Woke up to some fog blanketing the harbor this morning. Unfortunately, that beautiful fog canceled our lighthouse boat trip. (We’ll try again tomorrow.) Since we couldn’t be on the water we decided to go back to the park and do at least one of the hikes Bob really wanted to do, the Bubbles (it’s two mountains, North Bubble and South Bubble). Once we left the coast the sky was blue and it warmed right up! It took a little longer to burn off the fog back in the harbor. The parking lot for such a popular hike is pretty small and we had to wait around for someone to leave for a spot.

It’s pretty short hike, less than 1/2 mile up and back, and while it started out pretty easy and level it didn’t stay that way. Before long the path got pretty rocky and in some places it was pretty steep. But the view at the top? Wow! Gorgeous!! We ran into two couples on the hike up and ended up walking back to the bottom with them. Jack (originally from Texas) was just awesome! He was so friendly and happy it was impossible not to enjoy him. At some point he said, “yeah I did that back in my 70’s” so Bob asked him how old he is now … “84!!” This man was the epitome of being 84 years young. There is no room for me to talk about any kind of difficulty on this hike watching Jack make his way down the mountain. His wife, Roxanne, made sure she was there to make him focus during some of the more tedious parts – she said, “he gets busy talking and forgets to focus.” What a dear man. We talked and laughed all the way back to our cars and hope we run into each other again while we’re in Bar Harbor. We feel like old friends. LOL It’s amazing how quickly the time passes when you share stories with someone else. This world is full of wonderful, awesome people if you just take the time to see them.

There is another hike around Jordan Pond we were contemplating doing but there was absolutely no parking anywhere to be found – and those parking areas (multiple) were packed. So we just came back home instead and walked around town contributing to the local economy. The longer we’re here in Bar Harbor the more we love it. It’s just a lovely laid back little harbor town. Before we came back home we had to stop in Jordan Pond Ice Cream – reportedly the best on the island. Both of us walked away with blueberry shakes. Man were they good. We took them across the street to the little park and sat on a bench sipping away while people watching. It was a beautiful afternoon (we have had amazing weather) and it was wonderful to sit there and watch the world to by.

We had about an hour before it was time to go walk the sandbar to Bar Island. This is the coolest thing. There is this huge sandbar at low tide that you can walk across to get to the closest island. Tons of people walk it every day. So cool to see the kids out there playing, throwing rocks, looking for shells and star fish – even saw one little guy taking a quick dip in the 50 degree water. Crazy! There is a hike on the island that supposedly you can get a great view of the harbor but we had done enough walking today and didn’t feel the need to do that one. In a couple of hours it will be completely submerged once again under about 6’ of water. Incredible.

This little place called “Cafe This Way” has been recommended to us by quite a few people – all random. Cell service around here is spotty at best so getting directions is a crap shoot. We knew the basic direction of it (this place is pretty small so how hard could it be to find, right?). It took a little longer than we though but we did eventually find it. Boy was it worth the wait. They had fresh pecan encrusted halibut as a special on the menu. Done! It was divine! We started off with some cauliflower hummus that was also delicious! Now we know why this place comes highly recommended by everyone!

As Bob says, “stick a fork in me, I’m done.” Yup and when I found out I had walked 8 miles and over 18,000 steps I know why. Whew – time for bed.