MaineLee Canada

We took the Cat ferry from Bar Harbor, Maine to Yarmouth, Novia Scotia. A quick 2-1/2 hour trip, but hard on Mary's stomach. For most of the trip, she stood on the aft deck with one of those little paper bags in her hand. Fortunalely no mishaps, but it took a while for her to recover once on shore.
Then, we took a delightful drive along Nova Scotia's South Shore. Stopping in Shelburne and Liverpool to see those pretty villages on the water, we tied up at a bed and breakfast, Kaulbach House, http://kaulbachhouse.com/ffn/index.html, in Lunenberg. The area was originally settled by Germans so, after walking around town and boarding the well-known Schooner, Blue Nose II, we dined at the nearby Old Black Forest restuarant - recommended by the inn keeper. Mary have Bavarian pork schnitzel while Jim had Octoberfest sausage. Both good, topped off by apple strudel.
After breakfast, we will he heading to Halifax, a larger town, where we will spend a couple of days.

Well, we have settled on Thurston's as the best lobster pound to have fresh lobster just harvested from the sea. Jim had a hard-shell two-pounder while Mary's soft-shell specimen weighed in at 1.2 lb. Thurton's is one of those "rough-it" places right on its pier, but is much nicer than Beale's where we were the other night.
Before that we took a delightful 2-hour nature cruise in Blue Hill Bay on Mt. Desert Island. We saw plently of seals, cormorants and even some bald eagles and a porpoise. Other birds too. We even stopped to check the captian's lobster trap which had captured two cfrabs and three lobsters.
And, we had an enjoyable picnic along the water before the cruise.
The weather was beautiful thorughout the day.
Tomorrow, its the Cat, the ferry to Canada.

We drove a circle loop around the park, mainly along the shore. Some beautiful views, even though it was overcast for much of the day. Striking formations of granite. Some lobster boats checking their traps; they've got a lot of tourists to feed. We had popovers and high tea at on the lawn Jordan's Pond, the way they used to do it years ago. By then, mid-afternoon, it had brightened up considerably, very sunny. The lawn afforded a beautiful view of 'Bubbles," twin dome-shaped mountains carved by the glacier eons ago.
Then, back to Bar Harbor, a town of just 2,000 people. It's a very pleasant place, nice to walk around. Not overdone and not too crowded. We were were told it become a ghost town in the winter when all of the tourists and seasonal workers are gone.

We started off our trip in York, Maine, a tourist area along the coast not too far from the Massachusetts line. After dining on fried clams, we walked along the beach into town where we watched salt water taffy being made at Goldenrod's. Mary bought a load to bring home.
Yesterday, we drove up here to Bar Harbor and are ensconced at the Grand Hotel, down town. We drove into Acadia to the top of Cadilllac Mountain. What a view! However a little hazy evidently due to pollution being blown up from the Northeast. I wonder what it looked like back when discovered by the French Explorer, Champlain.
For dinner we ate a Beale's Pier in Southwest Harbor on the island where Acadia is situated. It is a "lobster pound" where you eat the lobsters right off the boat. We got to pick out our own "birds," about 2 lb. each and also had them throw in clams and corn to be boiled together in a netted bag. Good. Really good. The blueberry pie was good too. But, here I am spending more time describing the food than the scenery. Let's face it, I'm here for the food, Mary is here for the scenery. Today, we plan to drive the circle loop in the park. Not before coffee though!

Not really, but the bags will be packed soon. Can't wait to hook up the GPS and hit the road. Lobster tonight? Maybe, just maybe.