My 2nd trip to Acadia National Park

The first time I heard Acadia is from Jeff Brodsky when we had lunch at Hewitt. His grandfather's buddy have a cottage next to Acadia, and it's his family tradition to visit the park almost every year in the summer. He told me all the wonderful stuff about the Acadia, the sunset, fall color, carriage road, lobster ... and I know I must visit it one day myself.

I went to Acadia with Sherrie and my friends first time on 2007. We had wonderful time. The weather is great, food is great, the pictures turn out to be great and we simply can't believe we didn't come here early. And I know I will come back.

When I get chance to go to Boston for a one-week training on Oct 09, I plan my 2nd trip to Acadia for the weekend.

I drove to Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound after watching sunset at Bass Harbor head lighthouse. I heard a lot of good things about this restaurant but never got chance to visit it last time.



It's very unique setup, no waitress, no alcohol, you pick the lobster, they weight it, label it, and boil it outside. The room is small, and only 7 tables inside. I can imagine it will be a long wait during peak season. Late I found out that day is the last day of the season the restaurant will open. They told me in their 40 years of business, they always close the door on Columbus day, which is Oct 12, 09. But for this year, they extend to Oct 18. I felt so lucky since I walked in around 7pm. if I'm 30-minute late, I have to wait all the way until Memorial day to taste their freshed lobster boiled using sea water.

Even though it's last day, and almost last minute, the room is still crowd. I shared a table with a family from Maryland. A lovely family with two kids. The boy and girl are not shy at all. They told me what kind of seafood they like, where they come from, their name, and they also discover what I like, where I came from and my name, and don't hesistate to share the secret to their parents. The couple met in Spain, and travel a lot oversea. I guess they work for goverment or serve in the army. They do a lot of camping, backpacking. Surprisingly, they visit many National Forest, but not many National park. I asked what bring them to Acadia. I turned out the wife read the October 2009 issue of Runner's World, and the cover of the magazine is a runner running on the carriage road in Acadia National Park. She simply get hooked, checked the calendar, and found there is a Marathon on 10/18. So she booked four tickets to Bangor ME, abour 1 hour driving from Acadia. We share a lot of common interest, outdoor, hiking, backpacking, running, bicycling, travling. I told my story to National Parks, and they share their trips to National Forests. You'd think sitting in the same table with stranger would put you and them in awkward situation. But it's really not. We have a lot of fun. I wished we could meet again somewhere.



The next day, I got up early, watched the sunrise in Cadillac Mountain, then drove to Jordan's restaurant for breakfast. it's famous for it's breakfast and schedule. it open at 5am, not many restaurant open so early. I sat by the bar. It's nice place to sit when you travel alone. You have nobody to talk to, but it's fascinated to see how busy the kitchen is. I ordered a combo with plenty of patato, sausage, two eggs, coffee, two wild Maine blueberry pancakes. I am full.

In the next 2 hours, I was wondering around the downtown Bar Harbor. it's almost at the end of season. The last cruise Queen Mary will arrive on 11/1. After that most of the shop, restaurant, hotel will be closed. The good thing is many shops offer 30-50% discount.