Bar Harbor, Maine

Lobster Dinner, originally uploaded by quimerizar.

Wednesday October 17

I think the coolest thing that I like about a cruise is waking up each day in a different spot. I don't have to pack my suitcase, take a plane, train or car, move to a different hotel....all I have to do is go to sleep and like magic I am in a new place. Today I woke up in Bar Harbor, Maine - self declared Drinking Village with a Fishing Problem. I have never been to Maine before - and I pride myself on the fact that I have been to most of the states. Maine was on my "to do" list, so now that one is out of the way. All I have left is Oregon, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Vermont, Hawaii, and Alaska. I think I can get Vermont and New Hampshire EASY (since I live RIGHT THERE!)

Bar Harbor was split up. Kenny, Denise, Ron and Gloria all had made plans to do a bike tour of Acadia National Park. Dad and I had plans to meet up with his friend Sue and do whatever striked our fancy. Sue met us at the Harbor and we wandered around through the stores. It was a pretty nice day - about 60 degrees and sunny and most of the stores in town were giving it thier last hurrah for sales for the season. Everything was on sale at low prices for the end of the season, and we were told that they kept the stores open this last day for the cruise ship. Most of the stores had "older than dirt" hats - which I thought was quite appropriate for our cruise crowd. I am willing to bet they sold out of those. After shopping for ahile, we decided to head to Acadia National Park ourselves. Upon arriving, we saw the bike crew just finishing up. They told us how great it was so we ventured in.

Personally, I really like lighthouses. I don't know why. I think it has something to do with my ex Bobby who always used to talk about the lighthouse at Cape May, NJ. I never have seen it - although it is pretty damn close to where I live so you would think I would just buck up and take the trip one day. Anyway, there were some lighthouses on the map we had and I wanted to go see them. The trip through the park along the way was really beautiful. The leaves had started changing there - not in full force, but enough to be noticable. We got hungry along the way and declared that the next place we came across that had lobster would be where we stopped. So we did.

We stopped at this little mom and pop joint in some small town - the food was good, the service was good, the Lobstah was good. We had a very delicious baked brie and blueberry appetizer. Dad and Sue had whole lobsters and I had a lobster roll. All very yummy. Our bellies were full so it was back to the road. We hit a few highlight spots and then I happened to notice an advertisement on the map for a winery. We decided we had time to add that to our trip, so off we went.

Next thing I knew we were at Sweet Pea's Winery. There was a small sign off the road that was barely noticeable and the place was hidden inside an old barn. The vines were all starting to wither from the fall weather but you could still see them - and you could see all of the Vineyard from the barn - so it was a small family owned winery. The wine they had was made mostly from different berries - blueberries and strawberries. Very fruity and sweet - not normally something I would choose. However, they explained that only certain type of grapes can grow in that area, so they can only make certain types of wine. From what I understand, the area is pretty well known for blueberries (hence the blueberry brie).

We headed back to town and met up with Denise, Kenny, Ron and Gloria at a restaurant in the harbor. Kenny had bought a Lobster Hat and was wearing it proudly - getting a lot of attention. He swore he was going to wear it to our formal dinner - Lobster night on the ship.