Not sure that there are enough superlatives to come close to describing the beauty and the grandeur that is Arcadia National Park. it would be beautiful at any time, but at present with the riot of yellow orange and gold unfolding before our eyes, it is a truly special place indeed. So into the Park where we made several stops and each one had more and more beauty.
First off it was the Bar Harbor Women's' Association cross sectional garden. The women of the community have a garden section that labels and displays all the plants from the National Park and they are displayed in sections such as "The Bog" where we saw Cranberries growing, to the mid forest and finally the Mountain Forest. We learned a lot about the difference between fir and spruce and were better able to identify exactly what the sugar maple looks like up close.
Our next stop was by Sandy Beach which is as the name suggests a beautiful yellow sand beach and from there you get a really good view of Precipice Point. While it was clear and all, the grey skies meant that the scenery lacked a certain contrast, and because they have had little rain in the area of recent weeks, the pond or backwater at the rear of the berm did not have enough water to take the artistic reflection shot... Still in all a very pretty and peaceful place and of course Chris had to run down and put his fingers in the Atlantic Ocean. I think he had our fellow tourists a bit worried that he was going for a dip!
There were several stops at pretty groves to photograph the "colour" as it has come to be called. One spot we stopped at was a pond where we saw a beaver lodge and dam, and here the reflection of the trees into the pond was nothing short of spectacular. Following this we drove high up Cadillac Mountain. Unfortunately the top of Cadillac was shrouded in fog and cloud so there was no view at all, but a little way down the side we had a couple of lovely stops, one at Eagle Lake, a glacial cirque that appears to be in the shape of an eagle's wing. Chris was in heaven having ticked Arcadia off his bucket list.
At around lunchtime the bus drove down into Bar Harbor and dropped us off for some lunch, sightseeing and shopping. It is a pretty little town, one Main Street and three side streets in total. We were advised to check out the Episcopalian Church and, if we got the chance, to compare it to the Catholic Church across the road. It appears that the wealthy went to the Episcopalian Church and the maids and servants were more likely to have gone to the Catholic Church. St Saviour's, the Episcopalian Church is exquisite. It had a darkish interior, lacking natural light, but the natural light that enters comes through stained glass windows, again made by Tiffany, and they are excellent examples of how stained glass was used to teach the key events in the scripture. The rose window at the end of the church has 12 small faces included around the image of the resurrected Jesus. These 12 faces represent the Grandchildren of the person who bequeathed the window. The things you find out from the locals. We then went across to the Catholic Church, and while it was very lovely it was very plain inside. Painted white walls were lit by less complex but still beautiful stained glass telling the key stories of Jesus' life and the altar was very plain and had a black curtain behind it, something we have not seen before in a Catholic Church.
The bus took us back to the hotel for a very short rest before we had to hop back on the bus and go back to Arcadia National Park for our Carriage Ride. The park has a series of carriage roads which were build by the Rockefeller family during the 1920s and 1930s. They have 12 foot thick granite bases and are strictly for carriages and horses only. Our tour group went on 4 different buggies ( we were in one that seated 14) pulled by two huge Clydesdale horses, Doc and Duke. Our guide Rhonda told us dozens of interesting things, both about the horses and the park as we rode along the road. We learned that the Rockefeller family managed to buy up large sections of land to try to beat the lumber merchants to it so that the land could be preserved for future generations. They are certainly a philanthropic family. We asked her how long the foliage had been "turned" for and she said about 9 or 10 days... when asked how long it would last, she replied, well only another 3 or 4 days. Wow... how lucky have we been to see such amazing sights.
Buggy ride over it was back onto the bus and off to dinner at the Jordan Pond restaurant. Jordan Pond is another glacial cirque, but unfortunately by the time we arrived it was nightfall and the visibility was poor, so we went upstairs for dinner which again was just yummy... this time Clam Chowder, Crumbed Scallops for Liz and Steak for Chris and Blueberries and ice cream for dessert. Back to the hotel to pack and blog and reflect on the absolute beauty we had experienced today.
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