Memorial Day Weekend in Bar Harbor ME

May 2019
​For our annual family Bar Harbor trip we booked a 4 bedroom house from someone we've previously rented from. All together we were 8 adults, 2 dogs, and a baby and the house was perfect for us. The house offered a large kitchen, dining room, living room, fireplace, bedrooms, and upstairs seating area, and 2 bathrooms. The house was clean, well maintained, had a terrific exterior property, a great location and I especially loved all the little touches for organizing the house.

For dinner, we had a reservation at Cafe This Way. Cafe This Way offers an eclectic menu with something for everyone! We were seated right away and our server was terrific with allergies, dislikes, and suggestions. When we're together we always order a lot of food! We had 3 or 4 appetizers plus everyone's entrees. With my dairy allergy I was pretty limited but the grilled shrimp appetizer was tasty with a variety of dipping sauces. My entree of bibimbap was good but the gochujang sauce was more heat than flavor.

In the middle of the night, most of us got up, layered on clothes, and braved the cold up on Cadillac Mountain to see the beautiful sunrise.

There was already a good crowd gathered when we arrived and the crowds kept arriving. My sister, brother in law, and I huddled behind a boulder to try to shelter us from the wind, my dad wandered about, and my mother sat in the car with the baby. The sunrise and views of Bar Harbor and the ocean were amazing.

We came back to the house and went back to bed for a bit. For breakfast the whole party got ready and started to leave the house. Across the street we couldn't believe our luck but there was a gorgeous Bald Eagle resting on a tree. During our stay, we continued to see him along with other birds.

We used to have terrific breakfasts at 2 Cats Restaurant. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to be the case during this trip. I put our name in for a table and we had a 45 minute wait which we were fine with. When our name got called the 9 of us got seated a table that was meant for 6 people. We ordered our drinks and food right away however we had easily an hour wait for our food. There wasn't an apology given, there wasn't an excuse given, and for some reason they even served a guy who came in a long time after us because he was in a rush! The food was fine but the bad service and extreme wait times have us not returning in the future. Side note: Before we went on our trip I noticed online that the property is up for sale and I don't know if that influenced the service.

After breakfast, Greg and I took advantage of the sunlight and slightly warmer temperature and went hiking. Acadia National Park was extremely busy today and so parking was limited and the trails were full. We did manage to take some less exciting trails which was fine because we were still our enjoying nature and the fresh air!

Our party made reservations at one of our favorite restaurants in Bar Harbor; Havana. We were seated right away and near our usual table. We ordered cocktails, an assortment of appetizers, and entrees galore! A couple of our favorite dishes for appetizers are mushroom spring rolls, mixed grill and the proveleta. For entrees, my two favorite dishes are the seafood paella (all though on this visit it was overly salted) and the lobster moqueca which is seafood in a savory coconut broth. 

After dinner I popped into CJ's Big Dipper for some of their incredible dairy free ice cream. The soy based vanilla and raspberry and the chocolate peanut butter are outstanding!

. The next day we continued our sightseeing in Acadia National Park and took a drive up Cadillac Mountain. For lunch we visited Bar Harbor Lobster Company. 

We thoroughly enjoyed a couple of Painkillers (coconut, orange juice, pineapple juice, rum, and nutmeg) along with some hot honey shrimp skewers. 

Our entrees arrived shortly after we finished the shrimp and I enjoyed a crab roll with chips while Greg enjoyed a lobster roll with chips. 

In the afternoon, we tried to sit on the deck of our house with the dogs and a glass of wine however the pollen was all too much for us. 

My parents stayed in with the baby while the rest of us enjoyed dinner at McKay's Public House. For appetizers we enjoyed bacon wrapped scallops, a grape leaves special. My duck breast entree was good all though it was a little on the cold side. 

Monday morning we packed up our belongings and left Bar Harbor early to try and avoid some of the holiday traffic home.