We arrived in Bar Harbor early in the afternoon and checked back in to the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel, this time in the new wing. We had carpet on the floor this time and the same great view of Cruise ships in Frenchman Bay.
We were up early to check out of the hotel in Calais, it was raining. After having breakfast in a diner, the one a Miami tourist claimed had "the best breakfast I have had since driving up from Florida". That was nice to know, even though we were heading back that direction today. We drove the #9 to Bangor, Maine, just for a change of scenery. It rained off and on through the trip but had quit by the time we got to Bangor. We checked out a couple of Antique stores and some Thrift Shops when we were in Bangor then headed down the 395 to Ellsworth then took highway #3 back to Mount Desert Island and Bar Harbor. We arrived in Bar Harbor early in the afternoon and checked back in to the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel, this time in the new wing. We had carpet on the floor this time and the same great view of Cruise ships in Frenchman Bay. Since we still had most of the afternoon left we headed to down town Bar Harbor. There are Lots of tourist type shops in the downtown area, seasonal business lots of T-shirts and hoodies (50-70% off this time of year). Here they are big on Lobsters and for some reason Moose. Apparently you don't see a lot of Moose though, sorta' like the Loch Ness monster or Ogopogo. There are Fish Boats in the harbor at the end of main street, a couple of nice little parks, restaurants and waterfront Hotels. Cruise ships sit offshore and ferry passengers to the downtown area where you can catch the Lighthouse tour boats or be bused to Acadia National Park. When we returned to the hotel we visited the house on the property. It was part of the original estate of Klondike billionaire, Sir Harry Oakes . This house and the 12 acres around it are now part of the hotel and property. The inside of the Oakes' House is decorated in period fashion has a drawing room, sitting room, parlor, numerous bedrooms, and a conference room. I picked up some brochures from the hotel lobby to learn more about Acadia National Park and tomorrow we will be visiting sites like the lookout on Cadillac Mountain, Sand Beach, the Carriage House and Thunder Hole.
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After leaving Salem around noon we had a lot of driving to do to make our destination of Bar Harbor, Maine. It was 5+ hours according to Google maps and our GPS said just over 4 hours. Discrepancies like this don't worry me, I have learned to put a little trust in the GPS. It seems to get us there in the end. I love the way we'll be driving down the Interstate and then all of a sudden the GPS will tell us to take the next exit off. What I don't like is it was usually right after a Toll Booth. I have checked the settings on the GPS it is marked as "Fastest" as opposed to "Shortest" (really they seem to be the same short should be fast) and it seems the Interstate isn't always the fastest. Lucky, the roads it chooses turn out to be the scenic routes through farmland and small communities. We drove for about an hour on the 1A hoping to be along the coast line, unfortunately not much coast to be seen, so farmland on the #95 and 1A it was. Around 5:30 pm, at sunset, we came upon the Penobscot River and the magnificent new bridge that was built to cross it. The Penobscot River Narrows Bridge was built to replace the Waldo-Hancock bridge in 2006. The Waldo-Hancock bridge built in 1944 was the first permanent long span suspension bridge to cross the river just below Bangor Maine. This sight in the setting sun was something I couldn't resist stopping for. It was only another hour or so on the Ellsworth then down the #3 to Mount Desert Island and Bar Harbor. We stayed in the Atlantic Oceanside right on Frenchman Bay, a stones throw from the main entrance to Acadia National Park. The Hotel is built on a 12 acres, formerly the estate of Klondike billionaire, Sir Harry Oakes, his original house still stands there and can be viewed or request to stay in one of the rooms.
Sunday, my Birthday, was our last day in the Poconos, it was the day we drive back to Brooklyn. One last stop as we follow the Delaware river on route 46 was at Hot Dog Johnny. Quite a popular Sixty's style Hot Dog Stand. It started in 1944 and has been a family run business since. Great Hot Dogs, Fries and Apple Cider. The place was so busy we stood in one of the numerous lines for 15 minuets for our Dogs, it was worth it. Back in Brooklyn it was time to repack for our Monday morning flight from JFK to Boston. Now here is where I want to say I loved flying with Jet Blue. I flew from Seattle to New York with them a 5 hour flight in comfortable large leather seats, all with video monitors, stereo audio, satellite radio with free snacks and drinks. For our short 1 hour hop to Boston we had the same great service, no charge for stowed baggage. After we landed at Logan International in Boston we got our rental car from Enterprise. We were given a white Hyundai Sonata, it was roomy enough for the two of us and Buddy (Teddi's Guide Dog), it had a great stereo satellite radio and a USB connection for music from our iphone. We hooked up our GPS unit and off we went on our Great American Road trip. . . . well once we managed to find our way out of the airports maze of roads. There seems to have been a lot of new construction since my Garmin GPS had a map update. We were on the road again. Our first stop was Salem Massachusetts. We have spent some time here before and know Halloween is a really busy time, even two weeks prior. We couldn't get a room in our favorite Hotel "The Waterfront", and booked ourselves in to "The Clippership Inn". Big mistake. From the moment we stepped in to the room we noticed a bad smell, the room was tired and old looking the tv was at least 20 years old and the wifi was bad to nonexistent. We looked at two other rooms, they were no better. Since we were only staying the night (and there were no other hotels in the area with rooms) we decided to tough it out and spend time outside visiting Salem. We had a wonderful meal at "The Witches Brew" then walked around looking at the sights of Salem at night. The next morning we were heading out for breakfast when the Hotel owner called us to the office and informed us she was going to charge us extra for our pet dog. Teddi tried to explain he was her Guide dog , not a pet and was protected by the American Disabilities Act. We showed her the ADA laws on the internet and phoned the Guide Dog Foundation so she could speak with them, to no avail. Teddi finally asked her to phone the Sheriff and have him attend. When he arrived he explained that a Guide dog was a working animal and she could not charge us extra she still did not believe us. She kicked us out of the hotel, so we left. Apparently she has had other complaints registered so the Foundation is looking to file a law suite against her hotel "The Clippership Inn". After all of that commotion, we had a huge breakfast at our favorite little Salem eatery, Red's Sandwich Shop We then visited some of the downtown shops bought some gifts, got Teddi her own Witches Hat and visited the first cemetery in Salem (just across the street from Red's).
Next it's up the coast to Bar Harbor Maine and Acadia National Park on our Great American Road trip. It's nice to be home again, that said it's also nice to do a road trip once in a while. The first week of October I took Teddi over to Seattle to Fly to New York to visit with her friend Carolyn on Long Island, she spends more time indoors and is not as adventures as another friend Linda so I stayed back and flew to New York the second week. Teddi and I started our trip visiting friends in Brooklyn, New York the second week of October. It is a great time of year on the East Coast, so much color and comfortable weather. John and Linda had a jam packed week of adventures for us, we visited some local and world class museums, ate in some yummy restaurants and met some of John and Linda's relatives and good friends. After a couple of days in Brooklyn John had some time off work and wanted to take us to the Poconos in Pennsylvania. John and Linda had spent many of their weekends at a Cabin they had there. Only a three hour drive from Brooklyn, it was worlds away from New York. Sorta' like a East Coast version Youbou, except larger. They once had a beautiful little lakeside property with Bears, Deer, Raccoons, Possum and the ever elusive wild Turkeys. Not the whiskey, that is more Southwest. John, another NASCAR fan, took me to see the Pocono Raceway hopefully to see the track. Unfortunately they were doing work on the facility and were not letting visitors on to the site, or at least that was what the guards at the numerous entrances we tried told us. We visited Memory Town, a once beautiful recreation area, a place the family spent time in summers past but that's what it was now, a memory, most of it was closed and boarded up except for the Bar, it probably should have been closed and boarded up though. Now the places we did get to see were simply amazing. Quaint little chocolate shops that put chocolate on anything including jalapeno peppers. Country roads with famous old golf courses, one, the Shawnee Country Club, is situated along the Delaware River, a favorite of old movie and television stars like Jackie Gleason. Another one The Inn at Pocono Manor overlooks the Pocono Mountains, large hills really but still a tough golf course. Sky Top Lodge a Large stone building on a vast property has huge balconies that look out over acres and acres of treed land. The interior was massive, it remind me of the Banff Springs Hotel, from the movie "The Shining" . We tried our luck at a Casino, a bit smoky for my tastes but the women won money, I like that. Teddi a couple of bucks and Linda over one hundred dollars. The house we were staying at was owned by friends of Linda and John's. It was in a gated complex in an area again sort of like the outskirts of the Lake Cowichan. We had no internet there but on Saturday Night John made sure we got to watch the NASCAR race on TV. Thanks John! All in all a pleasant visit to a very scenic area. Next Blog back to Brooklyn then on to Boston and Maine. |
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