Acadia: All Over Too Soon

It was a long and uncomfortable night’s sleep.  We mostly laid awake or were awoken by drips, like Chinese water torture.  We packed the car after deciding that staying another night in the tent was not worth it. 

We went back to Bar Harbor for the Margaret Todd’s morning scenic cruise.  The ship is a 151-ft schooner with four masts, operated by a captain who loves Newfoundland dogs, and takes his two along every day.  The big black shaggy teddy bears wandered about for a bit but were put off by a neighboring cruise ship’s foghorn.  Unfortunately, the fog did not burn up in the morning sunshine, so it was difficult to see much, though we did see a few porpoises.  A few other islands peeked through the gloomy fog.  Our trip’s narrator was a wonderful Park Service Ranger named…Todd…as it turned out.

 Hoist the sails!  (Can you see Hans helping?)

 

Porpoises!

Back on land, we did a bit of last-minute souvenir shopping and had lunch at the Lobster Claw, an obvious tourist trap but their small confines and lively humor made it an enjoyable experience.  During the lunch rush there could be heard and sometimes seen a flurry of activity behind the counter.

“I need a clean rag!  I need a day off!” Came the cry of one jocular employee.

Hans finally had some fried clams after a week of being denied at every turn by unfortunate timing.  I had a delicious lobster roll.

We headed out of town a short ways to The Cove Adventure Golf for a few hours entertainment on 36 holes of pirate-themed mini golf.  We had a great time in the sun as we played to ludicrous steel drum covers of soft-rock classics on the sound system.

After finding a small cottage motel for the night we went back to town for ice cream.  I had the dubious sounding blueberry-blue-cheese-fig-walnut.  It was awesome!  We ate our treats in the neighboring park where a Park Ranger-led presentation was being held: Picnic with the Planets.  Families and rangers were holding different blow-up models of planets in our solar system and were acting out their orbit, walking (and sometimes running) in wide circles.  Our boat tour guide, Todd, was seen wearing a picture of an asteroid and a belt strung with potatoes, spinning like a juggernaut all over the solar system.

We stopped at the grocery store to pick up dinner for the night since neither of us was very hungry: Pizza Rolls!  Exhausted, we flopped onto our motel bed and watched TV, ready for the drive back home.