We had a great trip to MDI, weather and food both great. And just getting away after all this pandomania was a treat unto it self.
Left North of Boston early on a Saturday, cloudy but not rainy or too hot. Went 95 to 295 to 95 to 395 and then 1A to MDI. Very dull ride and we had an unexciting 5Guys burger for lunch.
We arrived around 4:00 and checked in, rested up and headed out to Northeast Harbor for our dinner at Copita.
We sat at the bar like normal people, in a small dining room, very nice setting. Some really nice cocktails listed but we settled on wine after the long ride and ordered the steamed clams, scallops, salad of arugula, beets, candied walnuts, feta and cream goat cheese dressing and the gnocchi with mushrooms.
The clams and the broth were excellent. Toasted bread with garlic aioli helped to make it better. Scallops had a great sear and came with feta stuffed roasted tomatoes. The gnocchi was well cooked but the mushrooms and the sauce were the best part. A really nice meal, staff were very friendly and it was away from the maddening crowd that is Bar Harbor these days.
Sunday morning we hit Sandy Beach in Arcadia for a bit, a lot of families having fun, was good to see.
The we checked out the Azalea gardens, well worth the $5.00 donation! Very pretty, very serene.
We would like to see the Rockefeller gardens but they do not open till July or so.
The we headed to Beal’s Lobster Pound. 2 Lobster rolls, steamers, onion rings and cold beer.
Pictures were terrible, so I won’t share those. But it was all really good, sitting on the pier watching the boats.
We went back to the Loop road and stopped to admire the views and do some exploring. Such a beautiful area.
We had 7:00 pm reservations for Cadillac Mountain and we weren’t too hungry so we grabbed some premade sandwiches and fruit from the Hannafords across from our hotel and had a picnic before the ascent. Its a good ride up, plenty of places to stop and we had a very clear evening sky.
Monday morning we were up early and found egg sandwiches at deli downtown that also had some excellent looking pie that we never got back to.
We thought about a carriage road tour but they were booked up. We visited a few spots/trails and headed back to Bar Harbor to find lunch.
Ended up at the waterfront and settled on Stewman’s Lobster Pound. Very comfortable, on the water with a nice breeze. A cup of chowder and a lobster cocktail for me, a shrimp cocktail and lobster bisque for my DH. And beer for both of us. Very good lunch, the lobster and shrimp were very fresh, well cooked and the soups were just right.
Our last dinner on MDI was at Havana’s in Bar Harbor which we discovered is owned by the same folks that own Copita. Havana;s has an outside tapas type area, sits on the street and was pretty busy on a Monday night, our table was inside a warren of a building that was pretty warm. Its a more formal white table cloth type of place. Ordering apps as dinner would not be appropriate. But the food and service was excellent. We had a paloma and a pisco sour, a lobster cake that was a meal unto its self, a parihuela seafood stew which was not my cup of tea but DH really enjoyed and then the halibut and chicken dish from the entrees. Again, all was excellent, well cooked and seasoned. A lot of food. I did take my chicken home the next day.
We split dessert and its the only picture I have cause it felt weird taking pictures. The toasted coconut was my favorite part of it!
We came home the next day in rain, eating in Booth Bay at a meh tourist-y place after not finding one of our favorite spots.
Lessons learned this trip: not to stay in Bar Harbor, we like the quieter areas more… Eat more lobster…stay longer and if we go back to Havana’s we will sit outside.
Hope folks are well, vaxed and venturing out again.
GP
