One particular harbor...

If you said, "Jimmy Buffett, 1983," you get 200 bonus points.

A morning walk with little Izzy to start the day...

A couple squirrels were upset that this cat was invading their territory, making a lot of noise and tossing things out of the tree.  Iz looked at me, "What'd I do?  I didn't even chase them."

"Ignore them, Izzy - they are just rats with nicer coats."

Today was about driving around Mount Desert Island, where Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park are located (the park takes up a good portion of the island).  There are also some very striking harbors in different places around the island.

Our first stop this morning, was at Southwest Harbor, a town on the southwest side of Somes Sound.  Picturesque.  We stopped to walk around town and take in the farmers market...

Joan with the jug she bought...

Yep, a small jug of real Maine maple syrup.  Walking around town, we saw evidence of the upcoming Flamingo Festival (because a tropical bird makes all kinds of good sense in Maine)...

We walked around town, checking out the interesting shops.  Helped support the local economy.  Then, to the actual harbor in Southwest Harbor...

This place is all about lobsters.

That table (above) is made from lobster pots.

Low tide...

A "grid" (above): when the tide is up, boats can float in above, when it goes out, situate the hull on these, and you can do bottom work without hauling the boat out.  Below, that ramp is out of the water...
 

This unique church in Tremont, just down from Southwest Harbor...

Stacks of lobster pots...

Another grid, with stacks of lobster pots on the pier behind it...

I mentioned Acadia National Park taking up a good portion of this island - it isn't all in one place.  On the southern end of the island, we stopped at Seawall Point (in the park) for a picnic...

Out on the rocky shoreline...

From there, a drive to Manset, home to Hinckley Yachts...

Manset is a small community, and off the one main road, things get narrow pretty quick...

The harbor there...

If you look close, there are a few Hinckleys out on moorings.

A West Marine within spitting distance of the water, in a rather non-descript building...

Into Northeast Harbor...

An actual sandy beach here.  Actual people in the water.  The cold water.  It was in the upper 60s today.  I am nowhere near that tough...

From Northeast Harbor, we went through another section of Acadia National Park to make our way back home (home is where the coach is)...

Out of the park, and looking for back roads to keep us out of the construction area south of the RV park.  We came across a couple of turkeys in the road.  No, not dumbass kids (although there were a few of those), actual turkeys...

Back to the coach, where Izzy got more leash time, and her Mommy and Daddy sat with her out on the patio... and some guitar time.  A very nice, mostly away from crowds kinda day.

Speaking of crowds, a couple thoughts we discussed today... Bar Harbor is an interesting town, very touristy, and absolutely thick with people this time of year.  We hear it is even more packed in August, although I don't know where you'd put any more people.  Acadia National Park is beautiful - the shoreline reminds me a bit of the San Juan Islands.  Like Bar Harbor, the park is busy with people.  Much smaller than Grand Teton National Park, and almost as many visitors per year... more people in a smaller area = crowds.

Looking around at the waters here, I am happy to live where we do... warm water, easy navigation, and year 'round boating.  This area is beautiful, but I can't imagine what winters must be like (we've heard).

South Padre Island area gets crazy busy during Spring Break (mostly during Texas Week) and during the summer (when we are typically gone).  The rest of the year, we don't have to search for parking places or wait in long lines to get a table at a restaurant.  Yeah... home, sweet home.  No, we are not homesick, and we do really enjoy seeing other places... haven't seen another, yet, that would make us consider moving (although the Black Hills are a close second, again except for winters).