Remember the crisp clear air, bright sunshine and brilliant blue skies I was looking for in Newport and Boston? We finally woke up to them in Bar Harbor, and had an absolutely fantastic day with family and our new friends Sue and Jim from California!

 

We had a group of 10 for a 5 hour tour with At Your Service Taxi. We met up on the ship and got ashore quite a bit earlier than expected because there was no line for the tender. We were ashore by 9:00 and our driver was waiting so we were off!

 

We started with a scenic drive through town and along the coast learning about the history of the island. Our stops throughout the day were mostly for scenery and foliage…we saw a lot of both. We didn’t hit peak color, but for us Texans who seldom see red maple leaves🍁 it looked pretty colorful! For those of you who don’t know, most of our leaves in Texas change a little bit differently. They are green, then they turn yellow/brown, then they fall off and make a mess. Let’s say we don’t have tourists visiting Texas for our fall color!

 

Coastline and Thunder Hole…

Here’s a short video clip of Thunder Hole…

 

Foliage Stops…

Cadillac Mountain…

 

It was VERY windy up on the mountain. I laugh out loud every time I see this picture of my sister-in-law Barb. I know she hates it, so I blurred her face. Sorry, Barb…I couldn’t resist!

 

We went to Beal’s Lobster Pier in Southwest Harbor for lunch. What a fantastic experience! The food was delicious, the portions were plentiful, and we were able to sit out on the sunny deck to enjoy our meal. What a pleasant change from the grunge of Newport and Boston! Southwest Harbor was also a lot farther than most cruise ship tourists ventured, so it wasn’t crowded at all. It was just a great, relaxing experience.

Lobster, lobster rolls, blueberry pie — we feasted on classic Maine fare cooked to perfection! The food pics are from the Beal’s Facebook page…

 

After lunch we slowly made our way back across the island towards the port. Once we got there we went our separate ways, with the original Rouses and their spouses staying in town for a little shopping/sightseeing and a cocktail hour!

 

We got back to the ship easily with no wait for a tender, and had plenty of time to relax and get ready for our dinner reservation at the Crown Grill.

 

Unfortunately, when we arrived for dinner they did not have our reservation. A great deal of confusion ensued, and I was finally told the reservation I had made on the phone wasn’t really a reservation, just a purchase. I should have been instructed to see the maître d’ for actual reservations as soon as I boarded. This put us in a jam, because there were eight of us standing at the entrance to a full restaurant with a pre-paid reservation that really wasn’t a reservation. A couple of phone calls by the maître d’ and they agreed to take us at Sabatini‘s that evening, and honor our non-reservation at Crown Grill for Friday, the last night of the cruise. I still wasn’t sure they had it straight, but by about 7:30 we were settled in Sabatini’s ready to relax and enjoy our meal.

Sabatini’s was great! I had a veal chop that was probably one of the better things I’ve ever had on a cruise, and I couldn’t resist a Tiramisu Martini at the end of dinner!

 

The nights kind of run together, and I didn’t do a good job of taking notes, but I think this was the night we went to play music trivia. We were at our family best, falling out of our seats with laughter at our answers and each other. I know we must have annoyed some others, so if our laughter bugged you I apologize, but I would do it again and probably will the next time we cruise with Jim’s siblings! By the way, we won! It turns out that some of my in-laws really know their music! We got a bottle of champagne for our efforts, and the “olds” went to bed while the ‘“youngs” stayed up and celebrated their success!

We would cross the border and wake up in Canada 🇨🇦 the next day. I’ll tell you about Saint John, NB — the good🙂 and the bad😥 in my next post.