Wedding Blog

The Bubblegums have returned from Bar Harbor, equipped with all sorts of Bar Harbor minimooning advice*!!

Do: Stay Downtown – The main part of Bar Harbor is about, oh, I’d say… one… square foot? So there are really only a few hotels that are right there in the thick of it. Others are definitely walkable, but there’s something gratifying about walking out of your hotel room and onto the dock. The two big ones are The Bar Harbor Inn (where we stayed) and The Harborside Hotel. In addition, there are all sorts of cute little inns – a couple I remember seeing downtown were called the Ullikana Inns - like DOLLHOUSES.

Also, if you can find one, a room on the ocean is clutch. Here we are on our balcony, ocean at our backs:

Don’t: Go to the Bar Harbor Farmer’s Market – Note that I am making a ridiculous overstatement – however, when I grabbed the brochure from the hotel lobby, I was super excited for this farmer’s market. After the first day I’d spent in Bar Harbor, I couldn’t imagine it being anything but amazing. Well, it was slightly less amazing than I had hoped – but maybe we just got there late.

Do: Go on a Lobster & Seal Watch – This was soooo much fun. It was about a two hour tour, there were only nine people on our boat, we got to hold lobsters (and then set them free!), and then we got to see all sorts of ridiculously cute seals. We had TONS of fun.

Zee lobsters:

Zee seals:

Don’t: Go on a Whale Watch – Okay, so maybe this was just my experience. I hear that a lot of people really enjoy whale watches. After our success on the other water tour, we were PSYCHED to get back out. In fact, I belieeeve I told Mr. BG that I had not yet had my fill of the sea. However, it was not a pleasant experience. We boarded an hour early, baked under the hot sun in a giant aluminum can before taking off, saw no whales, got nauseous, and wasted 5 hours. Blech.

Do: Watch the Sunrise on Cadillac Mountain – We woke up at 3:50, we hauled our arses out there, and it did not disappoint. Pictures!!

The sunrise:

The Bubblegums at sunrise:

Don’t: Forget a Sweatshirt – Even if the forecast says 90 (which ours did), bring warm clothes! On the water, it gets much, much colder – even sitting by the water. Silly me, my dinky little shrug of a sweatshirt was not enough, and I ended up paying $50 for a sweatshirt in the hotel gift shop. Do not make my mistakes. J

Do: Drive Park Loop Road at Acadia National Park – By far, this was the best thing we did. There is a road that loops around the park with different places to pull off to see the different sites – and there’s so much to do!We went to the Wild Gardens, almost accidentally hiked Mt. Dorr (there were stone steps that we took for quite a while thinking that they led to a spring… they did not), stopped at a sand beach, and happened upon the CUTEST little restaurant in the world for afternoon tea (Jordan Pond House Restaurant). Absolutely, 100%, the best thing to do in Bar Harbor.

Here are an assortment of the places we went that day:

Overall, despite the don’ts, this Bubblegum is giving one big glowing endorsement for minimooning in Bar Harbor, Maine!!

*Advice is based on three and a half days of experience. The Bubblegums are not responsible for un-fun that is had as a result of said advice.