and not SEAFOOD?! Well it was awesome!After filling our stomachs with beans, cheese and salsa we made our way across the connecting bridge to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Very cool town with narrow streets and plenty of eateries and shops. This is where found a seashell and fossil store, very cool, it had nice calm music and incense. We walked around the downtown area for a bit and made our way back to Kittery, ME where the main strip is loaded with Outlet Plazas. We mozied around Crate & Barrel, Ecco Shoes and Yankee Candle.

Then we decided to take a venture and look at some houses and stuff. We stumbled upon a town called York, ME. WOW! We stopped around the ocean and took some pictures by some rocks overlooking a sandy Atlantic beach and spotted a lighthouse in the distance. So we kept driving, as we passed beautiful beach houses and cottages we are glancing out at the sandy beach that went on for quite a few miles. We turned the corner passing (gorgeous) multi-million dollar homes and found ourselves eventually driving into the parking lot for the lighthouse. We found The "Nubble Lighthouse" in Cape Neddick. Complete accident. Driving through town we said to each other that we would someday come back to the town, to vacation again.

Once we returned to the Kittery area, we decided ice cream was very necessary. Earlier we had noticed an ice cream joint right next to where we are staying, so we went there. It's called "Mrs. And Me" and it's honest to goodness home-made ice cream! Jen got peppermint stick and I got Kahlua Fudge Brownie- with real chunks of brownie in it! We are now in for the night, relaxing.

Day 2: Aug. 4, 2009

Phil slept in late while I got up to make coffee and take some pics. Once we got up and moving, walked around downtown Boonville to check out local shops. Went to this shop called Persnickety that had lots of country home decor and gifty things. Got our first souvenirs of the trip. Decided to check out the enormo cemetery nearby- which turned out to be not such a good idea. With lots of steep hills and very narrow driveways, this place was pretty confusing and difficult to get out of- especially when you find yourself facing an old woman who can't drive and there is nowhere else to go or turn around. Phil had to back her car up all the way down a very steep and curvy road. She was nice about it, but it sure was our little adventure of the morning. We decided to get the hell outta there or we'd probably get trapped there forever. Made some delish sandwiches back at the cabin. Hung out and relaxed more for awhile, then decided we needed dessert before dinner. Headed to Mercer's Dairy for the most delish ice cream we've ever tasted. Phil got "Wishy-licious" and I got a scoop of Cotton Candy and a scoop of Dino Crunch- amazing. Drove out to Pixley Falls State Park and followed a short but steep trail down to the falls. Took some awesome pictures and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Next, drove through Delta Lake State Park, got out to walk the beach a little bit and take more pics. Found out the sunken village of Delta is at the bottom of the lake! Phil says "There's something for you all to look up on Wikipedia!" Once the sun started setting, headed back to camp for burgers on the grill- with REAL bacon just for Philly. (Don't worry Uncle Bob, we bought our own! Your pkg of bacon is still safely in the fridge.) Phil built another fire with logs that he (quite proudly) found and split himself, and we enjoyed this for some time... with more mimosas. I figured I would go inside after a bat tried to crawl up my arm, so we retired for the evening.

Day 1: Aug. 3, 2009

This is where it all begins! :) Here we go! Left later than we originally planned, but still left at a decent time. 4 1/2 hour drive to Boonville, NY, where Pinch-Me-Cottage is located. It was awesome to pull up and see the finished product! Turned out amazingly beautiful! Scoped out the area and decided to stop at the Big M (one of the supermarkets there) for some dinner supplies. Grilled up some DELISH teriyaki chicken, local peas in the pod, and white cheddar mac'n'cheese. It sounds weird, but it was our delicious feast! Drank lots of mimosas by the campfire. Relaxed and watched a movie, got a good night's sleep to recover from all the wedding festivities.