Our Visit to Bar Harbor - August 31, 2020

We visited many places in Maine during our trip. Indeed, given the time constraints, we saw more of Maine than I thought may be possible. In just about two days, we saw some lighthouses, Acadia National Park, Stephen King's house in Bangor (barely, because it was night time), and some of the Maine White Mountains, as well as the wilderness, the woods and lakes and streams and rivers, that Maine is famous for.

But perhaps my favorite place to visit was the most famous one in Maine, most likely: Bar Harbor. The only other site that might be comparably famous in Maine might be Mount Katahdin, and that is a big "if." 

My family and I had visited this town back in 1989. And I remember enjoying it, and feeling that it had a certain charm to it.

However, I do not remember it being quite as stunningly beautiful as it proved to be during this more recent visit.

At the time, I remember it mostly as part of a bigger trip that we took to Canada, to Montréal and Québec City, specifically. We would again take a similar trip two years later, in 1991. Only that one, if memory serves correctly, was not as focused on New England. In fact I do not think that we even went through New England in 1991.

But I do remember feeling thrilled with going through New England in 1989. I got a magazine there, the NFL Prolog, and it had a picture of Joe Montana on the cover. This was just months after the 49ers had just barely beaten the Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII. I still have that magazine, and it still reminds me of Bar Harbor.

Frankly, I only have sketchy memories from that visit. I remember the coast, and Acadia National Park, to some extent. Also, I remember the downtown of Bar Harbor seeming to have charm. But that was about it.

So I had an idea of what to expect. Truth be told, though, I was rather struck by how stunningly beautiful this place was. Far more than I remembered, obviously, which surprised me. I would have expected to remember someplace that was quite this special. This is where old, New England village charm with a charming inlet meets the spectacular natural appeal of mountains and wilderness, and where all of that meets the grandeur of the Atlantic Ocean.

It really is that spectacular and memorable!

Indeed, it had been a long time since my prior visit to Bar Harbor, which I visited (briefly) in 2004, and again, I believe, in 2006, during the off-season. Again, though, I do not remember it being quite this amazing of a place.

Hard to imagine that it will be too long before our next visit. Both my son and I really appreciated and enjoyed many things that we saw in Maine during this trip. And for me, perhaps the very best place was Bar Harbor.

Below are some pictures to remember this trip by: