August 17, 2025–Bar Harbor, Maine to Portland, Maine

On Friday we crossed back over the Canadian/US border and drove south to Bar Harbor, Maine.  The American border agent was a lot more stringent than the Canadian border agent.  He asked most of the same questions (no mention of firearms or using said firearms to shoot bears), but then he actually came inside Vanna and looked around to make sure we were telling the truth.  We had no contraband, so he gave us the go ahead.

We stayed two nights in Bar Harbor at the Balance Rock Inn, a hotel that was built in 1903 as a home for a Scottish railroad tycoon.  It’s located right on the water on the coast of Frenchman Bay.  The first picture is a stock picture, so a bit blurry, but you can get a good idea of the hotel and its location.  The second picture is one we took last night of the Balance Rock in front of the hotel, which is how the original house got its name. 

We came to Bar Harbor some twenty years ago or so, but neither Doug nor I can remember much of anything but snippets about the trip.  We do remember eating lobster rolls, lobster bisque, broiled lobster, lobster salad, boiled lobster—you name it.  I never order lobster in Georgia, but it just tastes so much better in Maine. The first night at the hotel restaurant:

Bar Harbor is on Mount Desert Island, and in about 1890, the island became a summer resort haven for a number of wealthy families, including the Rockefellers, Carnegies, and Vanderbilts.  Between 1919 and 1931, John D. Rockefeller Jr, who was opposed to the introduction of automobiles on the island, personally oversaw the construction of a network of carriage roads, closed to motorized vehicles, on the eastern half of the island, including sixteen granite bridges and two gatehouses.  The entire project resulted in the construction of more than 50 miles of roads, sixteen bridges, and two Tudor Revival gatehouses.  47 of those miles are now in Acadia National Park.

Today we drove through the park before heading south to Portland.  Doug remembers that we visited Acadia on our first trip and climbed Cadillac Mountain, the highest peak on the Atlantic Coast.  The trail is listed as moderate, but the literature says that the trail is mostly granite, with some potential for “scrambling,” which in this case means climbing up and over big rocks.  I think my scrambling days are over.   And anyway it’s a moot point, because RVs are not allowed up Cadillac Summit Road.  The pictures below are of the Jordan Pond Gatehouse and the Stanley Brook Bridge, both part of the original Carriage Trail. They are stock pictures because the park was so busy we couldn’t find any place to park stupid Vanna. Anyway, I knew you would suss that out once you saw the brilliant orange fall leaves. Not a common sight in August.

Tonight we are staying at the Higgins Beach Inn, which the blurb online describes it as emanating the charm of a quintessentially Maine oceanfront hotel.   Meaning quirky and old school, I guess. Tomorrow we head to Newport, Rhode Island.