Our first full day in Maine started of with a beautiful sunset out of our hotel room. The sun rises here at about 5:00 a.m. right now and it is our own little wake-up call.
We chose this Hampton Inn in Bar Harbor for many reasons. One is that we are Hilton people and love our Hampton Inns and Hilton properties. We love the free breakfast and WiFi and this specific Hampton Inn is only about 3 -5 years old and is beautiful!! We found out that it is the only seasonal Hilton property in the United States. It is only open from about April - October.
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| another bonus...Hampton Inn's grab and go breakfast bags with water/fruit and snacks |
If you know us, you know that when we travel with Carleigh and Katie...we have to find the unique coffee shops. We were incredibly successful in Bar Harbor. Thanks to TripAdvisor we found Coffee Hound and it is incredible. The girls give it 5 stars!
Downtown Bar Harbor was very quiet at 7:30 in the morning and we explored a bit before heading into Acadia to find the visitors center before heading an hour out of Acadia to our adventure for the day.
We found the park entrance and we were off...
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| Hulls Cove Visitor Center entrance |
He had recommended a quick, early lunch t the Millbridge House.
We found the boat and boarded. He was on board with his 2 sons, his dog Doc and it was a beautiful and sunny early afternoon,
First stop was to see some harbor seals sunbathing on an "island" of rocks. They were fun to watch as they slid on and off the rocks.
We then headed to Petit Manan island. We didn't go on the island, just sailed around it. From the tour website, "For more than a century Petit Manan light has ensured the safe travel for passing vessels. The lighthouse now provides a safe sanctuary for hundreds of seabirds including our favorite Atlantic Puffin during the months of mid-May through mid-August."
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| Puffins on the ledges |
We left Petit Manan island and headed to see a few others.
As we were nearing the end, I kept getting Severe Thunderstorm Warning notifications on my phone for the area that we were in...Yep! In front of us was getting very dark. Our captain was obviously concerned and decided to cut our tour short by about 30 minutes and head back in.
It was VERY dark in front of us and bright blue sky behind us. The storm just sort of appeared. It wasn't forecast until much later in the afternoon. He did a great job of getting us to the dock about 5 minutes before the heavens opened and we had blinding rain, hail and big winds.
I was a bit concerned, and had total faith in him. Lots of lightning on the water as we were approaching and the wind was picking up. He mentioned that he was watching the trees sway as we pulled in to decide if we would be able to dock. I was hoping our 3 hour tour would not turn into Gilligan's Island.
He did a great job and we were all safe in our car before the big stuff started falling. Our hour drive back to the hotel was a little dicey and we had the rain/hail and wind for part of it. We got back to the room and relaxed and rested before heading back out for our evening of fun.
(We like to call this part of our vacation days Preschool Nap Time. This was the mid-day rest period that we started doing anytime we traveled with the girls when they were very little. The title of Preschool Nap Time has stuck and today with 17 and 19 year olds, we still have Preschool Nap Time when we travel. Don loves this time!! )
We all changed and got ready for dinner and headed down into Bar Harbor. We found a fun little Pub to eat at, The Dog and Pony Tavern.
After dinner we wandered around Bar Harbor for a bit before heading to our improv show. In researching Bar Harbor, I knew this was our first trip with "adult children" and didn't want to just go back to the hotel room after dinner every night. So, I stumbled upon ImprovAcadia and it had great reviews!! The improv actors are straight from Second City in Chicago, which Don told me breeds many of the Saturday Night Live stars. They relocate to Bar Harbor for the summer and perform 2 shows an evening at this venue.
No cameras allowed inside and it was an awesome show! So much fun and we all laughed a lot! It was a great night!
After the show, we headed back to the hotel to gear up for our first Acadia day tomorrow!
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