Adventure in Bar Harbor

So today I held a live lobster. And a starfish. And saw a bald eagle - in the wild - not in a netted cage like in Dollywood. Love it!

We spent the day exploring again, stopping in Blue Hill for some shopping before heading back to Acadia. Ronnie had spotted a lobster pound that was especially smokey and hole-in-the-wall looking, so we grabbed lobster sandwichs and clam chowder before crossing over to Mount Desert Island.

Today wasn't as cold, although the temp still held between 38 and 40, because it wasn't as windy, so we were able to walk around without freezing to death. When we got to Bar Harbor, we immediately bought tickets for the lobster and seal watching tour. The tour was around two hours long and was absolutely amazing. The captain hauled up multiple lobster traps and the tour guide passed them around for people to hold. One lobster was over a foot long. There were all kinds of things in the traps - starfish, flounder, sand dollars, sea cucumbers - pretty amazing.

We also got to see seals on the surrounding rocks, all fat and happy in the sunshine. The guide told us stories about the surrounding islands and houses, like a huge mansion that a man built for his wife who unfortunately came over to America on the Titanic and never got to see it. He also explained how about 1 in a million lobsters are blue instead of red/green. There were three blue lobsters caught in the harbor last year: one was donated to science, one was cooked, and one was put on ebay and sold for $10,000. Bet the 'donate to science' and the 'cooked' catchers are kicking themselves right about now.

After the tour, we thawed out in Geddy's over drinks and nachos then hung out in the park overlooking the water for a while before driving back to Deer Isle. We stopped along the way to watch the sunset at Caterpillar Hill, ordered a pizza, and are now hanging out in front of the fire for the second night in a row. This is happiness. Awesome day.