It's becoming a habit!

It was with some regret that we left the Manor Inn at Carstine, ME, and headed for Bar Harbor ... this should have only been a journey of 55 miles, but we did more than 100 miles (160 km) as we meandered back through Penobscot and down the peninsula to Deer Island and Stonington, following places where Robert McCloskey had lived, and written his books. We bought fresh goats cheese flavoured with orange zest and cranberries outside a local hall, and grabbed a late bowl of chili at a food co-op as we travelled - we needed something to warm ourselves up as it was a grey, damp, foggy day ... we could see quite some distance, but as soon as we drove up a hill we were back in the fog again - it was quite eerie, with patches of colour gleaming faintly through the mist from the remaining Fall trees, and mossy rocks beside the road glowing emerald beneath the pines.

It was nearly 4pm when we got to Bar Harbor, and already getting dark. We hadn't booked anywhere, as this is a very important seaside resort, and there are dozens and dozens of motels and hotels ... the only problem was that they were nearly all "Closed for the Season"!! We drove around and around, and were starting to despair, when we came to the Bar Harbor Inn, sited right on the water, at the end of the main street. This is one of THE places - last year Fodor (the rich American's answer to Lonely Planet) named it as one of its "Top Establishments in the World" (there's a small plaque inside, saying this!). Oh well, we thought, we're getting really short on choices, and it IS off-season, so maybe we'd give it a try ... and here we are! We have a large room (no, nowhere near as large as the Manor Inn, but very large for our standards) with two chintz-covered Queen beds, a mahogany table and two armchairs, with a ground-level balcony overlooking the lawns and garden beds which are between us and the sea - all of 20 metres away - and all for the same price as the Manor Inn! No, we're NOT eating in the dining room, thank you (there's hardly a dish under US$40), but the breakfast is free, and we ate so much this morning before we set off for Acadia National Park that we went without lunch.

As you can imagine, we were ready for dinner tonight, which we ate at a local bar called the "Whistling Whale". John, with his seafood allergy, dined on mushroom soup and fish and chips, which he pronounce 'excellent'. I ate the BEST clam chowder I've ever tasted, and a roll filled with juicy Maine lobster - a meal doesn't have to be fancy to be truly memorable. I've been avoiding chowder following an unfortunate lunch when we were on the ferry to Vancouver Island - and an even more unfortunate 'parting of the ways' with that same bowl of chowder in our host's car an hour later (Thank Heavens I had a secure plastic bag, but it was SO embarrassing!)

Now I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make a chowder as good as the one in Bar Harbor - it was brilliant! We'll be sorry to leave this part of Maine.