Mainely Mount Desert Island

 Mon. June 28-July 5 (7 nights) Mt. Desert Narrows Resort, Bar Harbor, ME

We were sad to leave the Clarke’s behind, but our next stop is Bar Harbor, Maine. Our RV resort is right outside Acadia National Park. We are excited, but it appears we are initially getting there in a heatwave before the heat brings storms. As dad always says, “It is what it is!”  Dad checked and it was cooler in Punta Gorda than up here today. Oh Well!… 

Between all the water, trees and very, little pollution it smells great up here!!! Mom and I are really enjoying all the wildflowers blooming here.

As you can see the weather here has been less than ideal but we still managed to have fun and see the area...including this funny Cowmaro. Mom didn't chose the water sites since they had no sewage hookups and they didn't want to have to deal without. I loved the field to play in since there was no dog park.

When we were hooking everything up dad noticed our one trailer tire looked really bad. He called Good Sam to remove it. (Clifford, from Good Sam, told us that the belt broke inside it. Not good!) Thank goodness dad pays such good attention to our trailer. Harmon Tire called us when the tire was replaced/ready...it turned out to be by the laundry. Perfect. 

While we are checking out Mt. Desert Island, one of our little princesses got a new leotard

Two of our other princesses are heading to Serbia at the end of this week...we are saying loads of prayers for their having a wonderful vacation and safely returning!!!

Our San Diego crew is enjoying summer neighborhood fun 

Looks like a good time!!!

Our first day at a new place is often boring for me…Laundry!

They take me with them, but I have to sit in the car with dad while mom does the work...Shucks, I want to be inside with mom making new friends and sharking for food... After laundry and a LL Bean Outlet run...

We found a place for dad to get a haircut, so he felt better. Mom and I couldn't believe how fast his haircut was and it looks good!

 We managed to get to the highly recommended BBQ Mainely Meats. Their T-Shirt slogan: "I wash my hands before I rub my butt and pull my Pork." Oh My! 

Nextdoor was Udderly Delicious homemade ice cream! It was even more packed than the restaurant side. Another day for the ice cream...

Acadia National Park is every bit as beautiful, as we have been told...We tried to see a Peregrine Falcon; but to no avail...

    When it's low tide you can actually walk into Bar Harbor...but timing is everything

Every view is spectacular!!!

  Mom told us this type of beauty is what she remembered about Maine the most...gorgeous water and/or mountain views...

                                                 More incredible views

"Acadia National Park is a 47,000-acre Atlantic coast recreation area primarily on Maine's Mount Desert Island. Its landscape is marked by woodland, rocky beaches and glacier-scoured granite peaks such as Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the United States’ East Coast. Among the wildlife are moose, bear, whales and seabirds. The bayside town of Bar Harbor, with restaurants and shops, is a popular gateway. "

 Downtown Bar Harbor was charming, crowded and finding parking was a real challenge...but it was still enjoyable to walk it's streets after lunch.

Stewman's down on the Bar Harbor waterfront was our choice for dad's Birthday lunch...We were sitting out on the porch over the water, so the smells and sounds underneath us drove me crazy!!!

Dad, mom and I enjoyed their haddock and sweet potato fries...but I really loved their blueberry pie and ice cream!!!

We did a bit of walking to find dad an Acadia long sleeve t-shirt for his Birthday and by happy accident a couple of Buffalo Trace Bourbons...we are glamping after all!

Dad was a Happy Camper; especially after texting/talking with his family, his kids and grandgirls!!! Another trip around the sun as his one cousin said...that's a wonderful gift!

Mom has been messing with my watery eye for a couple of days. She’s hidden sinus pills in my peanut butter, and I’ve been nice enough to eat them. My right eye is still dripping greenish-yellow mucus; dad and mom started calling around to get me into a vet’s somewhere... 

Next thing I know, we are in the car driving to the Eastern Maine Emergency Vet Clinic that doesn’t open until 5:30 PM outside Bangor, Maine. Mom told dad that one nice vet clinician said that with the influx of summer tourists; all the vets in this area went together to create this emergency clinic to deal with the overload. Good News! We get to eat in between. Yeah!

Mom found another local beer brewery, Two Feet Brewing Company 

in Bangor with one of the most interesting Pub Grub menus. Everything sounded good…like a tapa menu! We ordered their speciality grain pretzel with their version of beer cheese. It was light and tasty with or without their yummy cheese. I approved of it and the baked/fried green beans. Delightful! Mom loved her red pepper, fired roasted tomato, gouda bisque too; while dad loved the lobster pies. Dad really enjoyed their red beer called Bangerburn. He asked why his lips were tingling afterwards. Turns out there was a bit of jalapeño and chipotle in it. He said it was quite the kick!!! Mom tried another Maine Cider, this one a blackberry and she liked it’s tart freshness... 

As only mom and dad can, they started conversing with the owner. Only to discover that she was the originator of some of their edibles including the most massive, moist, delicious piece of German chocolate cake M & D have ever tried to eat. They were only able to eat half of it. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon driving around Bangor. Seeing Stephen King’s home along with the other beautiful Victorian lumber baron mansions along his historic street. Mom had to research the cool, massive, wood sculpture in the sideyard.

"One month after he started, chainsaw sculptor Josh Landry has finished his monumental sculpture on the lawn of Stephen and Tabitha King’s home on West Broadway in Bangor.The sculpture, carved from the remnants of a massive ash tree that was partially removed a few years ago, stands 15 feet high, and features a menagerie of creatures congregating around a bookcase — an appropriate gathering spot for the home of two world-famous authors.

(Photo from the newspaper)...The finished product includes intricately carved owls, ravens, cats, frogs, mushrooms and climbing vines, alongside a fearsome-looking dragon, and a quite comfortable-looking corgi lounging at its base — undoubtedly a nod to the many corgis the King family has kept over the years, including the famous Molly, the Thing of Evil." 

We loved the sculpture and the rest of this story in the Bangor Daily News...

Mom is always looking for unusual items and saw the colorful bear in one of the small towns, while the T-Shirt Bear design was one that she couldn't talk dad into...

There were so many gorgeous Victorians, some in great shape as we saw on King's street, and others barely hanging together. As you can see by the church doors and the small hands mural, there are lots of signs of togetherness in this town and around the state.

We found the large Paul Bunyan statue, “This uniquely handsome Paul Bunyan statue was given to the city of Bangor from a New York group of builders in 1959 on their 125th anniversary.The giant statue is built from a metal frame covered in colorful fiberglass, and is built to withstand hurricane force winds.” At Atlas Obscura or (www.atlasobscura.com) they claim it was given to Bangor to mark Bunyan’s birthplace. Who knows? We have seen them multiple places as we travel. This one is the best looking so far! 

Mom went into the University of Maine’s Zillman Museum of Modern Art. It was very tiny, but mom loved the few artworks that were there. 

Particularly, the Pop Art work of Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and others. 

"The Pop art movement has enjoyed a long tenure, from its inception in the early 1950s and rise to prominence in the 1960s, to its continued relevance decades later. Early practitioners embraced elements of popular and commercial culture as source material for their work. The pervasive vocabulary and unique style of Pop art continue to influence many artists working today." 

In the meantime, Dad was able to replace our truck windshield wipers which was most important. 

Mom borrowed this photo...Their waterfront turned out to be a lovely place to enjoy before heading across the river to Brewer to the Eastern Maine Emergency Veterinary Clinic. 

Rather than having an appointment at the clinic, mom explained that we go there and their clinicians come out to the cars to triage your pet. Mom called; they took my history over the phone. They then take the pets by order of seriousness…we are praying no one's pet is critical!!! 

Once seen, I should be in & out quickly. Unless Mom is wrong I have conjunctivitis in my right eye. Mom told me; “It’s making me itch, just looking at your red eye.”  Turns out mom was right, she or dad have to put in an eye ointment twice dailyuntil it's all gone. Thank Goodness...We were back home before it got dark. I was hungry

We woke up to a rainy, cooler day; but mom and dad drove to see more of Mt. Desert Island later today...

Mom attempted to fix a couple of our blinds that have come unhinged...She found a YouTube "How to fix your RV blind" video...Dad ended up assisting, but they got them both fixed. YEAH! I was proud of them!

Dad drove us around to the other towns and coves on Mt Desert Island...It wasn't a pretty day, but it was still a nice, relaxing drive. One cute town was more charming than the next, but none of them was as large as Bar Harbor.

We only saw children brave enough to test the water since the outside temps were only in the low 60's. We can only imagine what the water temp is???

It turns out down Route 3 from us is a "Farm to Table" Wood Fired Pizza and Wine Tasting place called Sweet Pea's Cafe. The wine that M & D chose turned out to be from the Basque country in Spain. Delightful! The Farm salad, the Ranger Pizza and the Spanish wood grilled cheesecake with blood orange coulis were all top notch!!! Since we ate outside, they provided Mexican cotton blankets to keep us all warm...The best part is they are dog friendly!!! 

It seems much of this island is dog friendly since I get to go onboard tomorrow with mom and dad for the nature cruise around Frenchman's Bay outside Bar Harbor...Sounds like a good time to me, but it's going to be cool in more ways than one...

Saturday's Nature Cruise in Frenchman's Bay, we didn't get rained on; but it was very cool. Oh Boy! I wasn't as impressed with this idea when we had to wait on that long gangplank... I could see and smell the bay far down below and it was freaking me out along with the other pooches!!! Besides, mom forgot to bring my blanket...I'm a Florida dog, it was downright cold; especially when they chose to sit on top...Are you kidding me??? The good news is there was lots of great sights and smells...particularly the cute, young kids behind me sneaking me Cheetos! Woof!!!

Mom said that she felt like she was back in her college Geology class looking at these granite cliffs and the way they were formed by the glaciers. The big cracks and granite bridges are formed by water freezing and expanding over time. The top middle photo shows Thunder Hole and the many people trying to hear it...Unfortunately, the waves and wind have to be perfect to create that Thunder sound and today wasn't it. If you look closely, you can see people climbing and rappelling on the rocks...not my thing!

If you look closely you will see the oldest home here is the bottom right one, owned by "the" Pulitzer. (" Newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer gave money in his will to Columbia University to launch a journalism school and establish the Pulitzer Prize. It allocated $250,000 to the prize and scholarships.") He was blind with a nervous condition and the sound of the fog horn made him crazy, making it hard for him to concentrate. He had to have a soundproofed room in Cleftstone where he could work. The only reason that his house survived the 1947 fire that destroyed 2/3rd's of this coastline was thanks to his gardener who stood on the rooftop dousing the house and grounds with water. Most of the homes lost were not rebuilt and the land was given to Arcadia National Park to expand it.

Dad's photo of Bar Harbor from the bay...supposedly if a mariner came into the middle of Compass Harbor, and Cadillac Mountain (that you see in the distance is on your West), you could calibrate your compass.

In dad's photos here were are looking at Egg Island, so named because locals with boats use to go collect the bird and duck eggs to eat...Now, it's protected as part of the Acadia National Park. President Ulysses Grant considered the Egg Rock Lighthouse to be one of the ugliest. Mom disagreed. You can see the harbor seals with their pups sleeping on the rocks. (The mommy seals milk is so rich, the pups only nurse for 3 weeks.) This island is home to a variety of birds and other animals today. For you sailors, the beautiful four mast schooner is Margaret Todd that you can sail out on...

Mom borrowed this photo of what the locals have nicknamed the Dolly Parton bird because of their red feet. Their real name is Black Guillemot and are a subspecies of the pigeon family.

Mom fed me in the truck; before they went into this restaurant to eat lunch after our cruise. She told me that dad had another lobster roll; that even she said looked good.

What an incredible world we live in these days...M & D got this photo of my human sisters with their Serbian family in Belgrade...playing with their adorable nephew...Tijana, his mom said he was waiting all day for them to get there!!!

                            Happy Fourth of July from a happily retired Navy Family!!!

Since the Fourth of July is another rainy, cool day, our hopes are to go out early evening to Mainely Meats again for an early dinner. In the meantime, we aren't starving, since mom treated us to a big brunch earlier complete with with an apple, cinnamon loaf.

Off to Rockport/Camden, Maine tomorrow; it appears we might see the sun again...