Maine Vacation 2022, Part 12
I had this post set for next week since I ran my first BOTB earlier of the month figuring it would be an overload but I decided today to go ahead with a late day publication. I’m sorry for not giving y’all the heads up sooner but that’s the way my brain works sometimes.
In this installment, I’m taking y’all to Thursday, September 15th. On this day, we went to breakfast at 2 Cats Restaurant in Bar Harbor. This establishment has been in business since the late 90s. I remember the restaurant from our visit in 2004, but we didn’t try it. They were always quite busy. On this morning the crowd was lined up outside and it was a chilly, windy one at that. We managed to find shelter in the tight confines of the restaurant. After waiting several minutes we were seated. The meal looked nice. However, DH’s pancakes were doughy in the middle. The cook couldn’t get them thoroughly cooked after two tries, so we requested that they removed them from our order. The breakfast plate I ordered was plenty of food.
Our plan for the day was to drive around Acadia before our Cadillac Mountain car reservation later in the day. From May through October to access Cadillac Mountain, visitors must set up online only their car reservations ($6). I scheduled ours in June. Despite my effort to find another way to get to Cadillac Mountain other than to hike in, I came up empty handed. I rolled my eyes in semi-disbelief to learn they actually had a shuttle we could’ve used. Before we got started, we needed to get gas and we went to a quaint little station in Hulls Cove near the park entrance.
The park was busier than we anticipated. Doing what we wanted, when we wanted didn’t go according to plan. We tried three times to go Jordan Pond House. The first two times there wasn’t any parking and the last time, the restaurant was closed. Traffic was heavy and there are few places to park, except the right hand lane of the one-way section of the park road. At first I thought that was crazy but after going around one time not finding available off road parking we opted to park on the road. This is designated by the park and it’s lawful.
Seal Harbor Beach 
A carriage house near Jordan Pond House 
Standing on Ocean Path running along side the Park Loop Rd view looking north toward Sand Beach 
The rugged shore I found hard to walk on. I was afraid I’d fall and swept out to sea never to be seen again. Look at that fella! What is he thinking? 
You can’t see this in the previous picture very well where the ocean has carved a path through the boulders 
The view is simply breath-taking here 
The part of Ocean Path we were on was just past Thunder Hole and I don’t think we went beyond Boulder Beach but we stayed on the path. 
Again looking north toward Sand Beach 
And, here I’m looking south toward Boulder Beach. I always thought this was Otter Cliffs but that’s a little further down, perhaps just past the next bend in the ocean. 
This is Otter Cove, very tranquil!
The day got away from us with all that crazy driving around to find parking. The views were still awesome. It was now time to go to Cadillac Mountain.
The wind showed us no mercy. Check out this short clip.
With the gusts battering us and the crowds we didn’t spend near enough time on Cadillac Mountain. We managed to get into the small gift shop to browse for souvenirs. We bought two Old Soaker Blueberry sodas, a park map, a light weight hoodie, and a tee shirt. The good thing is we had reservations on the rest of the days and knew we probably had plenty of time to spend here. The afternoon was getting away from us, so we headed back to Bar Harbor for dinner at Geddy’s By The Sea. We ordered the Fish and Chips plate to share, as well we each got a cup of coffee. That wind really chilled me. I believe we got a slice of blueberry pie for dessert but I was too tired to take a picture.
We walked around town looking in some of the gift shops but not quite ready to buy anything. I made a point to take a picture of the town clock. I just love stuff like this! In case you’re wondering, we did try CJ’s Big Dipper across the street a few days later when DD#2 joined us. They are good but our favorite ice cream place is Mt. Dessert Island Ice Cream. We made at least three visits to get ice cream there.
That concludes another day in Maine. I appreciate your visit and your time to journey with me as I enjoy our vacation all over again. Watch my Monday’s Music Moves Me post each week for announcements when to expect the next installment in this series. Speaking of which, if you have music to share you’re invited to link up hit the dance floor with the 4M crew. You’ll find me boogieing to the weekly theme inspired song picks but remember themes aren’t required to gain access to this party! X💋X💋, Cathy
I’m joining the Wordless Wednesday community hosted by Sandee from Comedy Plus!
11 Comments
XmasDolly aka Marie
Your honey takes you to the most marvelous places! I wish I was a little bird & sat on your shoulder to see all these great places you go! woooooo hoooooo
Cathy Kennedy
You can see all the places I go just by visiting these posts. That’s one thing I like about blogging chair side travel! 🙂
XmasDolly aka Marie
Absolutely wonderful! Thanks for sharing!
littlehippymom
Hi Cathy. I just found your Maine travel posts and am giving them a look. I’ve eaten at 2 Cats, a long time ago.And Acadis is a favorite place. Sorry it was crowded that day for you.Somehow its hard to enjoy “nature” when it feels a little too crowded. hugs-Erika
Cathy Kennedy
Erika,
It’s fun to connect with others who have shared the same experiences. Crowded vacation spots will continue to be bad and properly will grow worse with the passage of time. Despite that, we had a good time. We really needed another week or two in the area. It’s so hard to do everything you want on vacation. I would visit you but your Gravatar profile doesn’t have your blog address listed. 🙁 I’m hope you see this to point me your way! Thanks for dropping by and I hope you enjoy the photo memories series.
Debbie D.
Too bad things didn’t turn out as planned, but I enjoyed the tour. Lovely photos!
Thomas Anderson
Hi, Cathy!
I didn’t see this Maine Vacation post until last evening when I doubled back to CAAC to check how the voting was going in your BOTB. By that time, I was exhausted and didn’t feel that I could devote proper attention to your vacation musings. Yesterday was a Perfect Storm day in blogging. It was the first day of the month, meaning band battle day. It was also the first Wednesday of the month, the day the Insecure Writers Support Group stages their monthly hop with countless writers and authors publishing new posts and some of them leaving comments on my site. After hours of intense work trying to catch up and create content of my own, I was spent. Now, after having slept, I can truly enjoy hopping in my jalop and following you on the next leg of your New England adventure.
Right off the bat, I’m sorry to learn that DH had a subpar stack of pancakes at 2 Cats. I’m sure no one can match Polly’s pancakes, but it’s a mystery why the ones he got at 2 Cats were doughy in the middle. I don’t know why they tried to “fix” them. They should have offered to start from scratch and make him another stack. it’s also interesting to me that you needed to wait to be seated and started encountering heavier tourist crowds at this point in your trip in the Bar Harbor area, more so than earlier when you were in other parts of Maine and New Hampshire. Is that correct?
Seal Harbor Beach looks like a nice spot, and those beautiful but rugged and treacherous looking rocks on Ocean Path gave you a great photo op on a clear and sunny day. I agree that a person could take a nasty fall from those rocks and never been seen again. I’m glad you stayed safely back. It’s amazing how the sea carved a groove in those massive boulders over time. From your vantage point, you were able to capture awesome scenes looking north toward Sand Beach and south toward Boulder Beach. You were wise to stay on the recommended path and not venture off to explore other parts of the rocky coastline where danger awaited. Otter Cove is another breathtaking spot. So glad the weather was perfect that day.
The picture you took of Eagle Lake on your way up Cadillac Mountain is spectacular. Like that seagull, you had a bird’s eye view of Bar Harbor from up high on the summit. Wow, I can hear the vigorous wind whipping across the mountain on your video, all the more reason to avoid getting too close to the edge of cliffs.
It was blueberry day. You drank blueberry soda at the mountain gift shop and ate blueberry pie later on. I can imagine how tired, chilled and hungry (hangry?) you were after fighting crowds and traffic and bracing yourself against the chilly wind. Looks like you guys had a dandy fish & chips dinner at Geddy’s By The Sea. That’s a great shot of Bar Harbor’s town clock. Mrs. Shady and I love ice cream, and we surely would have returned again and again to CJ’s Big Dipper and Mt. Dessert Island Ice Cream.
Yessum, I certain did enjoy this leg of your journey as I have all he others. Thanks for inviting me along. I have no doubt you re-experience these exciting highlights of your trip as you compose each chapter. Enjoy the rest of your week, dear friend Cathy. I’ll see you on 4M Monday when I will be pubbing my next post as well. God bless!
messymimi's meanderings
It’s all beautiful, i really appreciate you taking us along.
15andmeowing
I had not heard of Cadillac Mt. . It looks like a beautiful place to visit. XO
Brian
Seal Harbor sure is pretty and the food always looks amazing up there.
Sandee
A state I’d love to visit. The food looks so amazing. I’m hungry now.
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