Autumn
in Canada
#7
Sunday,
October 6, 2019
Bar
Harbor, Maine
Janet had a horrible night-sick as a
dog. She didn’t get much sleep all night.
When the wake-up call came at 6 AM, it
was obvious she was in no condition to go to breakfast, let alone on the 3½
hour long shore excursion we booked for the tour of Acadia National Park and
Lobster Bake. We figured we should use one of the $130 tickets. So Bill
went on the tour and left Janet where she needed to be – in the stateroom, so
she could sleep and do what she needed to do.
At 7:30 AM Bill went to the showroom
where the excursions assembled before leaving the ship. He met three women from
East Texas and Louisiana.
It was a large group for that toured
and it took several tenders from the ship and two large motor coaches to
accommodate everyone.
Bar Harbor is the largest city on
Mount Desert Island (part of Maine) and is lush with forests and lakes. Most of
the lakes are reservoirs for drinking water for the towns on the island, so no
swimming is allowed in many of them. This island was for years, a refuge for
the ultra-wealthy families of the 19th and early 20th
century. Gilded Age…Families like the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Ford, Carnegie,
Mellon and others all had “cottages” real estates along the shore. John D
Rockefeller built much of the infrastructure and carriage roads on the island.
Our tour took us through much the
Acadia National Park (the first national park in the nation) and up to Cadillac
Mountain (the highest peak of coastal US.) the weather was cold, about 42º with
a 20 mph wind. It was freezing. The fall colors were only at about 30% but they
were impressive.
We got to the top of 1,530 ft high
Cadillac Mountain for the 360º view of the island and national park Bill could
see the Veendam (our ship) off in the distance.
Our driver took us through some more
of the Park and then back down to town and the exclusive Bar Harbor Club for a
luncheon of a whole Maine lobster, mussels, corn on the cob, potatoes, and
blueberry tarts. Bill sat at a table with two groups of tourists. One from
Washington State and the other from Ohio.
Afterward, Bill excused himself and
walked up the hill to part of downtown that wasn’t too touristy. On the way
back, he was stopped by a man and his wife who looked at Bill’s LBCC sweatshirt
hoodie and asked, “Is that Long Beach City?” The man lived in Bar Harbor and
graduated from LBCC in 1971. He was shocked to see an LBCC hoodie in Bar
Harbor! Small world
Bill took the Tender back to the ship
and met two retired farm families. Ones from Eastern Washington and one from
Central California (Merced).
Janet woke from her nap and felt well
enough to try the buffet for something bland. She got a plate of boiled white
rice then sat at a table head in left hand wondering how she was going to get
it down.
A couple of servers saw her alone with
her plate of rice and asked if she was feeling ill…anyway about four different staff members, including
the supervisor and chef came to see her. The chef made some clear chicken broth
and a baked potato especially for her and explained how she could get
gluten-free items anywhere on the ship. Others came by with different
home-remedies to make her feel better. They
were very sweet
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