Bah Hahbah

September 7, 2015

Mt. Desert Island, Acadia National Park

We spent a relaxing week on Mt. Desert Island off the coast of Maine, the home of Acadia National Park and the town of Bar Harbor. First of all, in our entire week here, we did not hear any of the exaggerated Northeast Coast accent. It was not "labstah," rather it was "lobster." It wasn't "Bah Hahbah," but "Bar Harbor." There might be some that speak with the strong accent, but we didn't come across them while here. I imagine we'll hear more pronounced dialect as we move down into Massachusetts.

At camp Mt Desert Narrows - where Satch & Bebop romped.

Our campsite was on the Mt. Desert Narrows, the waterway between the mainland and Mt. Desert Island. We had a lovely spot overlooking the water. The campgrounds were fairly empty when we arrived, and filled up during the Labor Day Weekend. By the end of Monday, the place had emptied out as weekend campers return to their homes to prepare for the working week. Satch and Bebop loved being camped close to the shore where they could romp and chase each other through the water. Bebop was always a good swimmer, and Satch used to just go in a bit. But now, Satch is a full-fledged strong swimmer and has actually beat Bebop in several swims.

C-Ray Lobster Shack, a regular stop for us

Traditional Lobster dinner.

Lobster is the big thing here. All up and down the road are lobster shacks, or as many are called, Lobster Pounds. It's basically a shack where you go pick out your lobsters, and they boil them and serve you a full-fledged lobster dinner for $20 (or two for $32)! In other parts of the country, a lobster dinner can be an expensive proposition, but not here, where lobsters are plentiful and there are over 6,000 lobstermen out on the water. Each boat is usually just one or two people setting traps and then collecting the lobsters. We found a great lobster shack right near our campsite called C-Ray. They take their boat out, catch the lobsters, bring them back and serve them as fresh as can be. They featured all the usual suspects - chowder, lobster rolls, steamed mussels and clams, and of course, the full lobster dinner. They even baked their own buns for the Lobster Rolls and made fresh Maine Blueberry Pie every day. We ended up eating there almost every day. When in Maine..

Maine Blueberries - tiny & full of flavor

The other food delight we were introduced to here is Maine blueberries. First of all, I had never heard of blueberry season this late in the year. But in Maine, where the ground was still covered in snow in May, the growing season is much later than we're used to in the West. And the blueberries are tiny. Miniature! Blueberry pie, ice cream, blueberry beer, cocktails, jam, tea - you can find it all. We had quite a few variations on the blueberry, and bought a peck of organic blueberries to put on our cereal in the morning. They might be tiny, but they are bursting with flavor!

Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse, Acadia National Park

And let's not forget about Acadia National Park. One of the true beautiful places in our country. It's the oldest national park on the East Coast. As we were leaving New Hampshire to drive here, I turned on some driving music and no sooner had we entered Maine, the song "Acadian Driftwood" by The Band started playing. It's the story of The expulsion of the Acadians during the French and Indian War in what is now Acadia, through most of Maine, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Like many of the places we've visited on our tour of these United States, the indigenous people were overpowered by the Europeans who settled the area. I always loved that song by the Band, and never really knew the full meaning of it until I visited Acadia. It was quite fortuitous that it played just as we entered into Maine, and got us thinking about what we were about to see.

Somes Sound, America's fjord

We spent a couple days in Acadia. Somes Sound is the only fjord in the contiguous 48 States. A fjord is basically a valley that was overtaken and flooded by ocean water. Unlike a lake that is fresh water, a fjord is a body of water that is filled with saltwater. We also went to the top of Cadillac Mountain, with a view of all of Acadia. And we went to the bottom tip of the island to visit the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. We found so many beautiful, enchanting places that I simply can't do justice to it in words or pictures. One thing for sure, there's a lot to discover here, and we could see ourselves spending an entire Summer just exploring and enjoying this part of the world.

Bar Harbor sitting on Frenchman Bay, featuring the Porcupine Islands. Can you say picturesque?

Maine Blueberry cocktails

Bar Harbor is a lovely town, although it certainly is a place for tourists. Main Street is lined with shops selling jewelry, trinkets, t-shirts, and all kinds of Maine memorabilia. I stopped in a pet store to buy some treats for Satch and Bebop and the clerk asked if I was a local. Seems there is a special price for locals at the shops. On our last night in Bar Harbor, we stopped in a pub and had a couple of blueberry drinks to celebrate our week here.

Tomorrow, we will move down the coast of Maine to visit friends and stay in the lovely town of Camden.