Friday, July 17, 2009

NE Harbor / Jordon Pond House

The Island Packet Armada is making the most of what Mt. Desert Island has to offer! We rode the free L.L. Bean propane powered bus to Bar Harbor and then to the Acadia National Park Visitors’ Center where we saw an enormous graphic relief map of the island and a film about the park’s history. Acadia was the first national park east of the Mississippi and one of the few made up entirely from donated lands. John D. Rockefeller, who donated land for the park on St. John, USVI, gave the most land and supervised the construction of 27 beautiful bridges and roads for only for horse carriages. Three million people visit Acadia every year! It was a surprise to learn that an earthquake in October 2006 damaged one of the roads which remains closed. Next we rode the Loop Road, with many beautiful views of the rocks, forests and seas. Our destination was the Jordan Pond House for lunch, including their famous popovers and strawberry jam. We walked part of the trail around the Jordan and then rode a different route back to Bar Harbor for shopping, ice cream and a small, but interesting whale museum. Luckily, we arrived in Northeast Harbor just before a thunderstorm broke, with showers lasting most of the evening. Dense fog is forecast for tomorrow morning, so we are glad to be staying on our mooring floats for another day.
Map of Mt. Desert and the LL Bean Bus Routes
We are on a mooring float dock in NE Harbor
The Island Packet Team walks Jordan Pond
The Fun town of Bar Harbor, Maine looking towards the harbor
Walking the Jordon Pond trails....beautiful vistas

1 comment:

Debbie said...

You bring back wonderful memories of some things I had already forgotten! It's like we're there again. Thanks!