Acadia Revisited: Trails and Treats

The rain stopped some time in the night but the air temperature was at its coldest so far, hovering at around 50°F.  Hans cooked the rest of the spam with the camp stove so we could get the taste of Stevia-sweetened oatmeal out of our mouths.

We loaded up the bikes and drove to Jordan Pond House.  From there we biked an 11-mile loop around the base of Day Mountain, up some sneakily tall hills through absurdly green forests, past sparkling Bubble Pond, around part of Eagle Lake, and then back down a large hill to Jordan Pond.  I never had to walk my bike but I definitely spent a lot of time in my lowest gear.  At one point a much more fit cyclist sailed past me while going uphill.  I hated that guy.

Breakfast of champions!

I climbed down from the trail to check out Deer Brook Bridge, completed in 1925

Jordan Pond

To warm down from our ride we walked a short way along Jordan Pond and up to Jordan Pond House.  The morning was growing late so we drove back around the island to Southwest Harbor and over to Biel's Lobster Pound!  We each selected our 1.5-lb seabugs and didn't even see them long enough to get to know them before they were whisked away to be steamed for lunch.  Their gloriously red bodies were delivered on blue plastic trays with coleslaw, corn, cornbread, and plenty of butter.

I dismantled mine quickly.  Hans took a bit longer because he hadn't eaten a whole one before.  We enjoyed our meals but also agreed that lobster rolls are the easier way to go in the future.

After using many wet wipes and clearing away our trays we drove further south to the Wonderland Tidepool Path.  We had fun using the camera to take some underwater shots.  The sun came out just as we were leaving so I got some great pictures of Bass Harbor Light on the way back north.

While driving around we saw a sign for a pet boarding business that said "Dogs have owners, cats have staff".  So true.

Outside of Bar Harbor there is a small winery (Bar Harbor Cellars) that has been in operation for 15 years.  The man who runs it does not look old enough to have been in the business for 15 years and he has been trying to get a small vineyard going for over a decade.  However, the climate has not been very friendly to his grapes.  Instead, he imports grape juice from Europe and ferments them in Maine.  The grape wines that we tasted were actually very good but our favorite sips were the New England fruit ones.  The blueberry wine had some nice spiciness due to tannin in the blueberry skins.  The cranberry wine, made with fruit from Cape Cod, was my favorite.  If only Ocean Spray could get on board with the concept!  For dinner we ate at Atlantic Brewing Company, which absorbed Bar Harbor Brewing Company some time ago, sadly.  Our food was okay but the beer wasn't too bad.  Their English bitter inspired me to brew one this fall.