Hiking Acadia Mountain Trails , A Leisurely Afternoon, And Lobster At Beals

6:28

6:38

6:40

Taking Out A Floating Dock

Boating To Work

I was getting my coffee from Sawyer's by 6:15 and had lots of time to drive down to the Mansett Public dock before the sunrise.  The same lobster boat was at the end of the dock, the Dad waiting for his son to arrive; he did.  And I watched as a huge barge pushed a couple of floating docks on to a trailer pulled by a huge truck, a busy morning at the dock.  It makes bringing in the docks at Chautauqua look easy.  I also stopped at Acadia Beach Park which I had driven by a couple of times but never stopped.  It's right on the water, a seawall made up of cobblestones protects the land from the sea.  I did not get back until 7:45.  It was a fun morning.

Bass Harbor, Early Morning

Why I Get Up Early In The Morning

We started yesterday like the others, with oatmeal and popovers at the Common Good Soup Kitchen. Unfortunately, just as we were leaving an elderly folk group of two started to play.  I guess they have been playing Wednesday mornings for the last month.  Not much of a crowd either, about three or four people, which was too bad.

Arcadia Climb

We tried to figure out a good hike or two for the day, but could not make up our minds.  We wanted something considered moderate so we chose Acadia Mountain.  At least one of the guides suggested it was moderate.  It's only about 15 minutes from us, so we drove there, had to park in the road because the parking area was full.  We checked the map and realized that a good half of the hike was strenuous, where we had to scramble over rocks, not quite our cup of tea.  So we took the easy way out, hiking part of another trail, then taking the last half of the hike which was flat for the most part, all the way down to Somes Sound.

Somes Sound

We were actually out for just about two hours although we only walked around three plus miles.  It was not our favorite hike although it was through fir, pine, and tulip tree woods.  We were finished at noon, had brought along p and j sandwiches but decided to treat ourselves to crab cakes at the Upper Deck restaurant just out of town.  We had a beer there a few days ago, sat out on their terrace, overlooking the harbor, asked for crab cakes and was told they were only on the dinner menu.  So we ordered soups instead, clam chowder for me, minestrone for Evie and both were quite good, especially with oyster crackers.  It was not such a bad stop after all.

View From Our Lunch

We were home by 1:30 and had our typical afternoon, a nap for me, cleaning up the cottage and watching some TV for Evie in between playing Words With Friends.  At 3:30, we decided to explore the town for an hour, browsing various stores, from the wine store, to the hardware, to the grocery to the galleries.  Nothing peaked our interest much, so we ended up not buying anything, fine with me.

Islands In The Sea

We decided to walk to dinner, a half mile up our street towards the end where the old grand dame of the area sits, The Claremont Hotel.  It's a great yellow monster, set up on a hill, overlooking the Sound.  When we walked in, the bar was empty of both patrons and a bartender.  And only a few people we in the dining room although it was early, about 6:00.  Finally, a bartender showed up, found us a couple of beers but then couldn't find the key to wherever they kept their change.  Not a good start to the evening.  The porch, however, was perfect, with a great view of the lawn, two croquet courts, and then the Sound.

Unique Adirondack Chair Backs

Cocktails From  The Claremont Hotel Porch

We sat there nursing our seven dollar beers and then struck up a conversation with a German couple who complained the entire time about the immigration problems in Germany, the violence as a result of the North Africans and how real Germans will be only 20% of their country in fifty years.  I think he might vote for Trump if he could.  We could only take so much before we excused ourselves and walked to Beals Lobster Pond, a stone's throw away.  We ordered a 3 1/2 pound lobster, 1/2 pound of mussels, fries, corn and a biscuit.

Lobster At Beals

The dining room is very sparse, with picnic tables which you share with others.  We waited perhaps 15 minutes for our dinner, not bad and struck up a conversation with an interesting couple from Columbus, who had hiked Cadillac Mountain, 9 miles, earlier in the day.  Another couple across from us seemed to stick to themselves at first but we began to talk and they too were interesting. They were from Amsterdam and the guy had just finished riding his bike from Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine in forty five days.  Wow.  He biked with a group, most likely from Holland but he loved it, and loved the United States which was nice to hear.

We were basically the last ones out of the Lobster Pound and, somehow, Evie struck up a conversation with one of the workers who just happens to be best friends with Lydia, our new Serbian friend from The Little Notch Bakery, so we took her picture.  We walked the half mile home in the dark, under the stars, and ended the evening with more shortbread from the bakery and the telling of our having met Lydia's best friends Sabena, from Bulgaria by the way, who works at Beals.  Lydia was happy when she heard we had met Sabena and she told us she had sent our blog to her parents in Serbia so they could see her picture.