Maine - Part 4

Eagle Lake, Bar Harbor, Portland, Then Heading To Florida

Day 19

We drove to Bar Harbor today. On our way we stopped at Eagle Lake.

There is a carriage path that goes around the lake. People use it now for walking and riding bikes. Back in the day people would ride around in their carriages. Now days there is no horse poop to worry about :)

Mitzi and I enjoyed walking part-way around the lake. Like so much of Maine, it's beautiful. We came here hoping for some fall colors. And we got some.

As we drove in to Bar Harbor we passed a quilt shop. Time for shopping!

We had a food tour scheduled for 2p. With a couple hours to spare we walked down to the water, found a bench, and relaxed.

Our first stop on the food tour was Fiore, an artisan olive oils and vinegar store.

We couldn't believe they required masks. We haven't worn masks in so so long. WE HATE THEM! It feels so dehumanizing. It's a total sham game.

Out of respect for the owner we cooperated.

The joke is that after he talked for a couple minutes explaining about the olive oil, which I'm sure was quite interesting but I heard very little of because I was so distracted with the mask situation, he said, "Now for the fun part, we can take off our masks!"

It was time to sample the olive oil. And the owner never put his mask back on and we didn't either.

Why the bleep did we ever put them on in the first place? It really makes literally no sense.

Masks have been proven a non sequitur for a long time now. Logic finally found the light of day in the world. Why Fiore is requiring masks I cannot understand.

The olive oil tasting was amazing though. He taught us how to slurp back and the pepper in the olive oil almost burns the back of the throat. We had no idea olive oil would do that!

Their balsamic vinegar was amazing. They have one that is produced only for Fiore, you can't get it anywhere else. It is infused with blueberries. We were going to go back and buy some but decided not to because we didn't want to deal with the masks again.

Our next stop was The Loft which is an oyster bar.

The presentation was beautiful. The chef served us and gave us a description of each item.

This was our favorite stop. Tuna poké, shrimp dip, fried oyster roll, an oyster, and edible garnishments. Yes we ate the flowers :)

Next stop was Dog & Pony Tavern. We had clam chowder and root beer. Nice and warm on a somewhat chilly afternoon.

Then we went to a sandwich shop. I don't remember the name. They made lobster sliders and blueberry cake to-go and we strolled down the water and ate it on a picnic bench. On our way down we passed an antique shop with lots of potted flowers out front.

Our last stop was at the Bar Harbor Cheesecake Company.

They served us three tastes of cheese cake. The first tasted like a PAYDAY candy bar. The second was a pumpkin flavor. And the third was chocolate mousse. All excellent.

We were so full after finishing the cheesecake it was good we were done with the tour.

It was so fun and a great way to get a variety of food in the local area. We have another food tour coming up in Portland in a couple days.

We are staying at the Atlantean Cottage B&B right in the shopping district of Bar Harbor. It's a beautiful place.

The parking lot is tiny and when we pulled in with our motorhome they were a little nervous. However there was a space back in the corner where it fits so we don't have to go find a parking space out in the town. Yay!

The room is clean and beautiful.

We feel so comfortably tired. It's been a great day and we are ready for some rest and relaxation.

There is a jacuzzi tub in our room and we are certainly going to be soaking in it!

Day 20

We had an amazing breakfast at the Atlantean B&B. A baked apple. Fall salad. And Baked Frittata. Exquisite.

We like the stair case and landing in this building. It's a large landing. And the stairs are shallow so super easy to climb.

This quilt is hanging on the wall at the top of the stairs. It's a map of the area.

The building has 8 rooms for guests. They keep it beautiful and clean. It was a great stay.

Baby Malanah as I mentioned yesterday was large for their tiny parking area. We were able to park it back in the corner out of the way.

We drove to Portland after breakfast. Belfast was about the half-way point and we enjoyed it so much last week we decided to stop there today for lunch.

Mitzi purchased a towel basket holder she had seen last week but didn't buy. It's hers now :)

We got the same lobster roll with chives and lemon and that's it. Super plain and delicious.

As we were driving along we passed a truck pulling a trailer. And this huge moose head was on the back. And a huge cooler presumably with the moose body in it.

After we checked in to the Canopy Hotel in Portland we headed out for shopping and dinner.

We went to a place called Duckfat. I wanted to taste french fries that were fried in animal fat instead of vegetable sludge. Fries used to be done in animal fat and I heard they tasted much better.

Happily Duckfat makes their fries in ... you guessed correctly! ... duck fat :)

We got a garden salad. House made cookies and cream shake. Belgian Frites. And a Duckfat Lobster Roll.

And (for me) the grand Duckfat Poutine. With a duck egg.

The Duckfat Poutine has gravy on the fries and the duck egg added to the mix and I couldn't stop eating it. One of the most delicious combinations of flavor, texture, and temperature I've ever had.

We rode bikes from the hotel and got these pictures after dinner on our way back.

Orange bike. Orange hat. Orange shoes. Mitzi even has orange shoes laces! So much orange you'd think we loved Bitcoin or something ;)

This is our last night in Maine. It's been a wonderful trip and we feel sad to be leaving. We have about 6 days to drive back to Pensacola in Florida, attend a concert on my birthday, and then we'll finish the trip by driving home to Wild Heron.

Day 21

Our last day in Maine. We feel sad to be leaving.

We did a food tour in Portland this morning.

On our way to meet with the group we passed an interesting building and fountain.

At the tour meeting location we got blueberry treats. Not sure what they are called. And we met our tour guide Timothy.

At first we thought he was coming up asking for money but then figured out he was going to be leading the tour.

He's a character. He did a great job and we enjoyed the food and the things we learned.

Our first stop was Gilbert's Chowder House. Timothy recommended we get their basic clam chowder and add some Tabasco Sauce. He was right, it was an excellent combination!

Our second stop was right next door at Andy's Old Port Pub. We met the owner John (he's got the mountain man beard). They served us these fish tacos that were amazing. Mitzi said it was her favorite food item. Simple, tangy, light, crunchy.

We also had Maine Root Beer in a fancy glass which was delicious and not too sweet.

The juice that came out of the taco was so good I was drinking it off the plate. Mitzi caught me in the act!

Walking to the next place we stopped at the old Port. The lobster fishermen still work from here as they have for many generations.

Timothy is a tall lanky guy who is an artist. His clothing is so eclectic with yellow & green socks, pants that are several inches too short, pointed dress shoes, and an elbow patched flannel jacket. I had to capture his gait and stride as he marched ahead of us leading the way to our next food adventure.

We passed some interesting buildings.

Next stop was Rigby Yard. They served us Kombucha, I think it was cranberry. We both enjoyed it. A beautiful drink and I was able to capture the light streaming through the bubbles and glass.

Then they brought out lobster rolls. The couple on the other side of the table didn't like lobster so they ate the bun and left the lobster piled on their plate :) That is about a $30 bun y'all just ate!

Timothy leads us across the street on a red light. "Follow me, it's okay" he says haha.

Our last stop was Dean's Sweets where we got a couple of yummy truffles.

It was a fun tour. We enjoyed the variety of food and also learning more about Portland and Maine.

There was one more eating experience we wanted before leaving Maine. About 20 minutes from the wharf in Cape Elizabeth is a food trailer named Bite Into Maine. Next to a light house that is now a museum.

This place was featured on Somebody Feed Phil and was the inspiration for this trip.

First off let me say they have the best Whoopie Pies we tried. Mitzi's favorite by far.

Second off let me say that their Curry lobster roll (pictured on the left) is my all-time favorite. And their Chipotle lobster roll (pictured on the right) is my second favorite.

Mitzi enjoyed another Maine Root Blueberry soda.

And I enjoyed digging into the lobster rolls. Obviously :)

We walked down to the lighthouse and captured a couple photos and also enjoyed the coastline.

As we walked back to the motorhome Mitzi visited Bite Into Maine and picked up 3 more Whoopie Pies for the road. Yes they were that good.

We drove to Southington, Connecticut and are staying at a hotel tonight. Time to get some laundry done.

While driving through stop and go traffic we passed a small truck with a trailer. And on the trailer was this tiny truck with eyelashes. Interesting and clever!

Day 22

There were a couple of pictures on my phone I forgot to add to yesterday. So I'll start with those today.

Yesterday we crossed from Maine to New Hampshire. Then saw this L.L. Bean boot car merging on to the freeway. Pretty cool!

We made it to Connecticut and as I mentioned yesterday stayed overnight in Southington.

Today we continued the drive making it first to New York.

In New York we had an interesting experience. We got routed to Saw Mill River Parkway. What we didn't realize is that it has some low bridges!

Our motorhome is 9' 7". So anything under 10' is something we need to avoid. The first few bridges were over 10' so no problem. Then suddenly we came to a bridge that was 8' 8" and the sign was about 150 yards from the bridge. Not much time or space to stop and get off the road!

I came to a quick stop in the road and quickly figured out what to do. We had just passed a turn off so I put the vehicle in reverse. There was a long line of cars behind us, luckily they were able to maneuver around the side, there was just enough room. This was in the middle of a construction zone so it was somewhat confusing and restricted.

I slowly backed up until we could make the right turn and get off the parkway.

All was well and it was quite stressful. We used our All Stays app that tells us the height of bridges and mapped a new route back to the freeway that was clear of low bridges :)

The upside to all this is we ended up driving through Sleepy Hollow, NY. Mitzi did some research and we learned it's famous because Washington Irving wrote a story about it in 1820. Interesting place with a large, very large, cemetery. Which I think figures into the story. And there was some headless horseman that what part of it too.

We didn't get any pictures of all this. It didn't even occur to us as the event was so stressful that all of our focus was making sure we managed it well. Which we did :)

We finally crossed into New Jersey by crossing this magnificent bridge going over the Hudson river. Amazing.

After a reasonable amount of time we crossed into Pennsylvania. The traffic subsided. The rain subsided. Things became much calmer and we felt grateful to be out of NY and NJ and the hustle and bustle that large populations bring.

We crossed into Maryland and a few miles after arrived at our hotel in Hagerstown.

We rested a bit then went out to dinner at The Grille at Runways which Mitzi found for us. It's a gem. It's a restaurant in an FBO (where private planes fly at airports). We sat next to the tarmac and had a great view of the airport.

We decided to try a variety of items.

The Seafood Boule with sourdough bread bowl, lobster cream sauce, blue crab, shrimp, parmesan, and chives. Warm and flavorful.

We had a nice garden salad.

And we ordered four entrees. Sometimes you just gotta.

The Spicy Miso Bowl with lo mein noodles, spicy miso broth, mushroom, soy mayo, jalapeño, sesame, pickled red onion, and parsley. Deep flavors that danced around the taste buds. This was our favorite.

The Cuban Reuben with corned beef, shaved cuban pork roast, marbled rye, dijon mustard, thousand island, swiss, pickles, and sauerkraut. Dipped in the dijon mustard dressing it was so tasty.

The pretzel roll with sausage and ham and cheese.

The French Dip Panini with shaved roast beef, rosemary ciabatta, horseradish cream, swiss, onion, mushroom, and side au jus. A creative combination that totally works.

We took several bites of each, enjoyed the variety of flavors and textures, then boxed up the rest to enjoy over the next few days. Sure is nice having a fridge in our car!

It was a tiring day of driving with bad weather, bad traffic, and bad bridges :)

We worked out after dinner and are feeling a bit revived. Ready to get a good night's rest and do another 6 hours driving tomorrow.

Day 23

We drove six hours today and made it just across the Tennessee border.

It was a good driving day. Great weather, not too much traffic, good roads.

We went through West Virginia, Virginia, and then into Tennessee. We are staying at a Tennessee State Park called Warrior's Path.

After we arrived Mitzi walked around the park. It's quite beautiful here.

She found these small delicate mushrooms. And striations on the rocks down by the water.

We were parked in our assigned slot. There were several dogs tied up across from us. Each time a car went by or person walked by, or at other random times, the dogs barked their heads off and whining and making a lot of noise and ruckus. The owners told them to be quiet. Didn't matter.

Mitzi had seen a site near the water that was much quieter. So we moved over there taking our chances that we'd reprimanded for not being in our assigned site. So far so good. It's 9p and all is well :)

The first picture is our assigned site. The second picture is the lake at the new site. The third picture is after we moved the motorhome to the unassigned site.

After the sun went down we started a campfire. It lit right up and burned hot.

We enjoyed a roasted hot dog dinner. On New England buns we brought from Maine. We also ate a salad but alas, no picture.

Mitzi roasted marshmallows afterward. Yum!

We've already travelled 67% of the way home. So the next few days will be shorter travel days since we are scheduled to arrive in Pensacola on Saturday afternoon to check in to our hotel there.