Maine

After a lot of contemplation and planning, we decided to go to Maine for the Labor Day long weekend. We looked up lodging on the internet and booked a cottage at Eden Village in the sea town of Bar Harbor, which is close to the Acadia National Park.

We decided to beat the holiday traffic by starting early. On the ride, P was cribbing about the exorbitant toll fares we had to pay for using the four-lane highway. We were taking our bicycles along, to cycle on the trails of Acadia Park and also some grocery [bread, potatoes, a gigantic head of cabbage (!), frozen parathas and fruits] to make our own meals as the cottage had a kitchenette. Driving up was a pleasure, listening to santoor CDs and an amazing violin CD (Bhoop Raaga) by Milind Raikar.

We reached the outskirts of Bar Harbor at one pm and got stuck in traffic inbound to the holiday location, for almost an hour! Bar Harbor looks very much like a small place in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, with the Atlantic and small cottages dotting the landscape. The fauna and flora are different of course! No coconut trees here but oak, maple and such and animals like moose, beavers, bandicoots and skunks. Apart from this, Bar Harbor is a birding place. Maine is also the home of the famous writer Stephen King.

Eden Village (the place we were lodging at) was a picturesque place with fairytale-like cottages scattered randomly over the area. There were small ponds and a swan-shaped paddle boat with a large water-wheel, in each pond. Lush green meadows led to the ponds and the cottages had lovely views of either the pond or the woods behind the village.

The cottage assigned to us reminded me of an illustration from one of my favourite fairytales - Snow-white and Rose-red. It had a slanting roof and a fireplace with a chimney. The floors were hardwood and there was a rocking chair placed near the fireside. The kitchenette windows had gingham half-curtains and valances and other windows had country-style curtains in checkers. The kitchenette had pots and pans and a gas-stove for making meals and a small fridge. The screened patio had armchairs and just outside the cottage was a picnic table and the meadow dotted with white and yellow daisies. Couldn’t ask for more!

Although it was mostly a family location, there was this large group of people who had come on Harleys, with bandannas tied around their heads and bearing large tattoos. Outside another cottage was a lady dressed in a white shirt and flowing skirt as colourful as the palette she was holding, standing in front of an easel, making an acrylic painting of the pretty landscape. We made a quick lunch of sandwiches and then left the cottage to explore the sea town.

Like all sea places, Bar Harbor has lively piers and music and other activities on the streets, accompanied by tiny shops having good food, mementos and trinkets. We window-shopped for some time and visited specialty shops. One shop was devoted to clocks and we saw grandfather clocks, cuckoo clocks, mantelpiece clocks, musical clocks (featuring great classical pieces), clocks set in figurines of cats, dogs, Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters, and many others. It was a delightful experience, being surrounded by various chimes and rhythms. There were apparel shops and we bought t-shirts which had logos of moose (I had read of a different type of Moose in Archie comics!), maps of the Acadia park and in general scenes from the Maine landscape. L.L.Bean is also a store originating from Maine but we decided against buying from there as the clothes looked quite ordinary except for the chic label stamp.

We spent the rest of the day walking along the beach, having home-made style icecream and seeing a few birding spots. There were ferries leaving for Nova Scotia, but apparently, to get on those required some visa documentation. (Or P tricked me, in order to avoid the ferry as it makes him queasy). Bar Harbor seems to be a vegetarian-friendly town and we found good things to eat as well. It was pitch-dark on the campus of Eden Village when we returned. The owner of the place had informed us that there was no outdoor lighting on the grounds of Eden Village. We found our cottage in the moonlight. Away from the hustle of the city, the sky was dotted with stars. Looking at it upside-down, it seemed like a black sari with millions of silver sequins on it. The pond and the surrounding trees were shrouded in darkness. One could well walk right into the pond, in the dark!

We put on layers of warm clothes and then after turning off the lights in the cottage (so that we could see the stars in the coal-black darkness), we reclined on the picnic tables outdoors to spend some time in silence, gazing at the stars and trying to figure the different constellations. It was biting-cold but we were waiting to see some shooting stars (which we did). Finally, after retiring to sleep, we realized how easy it was to get a good night’s sleep with silence and total darkness all around – an uneasy feeling for the city-dweller.

The next day we woke up early and made a packed lunch to take to the Acadia Park. The drive to the park was about 15 miles or so. After getting our permit, we located the first site to visit on the park map that came with the permit. The site name was ‘Thunder Hole’. Arriving at the spot, it took us five minutes to find parking and then we crossed over to the rocky ledge towards the Atlantic Ocean to see the ‘magic’ of the Thunder Hole.

Thunder Hole is a very narrow inlet in the rocks along the beach, where the raging waves have carved a passage into one of the rocks at the end. At high tide, the waves crash into this inlet and into the passage in the rocks and the returning wave comes out with a loud bang of thunder and can whoosh up to twenty feet or even more. We debated over whether the moon phases could affect the height of this rebounding wave from the Thunder Hole. It was a beautiful spot, with the cries of the gulls and the waves crashing onto the rocky ledge. I was reminded of many such spots on beaches in India (Dona Paula, Harihareshwar, Ganpati Pule) where the ‘Thunder Hole’ phenomenon could attract crowds with proper advertising!

After spending a considerable amount of time watching the inlet and taking a long walk on the trails along the rocky ledge called ‘Otter Cliff’ and into the pine forests (in hope of seeing a sea otter basking on the rocks) we returned to our car and drove further on the Park Loop road into the park. At a Food center, we stopped to have some refreshments and hauled out our bicycles to take a ride along the Carriage roads.

The Carriage roads are dirt or cobblestone roads which form a network in the park. Only hikers, horses, carriages and bicycles are permitted on these roads. The five mile ride down to the Jordan Pond (our next spot for sightseeing) was easy as it was mostly downhill and it was fun whizzing past the slower-moving carriages on the partly-shaded path with sunlight filtering through the trees. The last one mile stretch was level ground and I had to put in some effort to pedal and it was tiresome to do so in the hot sun above. At one such bend, we encountered a Grandma astride a bicycle, cycling vigorously and looking absolutely cheerful and we felt ashamed of our languor.

One last stretch of cycling and we could see the blue waters of the Jordan Pond. With a final burst of stamina we increased our speed and crashed into the bushes lining the pond. We threw down our bikes on the grass and went to sit on the stones along the pond. From there we could see the Bubbles – a pair of hills that looks brilliant in autumn as it is covered with trees of different hues. The pond was calm and the water so clear that we could see the rocks beneath. No swimming was allowed as the water of this pond and Long pond is used for providing drinking water. We had our cheese and potato sandwiches there and then a light nap. Cycling back was going to be an uphill journey and it would be well worth to regain our stamina – we were not like that dashing Granny we had encountered! The nap helped and the uphill ride seemed a lot shorter and quicker!

We drove to Sand beach after loading the cycles back in the car. Sand beach was meant for swimming and was crowded. An old couple had arrived there with their two dogs and watching the antics of the dogs was amusing. The dogs would rush in bravely behind each subsiding wave and then run back out towards the beach with the rebounding waves at their heels. We decided against swimming in the sea and drove to Echo Lake for a swim there instead.

Echo Lake is a crystal clear lake in Acadia, which is popular for swimming, as it is located in a valley with mountains on three sides. There were less people here, too. After we got into the water, we realized how cold it was, but there was no turning back! We spent half an hour swimming. The sun had gone down and we knew we would start shivering as soon as we got out but it had been a great experience – worth falling sick for, even! We returned to the downtown area of Bar Harbor and bought grocery to cook a proper meal of corn cobs, steamed cabbage (cannot emphasize how awful that tastes without spices), runner beans, bread and salad for the evening.

The next morning, we drove back to the park to get a view of Cadillac Mountain and then started on the journey back home. Driving back (like most return trips) was boring and we stopped frequently at Rest Areas, to have coffee and eat junk food like croissants and cookies. Acadia Park is a pleasant spot to visit if one likes activities like hiking and swimming or other water activities.

Unable to find pictures for this trip, I have included two from the internet as well as a link from the web to some great photos of this park.