Our trip to Maine

Glynda · Jul 4, 2009

We took my 87 year old mother, our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter to Maine June 20-29. The weather was horrible. It rained every day and was cold and foggy. However, we did rent a great cottage in Bernard on the quiet side of Mt. Desert Island which sits on Bass Harbor.

We rented the same cottage 10 years ago and the owners have much improved it. It has three bedrooms. One king-sized down, one queen upstairs and one with a pair of twin beds upstairs. There is a full bath on each floor and a well stocked kitchen. Other ammenities include: gas grill, TV, DVD, internet hookup, washer/dryer, large deck and a rowboat with oars on the dock. There were lots of towels and coat hangers in large closets. It's just a short walk to Thurston's Lobster Pound where we ate often.

If you give up on getting into Harbor Ridge and you're looking to rent on Mt Desert Island, this one, called Homeport, is great:

http://www.annspointcottages.com/

The highlight of our trip came when the lobster fisherman (the son of the owner of our cottage) offered to take us out with him for a few hours. We pulled about 30 traps. My granddaughter had the best time banding the lobsters' claws and playing with the sea cucumber, crabs, lobsters, and hermit crabs found in the traps. Hard work though and out of the thirty traps, he was only able to keep eleven legal lobsters. Many more were thrown back. We cooked eight of them for dinner and they were the best we had while there.

I still love Maine (we had a summer home at Lamoine Beach when I was growing up) but next time, we're going to go to a different area for variety...maybe in the Camden area.

tim · Jul 4, 2009

Sounds like a nice time. I am taking the family to Maine in about a month. We will hit the Lobster Festival in Rockland for a few days. I can't wait to eat some lobster.

SailBadtheSinner · Jul 4, 2009

Glynda -

We had the same weather you did; the Harbor Ridge Resort was not given an exemption. It was the worst spell of damp, cool, foggy weather we had ever experienced at MDI, but we still had a good time; just had to be flexible with our plans.

We did get over to the Seafood Ketch for lunch and had the usual good meal there

.

Wait till next year!

SBtS

Glynda · Jul 5, 2009

Food, etc

SailBadtheSinner said:
Glynda -

We had the same weather you did; the Harbor Ridge Resort was not given an exemption. It was the worst spell of damp, cool, foggy weather we had ever experienced at MDI, but we still had a good time; just had to be flexible with our plans.

We did get over to the Seafood Ketch for lunch and had the usual good meal there .

Wait till next year!

SBtS

We had a good time...just didn't get to do much of what we planned to do.
I wish we'd tried the Seafood Ketch. I ate there ten years ago but thought it was under a different name then. We tried Mainely Delights in Bass Harbor and it was just so so. Their famous desert, the Oh Boy Dough Boy, was great however. We also ate at Beales and Head of the Harbor in Southwest Harbor. I had the best scallops at Head of the Harbor but prefer Thurston's to Beale's....not so much for a difference in food but atmosphere and room to move. I love steamers so ate those whenever I could.

I thought I knew where Harbor Ridge is but now I think what I saw is something else. Where is it?

Glynda · Jul 5, 2009

Sounds...

tim said:
Sounds like a nice time. I am taking the family to Maine in about a month. We will hit the Lobster Festival in Rockland for a few days. I can't wait to eat some lobster.

That sounds like fun. I had so much lobster I'm good for about six months.
But I can never get enough steamers so will have to go back someday. I think we'll try that area of Maine next. Maybe get into Samoset.

shagnut · Jul 5, 2009

Glad you had a good time. I could just picture you with Chloe pulling in the lobster pots. I hope your Mom enjoyed the trip as well. Sorry the weather was so bad. See ya soon. shaggy

Glynda · Jul 5, 2009

shagnut said:
Glad you had a good time. I could just picture you with Chloe pulling in the lobster pots. I hope your Mom enjoyed the trip as well. Sorry the weather was so bad. See ya soon. shaggy

Hey Shaggy! I see you here more than I do in the gym these days!

I'm in Charleston this week.

Mother went out with us the first two days as we rode the Park Loop Road and went into Bar Harbor but after that she pretty much stayed at the cottage and read and napped. She's really slowed down. She and hubby caught bad colds up there and she's still not over it.

We all had a great time on the lobster boat. Zoe got pretty good at the banding of claws. But you can see the fog in the background.

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SailBadtheSinner · Jul 5, 2009

Glynda mused - ……I thought I knew where Harbor Ridge is but now I think what I saw is something else. Where is it?

If you were traveling on Rte 102 in Southwest Harbor, you would turn west on Seal Cove Rd. There is a little strip mall at the intersection on Seal Cove Rd plus there is a flag pole on the traffic island on Seal Cove Rd at the intersection. Go about .5 mile and turn laft onto Freeman Ridge Rd and HRR is off that about .5 miles from where you turned.

OR

When you are leaving Beales, take a right onto Main St (Rte 102); look for a gas station on your left (IIRC Shell) and then take the next left, Seal Cove Rd.

Here’s a Google satellite map link with HRR just left of center:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...3385,-68.333759&spn=0.00447,0.017166&t=h&z=16

Priceless pix of your daughter(?). She looks thrilled.

SBtS

Glynda · Jul 5, 2009

SailBadtheSinner said:
Glynda mused - ……I thought I knew where Harbor Ridge is but now I think what I saw is something else. Where is it?

If you were traveling on Rte 102 in Southwest Harbor, you would turn west on Seal Cove Rd. There is a little strip mall at the intersection on Seal Cove Rd plus there is a flag pole on the traffic island on Seal Cove Rd at the intersection. Go about .5 mile and turn laft onto Freeman Ridge Rd and HRR is off that about .5 miles from where you turned.

OR

When you are leaving Beales, take a right onto Main St (Rte 102); look for a gas station on your left (IIRC Shell) and then take the next left, Seal Cove Rd.

Here’s a Google satellite map link with HRR just left of center:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...3385,-68.333759&spn=0.00447,0.017166&t=h&z=16

Priceless pix of your daughter(?). She looks thrilled.

SBtS

Granddaughter. Hmmm...I had hoped Harbor Ridge had a view of...the harbor.

On 101 just as you leave SW Harbor there is a beautiful place on the right looking down across 102 and the whole length of the harbor...that's what I thought it was.

SailBadtheSinner · Jul 6, 2009

I can understand your confusion, I believe those are apartments (or condos) and they do have an excellent view.

Speaking of views, did you ever check out the link I provided in your 5/31 thread? My reply was #13 and I provided the link to my pano of the view from the MBR balcony at our unit at HR.

SBtS

Glynda · Jul 6, 2009

Ah....

SailBadtheSinner said:
I can understand your confusion, I believe those are apartments (or condos) and they do have an excellent view.

Speaking of views, did you ever check out the link I provided in your 5/31 thread? My reply was #13 and I provided the link to my pano of the view from the MBR balcony at our unit at HR.

SBtS

Ah...yes, there it is!!! Thanks.