Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park

*Proposal story alert! (at the end)*

After our time in Portland, we made the trek up the Maine coast to Bar Harbor.

Bar Harbor is home to Acadia National Park, one of America’s largest national parks with about 50,000 acres.

We stayed at a cute little B&B called Shore Path Cottage.  It gets its name from a path in the backyard that leads out to the “shore path”, a gravel trail that winds along the coastline for about a mile.  The path starts just south of our B&B and ends at Main Street so we were easily able to walk to town for dining and shopping.  The views from our own backyard (literally) were unbeatable!  In the picture of the cottage below, taken from the shore path, our room was the second level of the house facing this direction so we had a great view of the ocean.

We only had one full day in Bar Harbor so it was a little busier than normal.  We started off the day by getting up before the sun to head up to Cadillac Mountain.  The mountain is the first place in the states to see the sunrise each day due to both how tall it is and where it’s situated.  Although it’s not the tallest mountain in the country, or even in the northeast, it sits in the sweet spot where the sun rises first.  We got there about half an hour before sunrise and the parking lot was already packed – if you ever decide to go, get there plenty early and bundle up because it’s COLD!  It was a gorgeous view of the sun coming up over the water which made it all worth it.

We breakfasted at the B&B and met a fun couple from Wichita, KS who recommended a lobster place called Thurston’s that allegedly has the best lobster roll in the state, according to multiple guidebooks.  It was about a half hour away from our B&B so we took another scenic drive across the island to a teeny tiny town called Bernard (population 588).  Turns out Thurston’s was not the best lobster roll we had but it wasn’t half bad.  The restaurant is an understated shack that sits on top of the water so at least we had the views.

We took a brief trip to Compass Harbor, which was just about 5 minutes from the B&B.  This isn’t necessarily a tourist site, it was just a beautiful little lesser-known harbor that our B&B host recommended, so we spent a few minutes checking it out.

Then we wandered back into town and saw “the bar”.  Bar Harbor is named for a sandbar that is present only at low tide.  When the tide goes out, it reveals a HUGE “bar” that you can walk on to get from the mainland to an island aptly named Bar Island.  The rest of the time it’s completely concealed by water so you can only get there by boat.  The concept was more entertaining than the actual bar itself (it basically just looks like a big rocky beach) but it was still a cool experience!  Everything you can see in these pictures is underwater at all times except low tide.

Our next adventure was yet another boat ride!  You’d think we’d be over it by now but that’s definitely not the case.  We boarded the Margaret Todd, Maine’s only four-masted schooner, for a sunset cruise.  This one was a bit more ~touristy~ and crowded than the one we did in Portland but it was still beautiful.  We couldn’t have had better weather; even on the water with the wind, you hardly needed a jacket.  It was a full moon that day so we REALLY lucked out and got to watch the moon rise right after the sun went down.

After the boat ride we headed into downtown Bar Harbor for dinner at a great place called Galyn’s.  We continued to gorge ourselves on seafood and enjoyed the view from our window seat.  This is a picture of downtown Bar Harbor, and Galyn’s is one of the places on the main drag.  The ocean is just steps away, behind me as I was taking this.

And now the proposal story!

On the walk home from dinner, we stopped and sat on a bench along the shore path to enjoy the light of the full moon on the water.  We’ve always exchanged cards, particularly when I was living in California, but we’ve continued the tradition since then.  Aaron had written a card for me and pulled it out of his jacket and handed it to me.  I started tearing up when I read it (mushy stuff) and turned to say thank you for the beautiful card, but I noticed he was turning the other way and reaching into his pocket!  Before I could process what was happening he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him and of course I answered with an emphatic YES!  This prompted even more happy tears and even now, 48 hours later, I still have the same silly smile plastered to my face.  After a few minutes a couple walked by and we asked them to take our picture, and told them we just got engaged.  Turns out they were on vacation in Bar Harbor celebrating their 20th anniversary.  The lighting + red cry eyes didn’t make for the most flattering of pictures but we were so thrilled and wanted to capture the moment!  We went back the next day and took a couple pictures in the daylight.  (Yep, that’s the bench!)

That morning we departed Bar Harbor to head to Boston for the last leg of our trip.  Can’t wait to tell you about it!