Today as a day of transition as we were leaving Moosehead Lake. We had originally planned to be here for a full 7 days but when I made the reservations, I put in the wrong end date. So we had one part of the holiday ending on August 1 and the next part starting on August 2 which left us in a lurch for one night. Our hosts in Rockwood would have been very happy to extend our stay but we were done with the rural life and were ready to move on. After a little online research, I decided that we would head to Bar Harbor at the gates of Acadia National Park – a place I have always wanted to visit. A little more time on line got us a lovely king bed room at the Inn on Mount Desert just out side of downtown.
The sun was bright and the day promised to be warm – almost taunting us with the promise of a dry day. 
We had a breakfast of leftovers – one scrambled egg, 3 pancakes, 1 Skyr, half a pint of blueberries and 2 GF pan au chocolate – and packed up the car. A short goodbye to our hosts and goodbye to the chance of seeing a moose; we were on the road to the coast by 9:30. The drive was nothing special except that the weather was glorious and the traffic was light. We made a quick stop in Bangor to see the largest cargo plane in the world that had randomly landed there last night. Then we got into the line of traffic heading to the island very much like any other coastal location.
We got to the hotel and dropped off the car while they finished cleaning the room. It was time to hit town for lunch. Unlike the rest of this trip so far, we were in a walkable town with LOTS of other people. It was quite a change. Also unlike the north country, masks were everywhere and explicitly required in most places. In many places at the lake, masks were requested or strongly encouraged but not required. In Bar Harbor, there are signs everywhere that say “Wear a mask, don’t make us ask” and the less polite “No mask, no service.” What a difference a day makes! In fact everywhere we went for food or drinks, they took our name and a phone number for contact tracing.
We had a fabulous lunch at the Side Street Cafe where I had a Gluten Free lobster roll (which was amazing!) with a raspberry gimlet. Frank had a haddock Reuben (which he said works way better than it sounds!) with a blood orange margarita. All in all an excellent meal! Then we wandered around town doing all the touristy things we couldn’t do in the rural north. It was urban hiking at it’s finest – more than 12K steps worth!
We finally got checked in to the room and had a shower and some down time before it was time to eat again. For dinner, it was Geddy’s down on the waterfront. Nearly everything on their menu was 
gluten free – including the fried calamari appetizer. Amazing! Frank had shrimp scampi and will smell like garlic for at least a week! I had the seafood pie which was outstanding! We wandered across the street to a park where everyone seemed to have gathered to watch the sunset which was very pretty. A little more walking and it was time for an early bed. Tomorrow would be another transition day.
Numbers for today:
- Mosquito bites: 3
- Unidentified bites requiring large doses of Benadryl: 1 (it really hurts too!)
- Complements on my silly smiley-face mask: easily a dozen
- Extra bags to fit into the packed trunk: 3
- Moose sighted: 0
The Cannon Family's travel blog 