Maine - Ocean, Garden, and Pond
As Maine starts to re-open gradually, we ventured out more this week and explored various outdoor activities Mount Desert Island has to offer.
map
itinerary
highlights
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Day 1 Itinerary
Places visited: Mount Desert Island
Lobster 🦞 Roe Feast
After a few home-grilled lobster meals, we start to realize that the best part of a lobster is its head. The bright red roe and the light green gooey mass inside the head (known as the tomalley, or lobster paste) are really delicious. (But be mindful of the health concern when consuming tomalley - consuming it in moderate quantity should be fine). There is also quite a bit of soft meat if you don’t mind the hassle of breaking through the small compartments inside the lobster head. When restaurants serve lobsters, they usually serve only the lobster tail which is the most chewy and least flavorful part of the lobster - we will never order lobster tails in restaurants again!
Day 2 Itinerary
Places visited: Mount Desert Island - Beehive Trailhead - Sand Beach - Ocean Path Trailhead - Mount Desert Island
The Deer & The 3 Turkeys
Both the deers and turkeys are frequent visitors of the house (or maybe they think we are the visitors). The Airbnb host told us there is a family of 11 deers in the area and once they ravaged their garden and ate everything planted.
Beehive Trailhead
We followed the direction of an supposedly easy-level trail for Gotham Mountain in the All Trails app but somehow found ourselves at the trailhead of Beehive (one of the most difficult trails in Acadia). We gave it a try but quickly realized that taking our little one on a trail like this was not the best idea. So we turned around the head out to the nearby Sand Beach and easy-level Ocean Path Trail.
Sand Beach
One of the very few truly sandy beaches in Acadia!
Ocean Path Trailhead
We have previously done Ocean Path Trail with just the two of us so we know it’s a very easy trail for family hiking. And we only did the second half of the trail (Thunder Hole to Otter Point) so it a perfect that we get to do the first half (Sandy Beach to Thunder Hole) with our daughter this time.
Gorgeous Evening on Front Deck
We have seen different wild flowers blooming in the field right in front of the house. This week is the Eastern Bluestar.
Day 3 Itinerary
Places visited: Azalea Garden - Northeast Harbor - Peggy Rockefeller Farm - Lake Wood Pond - Gorham Mountain - Bar Harbor - Ivy Manor Inn - Village Center - McKays Public House
Another Clear Day
The view from the house is just gorgeous whenever it’s a clear day!
Azalea Garden
One of the three gardens donated by the Rockefeller family to Mount Desert Island. This is the only one re-open at the moment after the covid-19 shutdown.
It’s a small garden but really well-maintained with variety of flowers and plants.
Northeast Harbor
This is supposed to be a very busy harbor for boat tours but seems pretty dead due to Covid-19.
Peggy Rockefeller Farm
We bought some fresh eggs and steak directly from the farm next door. The eggs are bigger than the supermarket ones but they cost twice as much too. The steak is decently priced and we enjoyed another home-grilled lunch with the freshly procured produce.
Lake Wood Pond
Lake Wood is a secluded swimming pond (not easy to find because it requires 10-15 min hike through the woods from the main road). The water was clean and warm - great for family swimming.
Gorham Mountain
This is a moderate level trail that we tried to take the little one on but gave up. We decided to come back and just do it by ourselves. Parts of it is mixed with two other popular trails (The Bowl Trail and The Beehive Trail - one of the most difficult trails so be careful not to go on it by accident). We find the Gotham trail a bigger work out than the South Bubble trail we went on last week (but the view was slightly better at the South Bubble). There were some steep parts on the Gotham trail but nothing too challenging.
Bar Harbor
Bar Harbor is a really quaint town ... it has the typical New England charm. Get the ParkMobile app which makes the parking part a bit easier. Almost all The parking meters in town support the app.
Ivy Manor Inn - Village Center
Grabbed a glass of wine 🍷 + enjoyed some live music at this cute inn/garden in the town center while waiting for our dinner table to get ready.
First Dinner Out
Our first dinner out in Bar Harbor! The food at this restaurant was pretty good (maybe avoid the Asian Fusion dishes). The garden settings were perfect for a romantic dinner on a Maine summer evening. And their manhattan was one of the best we have ever had!