Vacation 2011

I traveled to Bar Harbor, ME two summers ago in 2011.  I had done some posts and updated this page while there.  I kept this log, and just found it and decided to put it up again.  It used to have pictures but I don't know what happened to them, oh well. Bar Harbor is great and if you have ever been you know what I mean.  Acadia National Park is right down the road and there are plenty of people, restaurants, and stuff.  There is a Village Green near us right by the shops and stuff.  And it is a great spot to chil along with Agamont Park which is also right near stuff and only a few blocks away from the Village Green. 

7/30 Status: We Have Arrived Safely


7/31 Day 1:  Today we went to a farmers market early in the morning.  Well not that early but about 10, 10:30 is early for me!  They had all sorts of stuff from local sellers and you guessed it not blueberries but raspberries!  Hopefully to make something yummy.  My mom made scones using blueberries we got at the store yesterday and they were very good.  See my Wild Blueberries Scones post, for the recipe that we found in the guest book here.  Later on after high noon > yep, off to Acadia to visit Cadillac Mountain.  great views from up there! Also see the Cadillac & Sand Beach post.  Thats about it except a evening we did take a walk along the harbor coast line.  Of course ice cream is a must so we did that as well!


8/1 Day 2:  I ran today, about 3 miles... But hey it's vacation.  I didn't want to take a long week break because then it would be harder to restart more than a week later at practice.  We went to Thunder Hole and didn't see a big splash and boom, (like if a really big wave comes in) but there still was a nice view (see the picture in the NATURE page!).  Later at the Jordan Pond House we wanted to take a hike that would take us to seal cove but starting off we took the wrong trail and ended up on a carriage road.  Here in Acadia Park there are tons of carriage roads think of it as a system of trails large enough for a carriage that wind all around the park and you can take (bikes, walking) to get around the park if you don't want to take a car.  So we went on one of these and then figured out where the real hike was after going a few miles on the carriage roads!  It took us down to the Seal Cove, where there was a nice Harbor like in Bar Harbor and it had a small beach with lots of people.

After this hiking adventure, we went to the Seal cove Auto Museum.  This museum since you probably won know is one of the worlds finest collection of antique cars.  Ranging from early 1886-ish to around 1927.  So this collection was very expansive and impressive.  The man who originally owned the collection, who yes I forgot his name, died and they had to sell off half of his car collection to pay off his debt.  But there still was a lot of cars so I can't imagine how many he had before.  I even saw the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car.  The car that looked exactly like it, and that had actually inspired it for the movie!  The dinner at the Little Notch cafe was very good.  We had a 1/2 sausage and 1/2 green peppers and onions.  I recommend if you are ever in the Southwest Harbor and looking for a place to eat.  You would like the pizza, no doubt!


8/2 3rd Day:  I ran today also, did a different route.  But it's not like you would care or that matters!  Today was rainy so we went to The Jackson Laboratory for a tour they offer to the public a few days a week.  The lab is a world renowned genetics institution.  They have slightly more than 1,200 employees 1/3 being actually researchers.  The Laboratory's mission is to discover the genetic basis for preventing, treating and curing human disease.  They do this through mice... they have more than 1 million at any given time.  They are very careful at how they take care and research using the mice.  It is more complex than this but I can only write so much here!  They are also the world's largest distributer of mice to other scientists and labs using mice to do research.  Right here in Bar Harbor!  The Jackson Lab is also the home of the 4Pi microscope... And this microscope is the worlds most advanced optical microscope, and this microscope is capable of revealing the nanostructure of genetic material within a cell in three dimensions!  Some of the genetic diseases they research include cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Akzheimer's.  It was very impressive how hard working, creative and innovative those scientists are.  Maybe one day soon, the Jackson Laboratory will find the cure these diseases!

8/3 4th Day:  I did run today!  I do do that a lot now!  It is so nice running up here in Bar Harbor weather.  Today was hiking day we rode the shuttle into Acadia and did the Triad hike.  It was a cool hike with three small peaks, all with great views of course.  After this since it was near Jordan Pond, we had do popovers at the Pond House.  It's a must!  They were very good.  After this to redeem ourselves we did another hike!  This time around Jordan Pond.  This is a very scenic hike and I got lots of great pictures.  Posted some in the Nature Photos Page!  About halfway through we took a other trail called the carry trial that was one of the oldest trails in Acadia and was blazed by indians.


8/4 Day 5:  A run today too!  Talk about a few days of rain.  It's not perfect but we tried to make the best of it.  After having a lot of trouble finding the start of the hike (as with a few others) we decided we didn't really like our Acadia hiking book A Walk in the Park.  It's ok but needs better descriptions to make it easier to find where some of the hikes are, especially if they aren't the popular ones or labeled very well.  Well after some looking we did find it The Asticou Terraces! A short walk up the privately built and maintained walk, it was very nice!  Such a great garden above.  Although it just happened to rain when we got to the top though.  Such a place, I got lots of great pictures of flowers and such, and a view of Northeast harbor too.

8/5 The 6th Day:  Very tired today!  Much nicer day though.  So why not rent a few bikes.  Thats the perfect idea.  There are even shuttles to take the you and your bike into Acadia to where you are riding.  We rode around Eagle lake and we lost my parents and when a different way and got separated, but thats a different story.  A nice easy ride and perfect carriage roads that take you all over.


8/6 The Last Day:
We packed up and had to leave today by 10am, so we will be driving home all today and maybe get back in time to sleep at home!