Municipal pier photos (panoramas), Jordan Pond trail/Goat trail photo

Hot, sunny day, awesome weather and relaxing activities! Started off with pastries (sticky and blueberry cheese danish, plain tea [where is the Earl Grey?!] and coffee) but ate at the benchmark bench rather than the gazebo because a man was “arting” there. Seriously, “making art” (drawing), not a euphemism for farting. We had a great time at the pier talking for two hours just enjoying each other’s company and watching the cruisers stroll by in their uniform: capri pants, floral print handbag usually worn across the body, “walking” shoes or sandals. I think it was the Veendam, you know, one of those DAM ships. There weren’t too many buses lined up at the pier, and they didn’t significantly impact the crowds in town as they have in the past. Because R’s foot was hurting due to something he did yesterday, which we still haven’t figured out, we decided to make it a relatively easy day and leave our plans to hike Sargent or the Potholes trail again for another day. Our initial thought was to use the bus system to get to Day Mountain, but we didn’t see a very efficient way to do it, so we decided to just do the Jordan Pond loop again, but approach it via the Goat Trail from the Park Loop Road. The bus driver was willing to let us off at the parking pulloff just south of the new Bubble Rock parking area. We found the trail easily (you really can’t miss the handrail once you know it’s there!) and hiked the stone steps down to emerge (pop out!) onto the Jordan Pond Shore Trail. We noticed that this year, there was not a single piece of flagging tape to be found anywhere along the Goat Trail, while last year the entire route was flagged. I wonder how long it lasted, and who ultimately took it down.

Rich wrote “GOAT” with an arrow on either side in the dirt on the shore trail in a goofy gesture to point out the trail to the next person to come along, who I’m sure didn’t even notice it.

We had a very relaxing and peaceful walk around the lake, thoroughly enjoying the sunshine and each other’s company as we talked about unschooling, philosophy, carnivorous plants, and other topics of the day.

We approached the “new” Jordan Pond House with trepidation, having heard about the plastic furniture, change in menu, firing of the chef, etc. from Everitt at the hotel.

We were somewhat pleased to see that the plastic furniture wasn’t the cheap thin Kmart junk but Polywood, which we have and is expensive and durable (and it was the same dark green Jordan Pond House color), and they still had the Adirondack chairs (also in green) so that was OK. The menu doesn’t look too bad either, except that the only thing that comes with popovers now are the seafood and lobster chowders. Every other meal/sandwich says “add a popover for $2.50.” We didn’t have time before the arrival of the bus to check out the gift shop, which we’ve heard has also changed. While waiting, we saw the same woman again who we met on the bus to Jordan Pond - Maryann Dahl, who with her husband spends her retirement volunteering at a different national park each year. Fascinating! They live in an RV and take on a new assignment for several months each year, the rest of the time just traveling the country and sometimes volunteering at Florida parks over the winter. We told her about the Goat Trail, Potholes Trail, and finding the route of the cog railway up Cadillac. She got off at the Visitor’s Center and we stayed on the bus as it banged its way along the cratered roads of Bar Harbor back to the Village Green.

Supper was relaxed and delicious at Side Street Cafe. We had lobster roll and haddock sandwich (this time not falling off the bun, but with lime aioli that was a delicious pairing) both of which we shared, and fries, and Allagash White and R had a citrusy beer too, but I can’t recall the name. We walked around town a bit afterward, wanting to check out the ticket shop for the Baker Island cruise in the morning, but they were already closed. I couldn’t resist another sorbet at MDI Ice Cream, this time opting for the grapefruit-hibiscus while Rich went with the 4 Oranges ice cream. It was both a bit sweeter and stronger than the blood orange flavor he had last night. We also couldn’t resist sampling the salt licorice flavor, which we both thought was intriguing and it’s something I could easily find myself craving, especially as a nighttime snack.