The Honeymooners: The Final Chapter!

Welcome to The Honeymooners: The Final Chapter!

Oddly enough I awoke this morning with some minor back discomfort from sleeping on the cottage bed.  The last two nights I slept on an air mattress on the ground with no issues.  Go figure?

Today was not a busy day for us compared to the last few, we took a big chunk and just relaxed!  We headed downtown for Kate to get a coffee and get an Acadia National Park pass.  We stopped at the Sand Beach which oddly enough had no shells!  It was a beautiful beach; don’t get me wrong, but there were absolutely no sea shells to be found!  It was quite surprising. 

Thunder Hole was next and was not that impressive.  It was cool, but didn’t live up to the hype.  Kate remembered it from her childhood as the water shooting very high and soaking people.  But that was during a storm and the ocean had been very calm for the last several days prior. 

We drove up Cadillac Mountain and took in the stunning panoramic views.  We eventually found the summit marker, there is no sign as it has been stolen too many times, and I bought a smaller magnet version of the marker that is very cool! 

Returning to Bar Harbor Kate picked up her Sea Bag that she absolutely loves!  She had her star done in blue on the way in we saw one in red as well.  The shop owner said that she was inspired!

We ate lunch at Mainely Meats which is on the Atlantic Brewing Company grounds but is not owned by them, they lease the space we heard the waiter telling another diner.  It’s BBQ, but I got a burger that was fantastic while Kate had the pulled pork.  They make their own BBQ Sauce that was so good we bought a jar!

We stopped at the Atlantic Brewing company owned Bar Harbor Cellars Winery.  It is a very nice place! They do not offer tours of the distillery, as they are two years away from producing enough grapes of their own to make their wine.  However, they do offer a free sampling that we partook in tasting 7 different wines.  I’m not much of a wine guy, but the fruit ones were very good! 

They also sell cheese there and I found 7 year old cheddar that was so fracking good!!! So good! Just outstanding!  They wouldn’t tell me who made it other than it’s from Quebec.

We kicked back at the cottage, sitting on the porch playing cards while drinking our coffee stout.  I made us hotdog hash for dinner on the old fancy all in one sink, fridge, and two burner stop top appliance.  On a share plate we put the BBQ Sauce and Raye’s Mustard that we bought to garnish our dinner while we watched the Walton’s.  I’m not gonna lie, it was some good! 

Heading back up Cadillac Mountain we wanted to watch the sunset.  It was very beautiful, but I have seen prettier sunsets in my life.  Apparently the sunrises up there can’t be beat.  It was the day after the full moon though and the moon rise was breathtaking!  The moon was huge and pink before turning to a bright orange!  Simply stunning! 

We called it a night at the cottage both dreading and excited about the drive home the next day. 

We slept in the latest that last morning of honeymoon but still found ourselves ready and out the door quite quickly well ahead of our 11am check out time. 

There was no rush to get home and we took our time stopping at Bucks Grave in Bucksport and Fort Point Lighthouse in Stockton Springs. We also took in a flea market in Searsport scoring an excellent deal on classic Christmas special DVD’s!

I can’t express enough how awesome this honeymoon/vacation was!  We had a great time together exploring places we’d never been and really enjoying nature.   We lucked out with some glorious weather along the way too. 

If I had to pick a favorite place that we visited I would have to lean towards East Quoddy Head Light on Campobello Island.  Not only was it visually stunning, but the adventure one had to partake just to get out to the lighthouse was amazing.

I have always wanted to travel to Aroostook County and travel down like we did exploring a portion of Maine that I had never been to before.  Best of all Kate was excited to do it as well.  Having our passport cards so we could pop into Canada made the trip that much more exciting.  I would plan on getting a passport or passport card if anyone plans on going up there themselves.   

I’ve been planning what will be several day and overnight trips for us to take in the future so we can explore other parts of the State that we can explore together.  And with our passport cards, I see trip to Quebec City in our future! 

Thanks for reading, I hope you’ve enjoyed to The Honeymooner Blogs!

Later Readers!

Mike

The Honeymooners Part III

Welcome to Part 3 of our Honeymoon Adventure!

Once again we arose early in the morning, early enough to watch the sun rise over the bay.  We made a breakfast of eggs and sausage to go with our morning fire.  We determined that Kate is a far superior fire starter than I, but I’m stronger. 

We were both in need of showers and we discovered that it was 25 cents for 3 minutes; we only had 5 quarters so we decided the best bet would be to use the handicapped bathroom and share the shower to make sure we both got adequately cleaned. 

Once in the room and in the standard showering wardrobe we took our places.  On one wall was the quarter depository and on the other a dial you cranked to turn on the shower.  I dropped the quarter into the slot and then it hit me.  As an avid pinball playing, vending machine using, Laundromat clothes washing guy, I’m more than accustomed to the sound coin makes when you drop it into a slot where a coin is need to active a device.  This sound was not that sound, this was a loud clank of a coin striking the bottom of a metal cup, or in this case a green impenetrable cylindrical wall mounted storage unit.   That’s right ladies and gentleman, this shower was run on the honor system!  It was too late to turn back now, so I dropped in the 5 quarters and we commenced to showering!

We hit the road smelling fresh hoping to find a Laundromat in Machias, which we eventually did.  It was very nice and clean too!  Once I loaded the washer, we had 23 minutes to kill so we strolled over to Bad Little Falls Park.  It’s a beautiful waterfall right in the heart of the city that is completely obscured by the bridge you travel on going over it. You really need to pull over and walk down to the viewing platform to see it. 

Putting the clothes in the dryers we were able to use the wifi there on the laptop and Kate found us a nice cottage to stay at in Bar Harbor that even had a kitchenette in it.  The rate was so good we decided to book our last two nights there instead of just one and camping the last. 

After folding we popped over the Helen’s for a piece of pie, so what if it was 930 in the morning, it was delicious!  Then we got back on the road. 

Our drive was broken up with stops at Prospect Harbor Lighthouse and the Sullivan Reversing Falls.  Just like in Pembroke we hit the tide wrong at this reversing falls.  It was still quite lovely but not very rapid or reversing.

As we told Sylvia we would, see The Honeymooners part 1, we stopped for lunch in Ellsworth at Sylvia’s Café.  We found Pat and told her that Sylvia sent us and had a good laugh.  Lunch was very good and you could see them fresh breading our chicken, haddock, and onion rings.  Definitely a great place to check out and one I would go back to.  It’s located in a strip mall on State Street and if Sylvia hadn’t told us about it we never would have taken the time to find it and try it out, glad we did!

We checked into Barton’s Motel and Cottages at Cottage number 4.  It was very cute and the perfect place to stay our last two nights.  After unpacking and lounging a bit it was time to hit the road for some exploring! 

First stop was the Atlantic Brewing company for a factory tour and tasting of their fine brew.  What they produce in 1 year, the Budweiser plant in New Hampshire brews in 7 minutes!  But Budweiser tastes like crap and except for the IPA, Atlantic Brewing has some nice, solid brews the Porter and Seasonal Leaf Peeper being my favorites!  After the tour we sampled 6 beers and their root beer and blueberry soda, the sodas were excellent!  The tour and sampling is absolutely free, making it that much better!

Next we drove down to Bass Harbor Head Light.  The light and grounds are maintained by the Coast Guard and while some parts or the property are off limits, they allow you to go right down to the light. 

We drove around the island and into the Bar Harbor so Kate could look at the shops.  This was not mindless browsing though, not at all.  You see while Kate was on her bachelorette overnight excursion in Boothbay Harbor (after she was already Mrs. Labbe) she came across a Sea Bag.  A shoulder bag made from recycled sailboat sails that are pretty neat and come with a hefty price tag too! 

We eventually found the bags, the prices were even higher here, however, she couldn’t fine the one she was looking for.  A wrong turn took us down a lane that brought us to SALT, a gift shop where the owner custom made Sea Bags for about $50 less.  She didn’t have a star pattern, yet, but a quick search of the internet later and the perfect one was found.  We would have to come back the next day to pick it up. 

We strolled down to the Bar Harbor Brewing Company store and I had a tasting of their brews.  Apparently Atlantic Brewing bought Bar Harbor Brewing a few years back.  They both brew their own beers still at their own locations.  The sampling was $3 for 4 brews and that got you a $3 coupon to use in the store.  Again the beers were excellent and after expressing my love for Porters I was offered a fifth sample, this of the limited edition Ellen’s Coffee Stout.  It was excellent.  We bought a 22oz bottle of the Stout and each got a glass as well. 

Earlier in the day we had decided to get pizza for dinner and take it back to the room, the clerk at Bar Harbor brewing recommended Rosalie’s Pizza quite passionately!  We grabbed and xtra large pie, some garlic cheese bread and headed back to the room for dinner and some Little House on the Prairie. 

The pizza was good, I wasn’t blown away by it, but it was very good. 

It was a great end to a full day!

Later Readers!