Mia and I headed to Bar Harbor, ME for the Memorial Day weekend. We left early Friday morning to a forecast for Concord that was supposed to finally feel like nice warm weather and get us out of the wind and rain that we had been stuck in for the month of May (and April and March, etc).
We heard that Concord, NH hit the lows 90’s on Friday. Bar Harbor, was a tad bit cooler………
- Our accomodations for the weekend
We stayed at the Castlemaine Inn just a short walk from downtown Bar Harbor and very close to the grocery store and Jordan’s Pancakes. This is my third time up and we think Mia has been up at least 10 times now. She has lost count (must be nice).
So far I have not been disappointed in any of the places we have stayed. I would highly recommend staying right in Bar Harbor if your into the nightlife, food scene, tourist stuff. From our location we could walk to the center of downtown in about 5 minutes. Carriage roads were less than a 1o minute drive or bike ride away.
There are more quaint out of the way places or campgrounds within Acadia itself. This weekend was a chance to pamper ourselves a bit and just spend some time together away from the normal routine.
We had the chance for a nice breakfast buffet and the staff were all very pleasant and polite.
It is the smallest room in the Inn, but it was super quiet and had it’s own private balcony off the back. Not recommended if you are over 5’10” as the ceiling slants pretty quickly near the bed.
On Saturday morning we ran around Eagle Lake. It was recommended by our innkeeper Dan. Nice loop on the carriage roads. I almost got taken out by a little girl on a bike, but other than that, nothing majorly exciting. GPS Data here
After we ran, it was back to the inn for a quick shower, a quick snack and then wandering around downtown for the rest of the evening. Every time we have been up, we have gone to Rosalie’s Pizza for dinner. There is just something good about how they do their pizza. Not sure if was my “accent”, operator error, or because there are so many foreigners working at the local Bar Harbor establishments, but my request for a turkey club sub some how turned into just a turkey sub. It was still good, but I was kind of looking forward to a little bacon.
We ended up going to Rosalie’s both nights for dinner. The 2nd night was had a pepper, onion, sausage pizza that was very good.
On Sunday morning we headed out for coffee at the Trailhead Cafe. I’ve known about this place for about 2 years since the owner Adam opened it. He is a regular poster on roadbikereview.com forums and has posted some cool pictures of rides around Acadia. I’m always looking for a good cup of coffee and like to meet fellow cyclists.
Adam spent a few minutes with us giving us ideas of some good routes to ride. He also gave us some sweet schwag from his shop. 2 coffee travel mugs and some stickers. I can’t thank him enough for his information and the schwag. I have to highly recommend his coffee too. The man brews a mean cup and Mia loved her latte.
We (I) decided on a little route called “around the mountain”. I don’t think Mia is very good at reading topographic maps, so I don’t think she knew how much climbing we were about to do. It was never steep, but we must have climbed for almost 20 minutes at one point.
The ride was a total blast. I want to go up again and spend some more time exploring. It was a short loop, but we’re on vacation, and it helped build up an appetite.
After the ride it was again, quick shower and then off to the Atlantic Brewing Company. Most of my friends know I am not really a drinker, but Mia likes beer and wine, and I find things like this pretty entertaining. Our “tour guide” was pretty funny and did a good job of going through the process of making beer, bottling, etc. His humor really came out during the tasting session. I have to admit, for a guy who has always said “all beer tastes the same”, I was pretty impressed with both the Coal Porter and the Logger Lager.
We have their root beer, blueberry soda, blueberry ale, summer ale, bar harbor ale, logger lager and coal porter
It was a beautiful weekend in a place that captures my fascination every time I go. I am pretty much convinced this is my retirement location. It has the ocean, the biking, the hiking, XC skiing, culture, food, etc. If I could move there today, I would.
Thanks for reading.
-Pete
ON & OFF RHODES 