BAR HARBOR

We moved to the Bar Harbor area and are staying in Acadia National Park in the Schoodic Woods campground.  It is the only campground that has any kind of hook-ups and big enough sites to accommodate our big rig.  It has 50 amp electricity and water, no sewer.  It also does not have showers in the restrooms.  There are several places around town that offer showers for a price. We have big gray water tanks and are taking QUICK showers. We grill our meals when we don't eat out and use plastic and paper. So far, so good. All of the sites here are asphalted, level sites with plenty of trees around you.  Schoodic Woods has only been in existence for a couple of years.  We found out that it was developed and built by a private company and once finished, they donated it to the park system. You can make reservations 6 months out and you better do it on the first day you can.  It fills up quickly.

Acadia National Park is actually in two sections.  The biggest part of the park is on Mount Desert Island, where Bar Harbor is located.  We can get to it by car or by ferry.  The ferry takes about 40 minutes to get there and it takes about an hour to drive there.  Cruise ships stop at Bar Harbor.  So, depending on the day, there could be ALOT of extra people in Bar Harbor.  If you do take the ferry, there are free shuttle buses to get you around the island and through the national park.  They had just switched to their fall schedule for the buses.  That means that they have fewer shuttles with a longer wait between them.  Labor Day weekend is the peak of their season.  Soooooo, they cut down shuttles before their peak weekend........your tax dollars at work.

We decided to take the ferry over and it holds about 30 people.  It also costs $15 pp. each way. 

Our ferry

Bar Harbor is a beautiful town.  It is what you imagine Cabot Cove (Murder, She Wrote) to be if it was a real place.  They have a nice map of the city that is free and a nice map of the national park.  LL Bean supports the shuttle buses to keep them free for tourists. Remember the cruise ship?  Well, guess what was in port the day we picked to go.  Yep, lots and lots of people.

We got on the bus and took it to the first stop which was called Sand Beach.  It was a sandy beach. Surprise!  But, it was beautiful and you never knew how far up the beach the waves would send the water.  We decided to take the ocean view hike to the next stop.  It wasn't very far and fairly level.  However, the sides of the trail were not flat and some areas had holes that dropped off.  Just call me Grace because my foot fell off the side of the trail into one of those holes.  I turned my ankle and fell flat.  Luckily, nothing is broken and I am just bruised, scraped, and sore.  It could have been much worse. 

Once that happened, Mr. W flagged down one of the shuttle buses and we got on.  The driver was super nice.  She got out her first aid kit and handed me a roll of paper towels. She even had an ice bag to put on my turned ankle.  I know I probably freaked people out because my leg was bleeding, but everyone was kind.  There was a Dad with 3 kids that even came to our seats with a ziplock bag full of first aid stuff and offered whatever he had. 

We made our way back to Bar Harbor and by the time we got back, my ankle was feeling pretty good.  As long as I took it slow, I could walk on it pretty good.  I knew I was probably going to have to have Mr. W roll me out bed the next day though.  More places were getting sore and more bruises were appearing as the day went on. 

We took the ferry back and decided to stop for a bite of dinner before we went back to the RVs.  The place we went had a lobster dinner for what the going rate for lobster dinners/rolls is in this area.  We decided to try it.  It was my first lobster anything on this trip.  Well, I was very underwhelmed.  That will be the last time I order lobster and pay that amount for something that underwhelms me. Their fish, shrimp, and clams in this area are delish and much more affordable.  I think I will stick with that. 

We hope to go back and finish what we didn't see before we leave. 

Sand Beach

Bar Harbor Inn