Whew, it's been a crazy week! Now that we've finished with Christmas in July week, I wanted to write up a quick recap of Eliot's and my time in Bar Harbor last weekend!
Thursday was a crazy day trying to get everything done before we were away for a long weekend. Then, we had to drive up to Bangor to attend the Backstreet Boys Concert that night. It was totally worth it though since we had an amazing day and an incredible time at the concert! (You can read an in-depth review of that day here.)
After our late night and crazy Thursday, Eliot and I slept in on Friday. It was still really hot out, so we didn't really want to do anything outside. Instead, we decided that we'd spend the hot hours of the afternoon shopping in Ellsworth. First, we went to check out TJ Maxx. I wanted to see if they had any Halloween stuff yet. They didn't have many fun spooky items; however, Eliot did find the Patriotic Mickey we'd spotted over the 4th of July in the clearance section. Needless to say, he came home with us!
Next, we went to Dairy Queen to get some food. We ate in the air conditioned Jeep, then took a ride around the sheds in the adjacent parking lot getting ideas. (I'd love to have my own craft she-shed someday!) I added a few mental notes to my list!
Eliot wanted to go to Home Depot so we went there next. I was wandering around inside with him when I started to feel sick. My stomach hasn't been doing great in the heat. After that, I decided that I'd stay in the Jeep soaking in the air conditioning. He made another quick stop over at the Marden's while I sat out in the car. Eventually, I started to feel a little better while I sat there so I took a few selfies with Mickey.
We returned home and relaxed while trying to stay cool. Later that night, we went back up to Ellsworth to go to Walmart to pick up a few things for dinner and to snack on. We also picked up a few summer toys so we'd have them!
We were a little disappointed that we didn't really do anything exciting, but it was so stinking hot out that we barely wanted to move, let alone go into Acadia. Instead, Eliot and I spent a quiet evening at home with Mom, Dad and Nana trying not to melt!
Saturday, I was determined to do something even if the weather was still hot. We showered and got dressed before heading onto Mt. Desert island. I decided to take Eliot to Sieur de Monts Spring and the Wild Gardens of Acadia. He had never been there before, and I remembered it being mostly in the shade. I figured that was at least something we could do in Acadia National Park while staying cool!
We pulled into the Sieur de Monts Spring and it was apparent that there weren't too many other people there. The parking lot was probably only 1/3 of the way full, and most of the people there all parked on the side with the shade. I found a fully shaded spot and pulled our Jeep into it. Eliot and I made our way over to the Nature Center building and went inside to check it out. It was air conditioned and cool. We wandered around for a few minutes looking at the merchandise and educational displays.
Then, we went back outside and were planning to head over to the spring house. We had to wait a minute since there was a bride and groom taking wedding photos on the bridge. I congratulated them when they walked by and the bride thanked me. Then, we made our way over. The scenery was absolutely beautiful, just as I remembered it, but the spring house was a mess inside. It looked like algae had grown over the top of the water. At least I got some good photos of the stream!
After that, Eliot and I made our way over to the Wild Gardens of Acadia. There are a bunch of short hiking trails around the area, but it was too darn hot and humid to do those. We thought wandering around the mostly shaded gardens made more sense.
We enjoyed walking through the gardens. It's separated into 13 regions where you'd see these plants in their natural habitats such as mountain, seaside, forest, etc. I stopped to take photos of a few plants, specifically the wild blueberries along the path.
Near the end of the gardens, there was a pond where Eliot and I could hear frogs. We stopped to see if we could find them, and sure enough, I spotted one of them. We stood there for a long time watching and listening. We ended up finding the other two frogs as well. Eliot got some really good photos of one with his phone.
We also sat on the bench near the pond. Eliot went to our car which happened to be parked right outside the exit. He brought all of our little donkey friends into the garden and we took a few photos of them on our bench. Eliot sat with them watching the pond while I went to the restroom. Then, we all sat there for a few minutes enjoying the quiet scenery. We took a few "family photos" before we packed everyone back up in the car and made our way back out of Acadia.
Afterwards, we decided to take a quick drive around town. We drove around the main streets and took a loop around the pier. We stopped on the Bar Harbor Pier for a few minutes to enjoy the view from our air conditioned car.
Next we drove Ellsworth to pick up dinner. We wanted to have a picnic and we had the whole thing planned out. I'd get pizza from Pat's Pizza and Eliot would order his from Pizza Hut. We'd pick up the pizzas and head to our picnic location. Unfortunately, Pat's closed early due to lack of staff; so instead, we both got pizzas from Pizza Hut.
We took our pizzas for our picnic at Thompson's Island. It's a quiet picnic area on an island between Trenton and Mt. Desert Island. Most people don't even know that it's there. We used to have school picnics there when I was a kid. It's where a group of us gathered to take our pre-prom photos. It's also the location of many Brown Family picnics since it was close to home and the perfect place to take our dog Lucky. He always enjoyed scoping it out once we were done with our food!
I've never taken Eliot there until this year. We actually drove through it over Memorial Day weekend and I showed him around. We decided then that we'd have a picnic there before the summer was over, and today was that day!
It was nice and quiet there, with only a few other people eating. Thankfully, there was one picnic table near the ocean that was also in the shade. We sat next to each other, with Eliot partly in the sun, trying to keep cool as we ate our pizza and enjoyed the view of the quiet cove. We met a few friendly seagulls who were very interested in our meal, as well as a few mosquitos who made us their meal.
After we finished with our pizza, Eliot took the leftovers back to the car while I climbed around the rocks. He came back down to join me and we explored for a little bit. I took a few photos and then we headed home to cool off.
That evening, we had planned to make s'mores, but we were so stuffed full of pizza that we decided to skip them. Instead, we spent a quiet evening watching television with Mom, Dad and Nana, including watching the new Hallmark Christmas movie that premiered that night. Then, we called it a night and headed to bed!
Eliot and I didn't want to stay super late Sunday since we had things we wanted to get done back home. We slept in a little later than planned, but we still had a little bit of time before we had to pack and leave. Our main goal of the morning was to play around in the sprinklers in the backyard before leaving. We figured that we'd cool off, shower, and then pack up and leave.
Daddy got the sprinkler set up while Eliot and I changed into our bathing suits. Then, Dad joined us and we played around for about 15-20 minutes. It felt really refreshing and I wish that we'd set it up sooner. It would have been the perfect way to cool off on Friday and Saturday when it was even hotter and more humid out!
After that, we took turns showering and Eliot packed up the Jeep. We said goodbye to Mom, Dad and Nana and were on our way around 2:30. We stopped at Governor's in Ellsworth because I realized I'd forgotten the giant peanut butter cup that Daddy had bought me and I was distraught about it. But they didn't have any left.
Instead, we continued to Bangor. We had planned to eat at Chipotle, but they were closed. At this point, I was getting "hangry" and cranky. We decided to head over to the Bangor Governor's to see if they had any peanut butter cups there. I was pretty excited to discover that there was a Homegoods and TJ Maxx behind it.
Eliot and I decided to go to the Homegoods first. And I'm so glad we did. Going in there definitely put me back in a good mood. They had a ton of Disney Halloween stuff... including the Mickey votive holders that I looked for everywhere last year! They also had the new Mickey pumpkin soap dispenser I'd seen someone post online. We grabbed those and picked out a few other treasures before checking out.
Then, we swung by Governor's and Eliot bought my peanut butter cup along with a few other snacks while I used the restroom. Then, we made a quick stop for food at the McDonald's across the street, jumped back on the highway and were on our way!
We made one more stop on the way home in Augusta. We started out at the TJ Maxx but unfortunately, they didn't have the any of the exciting treasures that Bangor had, and that was ok. After we tried to go over to Torrid and Eddie Bauer, but we literally were trying to open the doors at 6pm and both closed early since it was Sunday. We'd completely lost track of time and had no idea it was so late!
We piled back into the car and made one more quick stop at Barnes and Noble. Eliot picked up a few hockey cards and we opened them in the car. Then, he started the car up and we drove the rest of the way home arriving before it got dark out. We went inside and immediately turned all of our air conditioners and fans on since the house was hot! And we waited until the house cooled off before heading to bed.
It was a whirlwind of a weekend, and a sizzling hot one at that. But Eliot and I enjoyed our time in Trenton, Bar Harbor and visiting with my family! °o°
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