Here are some of my photos from Tuesday evening.

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, ME.

The Sara Mildred Long bridge (US1 bypass) in the foreground and the Piscataqua River Bridge (I-95) in the background as seen from the Memorial Bridge.

Panorama of The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, ME.

The Goldenrod, York Beach, ME

The Gazebo, York Beach, Maine.

A video of Salt Water Taffy being made:

A perfect end to a perfect trip.

Just before sunrise:

After catching up on some sleep we did some more touring of the national park. Here is a picture of a Park Ranger I met while on a short hike. She agreed with me when I pointed out she has an unbeatable view from her office!

Back in Bar Harbor we went for a walk and saw a huge cruise ship, The Caribbean Princess.

After Thunder Hole we took a drive up Mount Cadillac. The view was still clearing so we went back later in the day.

We had reservations on the lawn of Jordan Pond for lunch so we headed over early and did the 3.6 mile shoreline hike before we ate. The pond was formed by an ice sheet in the last glacial period. The water is very clear with visibility to a depth of 46 feet and sometimes up to as much as 60 feet.

A Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly. We saw many of these on our walk.

The mountains that overlook Jordan Pond are called The Bubbles.

A White Admiral Butterfly.

After our walk we sat down to eat lunch on the lawns of Jordan Pond. The food was delicious. I had a lovely lobster quiche. We also all had popovers, which are the tradition at lunch on the lawn!

The view from our table:

After Jordan Pond we drove back to the summit of Mount Cadillac and took in it’s breathtaking views. See Day 4′s post for views from Mount Cadillac at sunrise.

In the evening we took a walk from our cottage down to the Sand Bar. During low tide the sandbar is exposed and you are able to walk across from Bar Harbor to Bar Island. It’s a nice walk and quite amazing how quickly the Sand Bar disappears once the tide comes in. You definitely want to time your return journey well to avoid being stranded!

The view from Bar Island on the other side of the Sand Bar looking back towards Bar Harbor.

It was a truly beautiful day in Bar Harbor and amazing how much the place is transformed in the good weather. The weather stayed good for most of the remainder of our vacation there.

The conditions made for some nice vegetation shots:

One of the first stops on the park loop road was Sand Beach. Sand Beach is the only sandy beach in Acadia.

Opposite the car park at the beach we spotted some climbers doing one of Acadia’s many hikes.

We visited many of the other stops on the park loop but I will look at them in more detail on the coming good weather posts!

Upon arrival in Bar Harbor we unpacked our cases in our rental cottage for the week. The rental was walking distance to downtown and nice and easy drive to the Acadia National Park.

We had a walk downtown in the evening and went out to eat. It was very misty out so we could not see too much of the harbor but we knew it would improve!

Day 1 came to a close and we got some rest after the long 5 hour drive!

On Saturday morning we went on a whale watch. The watch lasted 4 hours which included a boat ride to and from one of the whales known feeding grounds. We saw over 10 whales in total, including Minke, Fin and Humpback whales.

On the way back to Boothbay we sailed by Pumpkin Island to see some sunbathing seals!

As we arrived back in the Harbor there were plenty of opportunties for picturesque photos.

On Sunday we took a day trip to Monhegan Island. We departed at 11am for the small rocky island ten miles outside of Boothbay Harbor.

The island is home to no more than 75 residents who enjoys its quiet and relaxed atmosphere. It is also very popular with artists, many of whom own galleries there. There are no real paved roads on the island, only dirt tracks which add to its nostalgic appeal.

Our return boat back to Boothbay was at 2pm (the last boat back to the mainland till Thursday!) so we spent a couple of hours on one of Monhegans trails to Lobster Cove before allowing plenty of time to get back to the dock. Lobster Cove was very pretty and is the site of the D.T. Sheridan, a shipwreck which has rested in the cove for decades.

Monhegan Island is definately on our list to return to one day. We would like to spend a few days there so we can cover more ground and spend plenty of time admiring its beauty.

On Sunday afternoon we returned home to Dover, NH. We will be back in Boothbay next month with my parents and can’t wait!

Here is a short video from our weekend in Boothbay Harbor.

The journey to Bar Harbor took us a around four and a half hours with one stop off at a rest area on the way. Upon arrival we checked in early and dumped our bags. The hotel room was massive! We got a pool view room which was more like two bedrooms in one. We had two marble bathrooms, walk in shower, two baths, a living room and two TV’s. It was a lot more than we expected for the price we paid! We had lobster rolls for lunch at the restaurant next door to the hotel and set about exploring the town. Bar Harbor has plenty of shops and restaurants so we spent some time walking around and taking in the lovely seaside setting.

Across the water from our hotel was an island called ‘Bar Island’. During low tide you can walk across from our hotel to the island but during high tide the water came right up to the hotel. It was quite a sight when we first saw the water at low tide as there were people walking and driving their cars across to an island which a few hours earlier was surrounded by the Atlantic waters!

The following morning we went to Mount Cadillac. The mountain is located in Acadia National Park which occupies ‘Mount Desert Island’. Bar Harbor is on the eastern shore of the island. The visibility was not great but the mountain views still didn’t disappoint. The first of the pictures below shows the ‘Porcupine Islands’ from the top of the mountain.

In the afternoon/evening we took another walk around Bar Harbor. We also walked the ‘Shore Path’ which offers some really nice views of the harbor.

After our walk we returned to the hotel and had a swim in the heated pool.

The following morning was an early start! We got up at 3:30am to return to Mount Cadillac to see the Memorial Day sunrise. Mount Cadillac is the highest mountain on the coast of the U.S. and therefore sees sunrise before any other place in America. The view of the sunrise was spectacular and a “must do” for visitors to Bar Harbor.

After our early morning at Mount Cadillac we returned to the hotel to finish our sleep. Here are a couple of pictures taken from the hotel on Memorial Day.

After breakfast at 9am we went for a drive around the 27 mile ‘Park Loop Road’ to take in some more of Acadia National Park before we returned home to New Hampshire seacoast. The Sand Beach below found just off the loop, is a lovely cove which was created 15,000 years ago by glacial ice. Swimming in the water is only for the hardy as water temperatures peak at only 50F (10C).

Our final stop before going home was to ‘Jordan Pond’. The pond has a shoreline of 3.6 miles and is another part of Acadia which was formed by the glaciers. The water at Jordan Pond is very clean and visibility is often at 46ft. Afternoon tea is served from the teahouse lawn overlooking the Pond. The signature item on the menu are Popovers however we had our signature item of Lobster Rolls! I also had a lovely blueberry smoothie.

After lunch we returned home down I-95 and luckily managed to avoid all the holiday traffic! A perfect end to a perfect weekend.

Here is a video clip of some of the highlights:

It took us around an hour to get to Portland. Upon arrival we were greeted by a friendly Maine lobster!

We had a nice walk around Commercial Street which overlooks a number of busy piers. I snapped this picture of some lobster traps on one of the piers.

The highlight of our trip to Portland was our trip to Fort Williams Park to see the oldest lightouse in Maine, the Portland Head Light. We had no idea it even existed until we picked up a tourist map in one of Commercial Street’s souvenir shops. Here are some images:

Ram Island Ledge Light can also be seen from Fort Williams park. It was built in 1905.

We then made our way back home. It was a lovely day out and we cant wait to visit again soon. Perhaps a summer picnic in the park?