2018 in Review - Part 2 - Southwest Harbor

In our 2018 in Review - Part 1 we covered our one month journey to Southwest Harbor, ME.  in Part 2 we will cover (pictorially) our time in Southwest Harbor from May 12th to September 15th.....here we go!

We arrived in Southwest Harbor May 12th after covering some 3,389 miles over 4 weeks.  We thoroughly enjoyed the journey to Southwest Harbor, ME, but now it was time to enjoy the great state of Maine, and more specifically Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, and environs.....

.......Smuggler's Den is a very nice, family owned and run campground located in Southwest Harbor, which is about 15 miles from Bar Harbor, and smack dab in the middle of Acadia National Park.  As you drive, or walk around Smuggler's Den you can see the attention to detail the family gives to this campground.  There is no deferred maintenance, which is rare for most RV parks we have visited over the years.  Smuggler's Den has a very loyal customer base with many families into the 2nd, or 3rd generation of coming back summer after summer.  They keep their restrooms as clean as any RV park restrooms I have ever used, or seen, and they go out of their way to make their customers feel like family......

Pano of our site for the summer

.....on our first morning in Southwest Harbor we took a walk into town to get a feel for the place, and to visit the local supermarket......

.....on our second day we took a driving tour of the area around Southwest Harbor including Bass Harbor and Tremont.  Of course we had to visit the local Bass Harbor Lighthouse.....

The famous 'Seawall' area of Acadia National Park

.....on our third day we drove into Bar Harbor for the day to check it out and have lunch.....

Bar Harbor, ME

 We ate lunch at Finback Alehouse....pricey, but very good food and brews!

Downtown Bar Harbor

Bought a couple of Adirondack chairs for the patio

Near Northeast Harbor

A lot of good brews were consumed

......we arrived in Southwest Harbor on May 12th (a Saturday), and began our summer of 40 hour work weeks on May 16th.....

....we settled into our temporary home at Smuggler's Den in Southwest Harbor, and enjoyed our jobs at first, but by the end of the first week in August we, along with 5 other employees, quit our jobs due to the poor treatment we received from the owners.  We had planned to be there until October 22nd....the end of the season.....but decided being happy, and lower blood pressure readings were more important.  To be fair, the owners take wonderful care of Smuggler's Den, and we both appreciated their attention to detail, but their constant nit picking, and the making of 'mountains of molehills' wore us down.  When my daily blood pressure readings began to rise it was time to make a change.  That is why, after all, we have wheels on our home.  One of our fellow workers, Tony who also quit that day, lived nearby and offered his property to us to stay the rest of the summer.....we took him up on his offer and stayed with he and his family (Janet and Jack) for 5 weeks, departing Southwest Harbor around September 15.......

My work uniform

Smuggler's Den office....TLE on duty

Live lobster is ubiquitous in Maine.....this lobster tank was eventually full of live lobsters for sale to our customers

At Thurston's Lobster Pound enjoying the scenery and weather

We enjoyed many early evening fires....the mosquitoes were not too bad

We did a lot of hiking

At the top of Cadillac Mountain

A Lobster BLT.....one of my favorite ways to eat lobster!

Our Southwest Harbor friends - left to right: Moi, Janet, Tony, Steven, Lois and TLE

Spent a lot of time working on the campground pool!

Over the course of our stay we rode 30-40 miles of Carriage Roads

Our reward after riding the Carriage Roads.....Atlantic Brewing Company

My summer firewood hoard....it got about 3 feet taller before we left

Hiking the Ship Harbor trail

Dinner with my sister and her family at the Bar Harbor Inn Terrace Grill

....during the course of the 4 months we spent in Southwest Harbor we were visited by my sister, Hilary, her husband (Bob) and one of her daughters (Stephanie), as well as Elaine's sister, Laureen, and her husband Glenn, and then good friends Charles and Bobbie.....

We visited Jordan Pond numerous times

We rode various sections of the Carriage Roads totaling close to 45 miles

Eagle Lake

Watching soccer outdoors on a day off work

Hiking

The large grassy area at Smuggler's Den where I learned how to operate a Zero Turn John Deere mower

This has become my favorite Belgian White.....Allagash White, brewed in Portland, ME

Popovers and coffee at the Asticou Inn

One of many Lobster Rolls consumed...this one at Beale's Lobster Pound

The ubiquitous granite stair cases at the begining of most hikes

Beech Mountain Fire tower (not in use)

Looking towards Southwest Harbor from Acadia Mountain

.....in early August, as I mentioned earlier, we quit our jobs at Smuggler's Den, and moved a couple of miles over to the property of our good friends Tony and Janet.  They provided water and 30 amp electric, a nice gravel pad, and a wonderful wood deck......

My meager collection of lobster trap buoys....I donated them along with our Adirondack chairs to Tony and Janet when we left

 The wonderful wooden deck....night and day

......over the course of the summer we hiked about 45 miles of local trails, all of which began with a granite staircase......

 The beautiful Somes Sound from the summit of Acadia Mountain 

The Schoodic Peninsula (part of Acadia National Park)

The view of Southwest Harbor from the fire tower on Beech Mountain

Jordan Pond

Bubble Rock....a scary hike

Good friends Charles and Bobbie also visited us

More popovers and coffee at the Asticou Inn....one our favorite places!

Elaine's sister, Laureen, and her husband Glenn came to visit us!

Watching sun rise from the Cadillac Mountain summit is a must

Just breathtaking

.....by the 2nd week in September we had check off most of the items on our list of things to do in Acadia National Park leaving just one 'must do' thing......watch the sun rise from the summit of Cadillac Mountain.  We checked off that item about 3 days before we departed Southwest Harbor, and are we ever glad we did.....it was amazing....pure and simple.......

Rainy day at Tony and Janet's home

......in spite of our disappointing tenure at Smuggler's Den we thoroughly enjoyed our 4 months in Southwest Harbor, and Acadia National Park.  We would return for another summer in a heartbeat.....who knows what the future has in store for us!

Next up is Part 3 - Southwest Harbor, ME to Campbellsville, KY!

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