In the late evening we arrived at our next destination, Bar Harbor in Maine. It was a two hour drive which went by fairly fast. In Bangor we stopped at a sports bar to watch the quarter final between Germany and Italy. We definitely could not miss out on that. As we arrived our hosts welcomed us and showed us some interesting stuff to do on Mount Desert island. Acadia National Park is especially famous for its gorgeous and very scenic hiking as well as biking trails. There are also a few sweet towns on the island. The most famous one is presumably Bar Harbor. After we took a look at out our very neat holiday apartment we decided to check out Bar Harbor. It was a very vivid town since there were a lot of tourists. Since there were a lot of restaurants it was busy late at night. After we got something to eat, we checked out the harbor and streets of Bar Harbor.
For the next day a lot of hiking was planned. Since we saw the amount of tourists on the island we decided to get up pretty early to avoid the crowds. We parked our car near the first trail and the beach and started hiking. The trails had different levels of difficulty what I really liked. We started with a couple easy ones and eventually took the advanced hiking trail. It probably would have been better if we would have started with the advanced one since there were a lot of people and we ended up being stuck at some points of the trail. However, it was totally worth going up there. The views were stunning. I have never been to a place like this before. Usually when I go hiking I am surrounded by a lots of other mountains and lakes. But this time I was able to look over the ocean and many islands.
Afterwards we hung out at the beach for a little bit.
In the evening we went out to eat again. We asked our hosts who recommended a nice restaurant right beside the sea. Of course we ordered some lobster. You can not go to Maine without trying this typical dish. Maine is very famous for lobster. It was very tasty.
We went to bed fairly early since another busy day was approaching. 4th of July, Independence day of the USA. One of the biggest federal holiday in the United States. Since this was my first time in the US I had to witness that celebration. In the morning there was a parade going on in town. Our hosts invited us to join them. We had a really good time. The parade lasted for about 45 minutes and was as anticipated.
Thereupon we went back to the holiday apartment and switched our clothes. We planned on going hiking again. Since it was a national holiday the trails were really empty. We approximately passed like 15 people within the whole trail even though the conditions could not have any better. It was sunny and comfortably warm. The trail was called “staircase to heaven” and I have to say whoever chose this name could not have selected a more appropriate name. There were so many steps. Honestly it was pretty exhausting but it was definitely worth it. As a reward we had staggering views over the ocean again.
After about two hours we got back to the car. After this exhausting hike we just wanted to relax. So we went to one of the lakes on this island and chilled out there for a while. Afterwards we wanted to explore the towns on the other side of the island. The towns were not as crowded as Bar Harbor. Most of the local inhabitants live on this side of the island since it is very calm and secluded from all that tourists. We happened to see some nice mansions right next to the sea. The towns all were not very huge but they all had some nice & tiny shops and a nice tiny yacht harbor.
On our way back to our accommodation we did some shopping for the next day and got some ice cream. At the ice cream place we learned something, namely not to underestimate people. We ordered our ice cream and somehow the black woman must have misunderstood us and we jested by saying something in German. The funny thing was that the woman understood what we said and even answered us in German. She told us that she used to live in Frankfurt for about 15 years. I was really impressed by that. Early in the evening we went out for dinner again, at the same place as the previous. Afterwards we went to Bar Harbor in order to see the big announced firework. As we arrived there it was very crowded already. It felt like the every single inhabitant of Bar Harbor and all the tourists that were there at this time assembled nearby the harbor. Since there were so many people my expectations honestly were pretty high. The firework lasted for about 40 minutes. I thought it was crazy for a small town like this, but I guess that’s just a very special day for Americans. It positively surpassed my expectations.
We had an awesome time!
The day after we unfortunately had to leave that beautiful place again. Within this two days we got to experience a lot though. I am very glad that I got to see such a great place. I would love to come back sometime, especially during fall.
Our next destination was Portland (Maine). A 2.5 hour drive was imminent again. We planned on stopping by at Camden, a small town on the coast which was very recommended in our guide. At this time we did not know what the day would bring about. We were just about to witness something pretty intense that we would not soon forget. I will tell you more about that incident in my next post about Portland that is upcoming soon.
Justus
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