Bar Harbor is about 3 hours from Portland. If you drive straight through. You know we didn’t. Hell we originally had enough planned we could’ve taken 2 days to get there. So we squeezed in what we could and made a day of it. There are so many little towns on the coast that offer all kinds of fun things to do – not to mention more and more and more lighthouses (we consciously made the decision NOT to go chase lighthouses today). We decided not to back track but we did stop at a couple that weren’t too far out of the way – 5 miles was our limit. It was hard, do you see all those lighthouses calling our names?

Owls Head was the first one, and it’s a little different. It would be awesome to be able to see it from the water but that wasn’t to be today. It’s a working lighthouse and there are tours led by volunteers at times but it wasn’t open when we were there. The current lighthouse was built in 1852. The view at the top was gorgeous.

Since we went right through Rockland stopping at that lighthouse was pretty easy. It’s also unique in that the breakwater (the path leading to the lighthouse) was engineered and built (from 1880-1902) from locally sourced granite. It is nearly a mile long and 43’ wide at the top but 175’ wide at the base. It really is amazing. If you look closely at the pictures you can see how many people are walking it (we didn’t, just didn’t have time) and how small they are. That gives you a perspective in the size. Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse.

Now we were on the hunt for some lunch. The town of Rockland was hopping when we went through it and finding a place to park just wasn’t in the stars for us, so we kept driving to Camden (another 5 miles up the road). Yet another beautiful little harbor town bustling with people. Tons of shops and places to grab a bite. We found parking for a restaurant on the water at the other side of town. It ended up being in a marina/shipyard. We thoroughly enjoyed sitting outside watching the boats and soaking up some Vitamin D.

There is a state park a few miles outside of the town, Mount Battie, Camden Hills State Park. They have camping and all kinds of trails but since we were short on time we just drove to the top of the lookout point. Absolutely gorgeous views! In fact, we could see the marine where we were just sitting for lunch – that was pretty cool!

Next on our box to check was the Penobscot Narrows Bridge & Observatory and Fort Knox. I know there was all kinds of neat history we could’ve read about and seen at the fort but there was that “time” thing again. Going up in the observatory, though, was a must. The bridge opened in December of 2006 after only 42 months of construction. The observatory is 420 feet (42 stories) the tallest structure in Maine. It’s the only observatory bridge in the Western Hemisphere and the tallest one in the world. See? We had to do it! And supposedly the elevator that takes you to the top is the fastest and tallest in Maine. Pretty cool huh?

That was the last box on our short list to check so we were officially heading to Bar Harbor now. It was about 4:30 and we’re an hour away. By the time we checked in, talked with the owner and lugged most of our stuff in it was nearly 6:30. Today was a beautiful day with the temperature around 70 (although the wind was pretty strong) and the sky was a gorgeous blue with white fluffy clouds. Who knows what the rest of the week will bring – the forecast keeps changing. Without unpacking a thing, we walked around town, the bay (Frenchman’s Bay) and hunted for dinner. We ended up a couple of doors down at West St. Cafe. Both of us ordered a seafood pasta dish and stuffed our faces. THEN we ordered blueberry pie to go so we could stuff them a little more back home.

Bob found our rental on VRBO. It’s a small little apartment right in the heart of Bar Harbor. We can walk to everything. It feels like such a luxury to not have to worry about finding parking. We’re going to enjoy this week. And Acadia is only 3 miles away. We’re already trying to figure out how we’re going to cram everything we want to do in this week and still have time to just chill.