Bar Harbor with Sarah

As some of you know, I spent every summer of my life up near Bar Harbor - our camp is on George's Pond in Franklin, about 30 minutes from BH and we were always going into BH since it was the only place around where there was anything to do. My dad was born in BH, so we have always felt close ties to the place and growing up there was an incredibly important part of my life. I wouldn't have traded spending every summer on George's Pond for anything in the world. It was a very idyllic life and I know how lucky I was to have that.

I'm always happy to be able to share BH with people and let them see how special it is, so it was great to have Sarah come up to visit. She took Friday off and made the long drive up here (Sarah, you are the best!) and we arrived in BH by mid-afternoon. It was sunny and beautiful and we had a great time walking around the town and checking things out. A lot of shops were beginning to close, but we made note of which places we wanted to check out the nest day, being the practiced shoppers that we are. :) Here were are in the park overlooking the pier in downtown BH.

Unfortunately Saturday ended up being very rainy, but we still made the best of it. We did some shopping and got some great things - BH has an awesome dog store with all kinds of gourmet treats, so Sarah stocked up for Annabelle and Bentley and I bought a few things to bring to my boy Ralph. We had hoped to do a boat ride around the island and see the sights from the ocean, but decided it just wasn't going to happen in the rain. We would have been freezing! Instead, we opted for a trolley ride, which meant we got to see the sights, while still staying relatively warm and dry. Our trolley driver was very informative and we hit all the big things to see in Bar Harbor - Cadillac Mountain (which was completely fogged in), Thunder Hole (which wasn't doing much, but still always nice to see), Sieur de Mont spring, all the big mansions along the ocean, Jackson Laboratory, and Jordan Pond House.

This photo is from Jordan Pond House, where we stopped to warm up with coffee. When it is warm and sunny, this place is packed with people who've come to eat the famous popovers and drink tea on the lawn. It was pretty quiet when we were there, but the view was still beautiful, even in the rain. The mountains are called The Bubbles, or the Boobies as we used to call them when we were little.

One of the best parts about being in BH this weekend was being able to eat at Rosalie's Pizza. This is my favorite restaurant in BH and my favorite pizza place in the world. It used to be called Napoli's and, to my family it will always be Napoli's, even though the name changed to Rosalie's probably 20 years ago. Eating at Napoli's is always an important part of our summers in BH. It is only open in the summers and, lucky for Sarah and I, it opened for the season two days before we arrived. We saw a line out the door when we walked by on Friday night, but we were able to get a seat on Saturday afternoon. The pizza was as amazing as I remembered it, if not better, and Sarah said it was some of the best pizza she has ever had. We had a great time drinking beer, eating pizza, and talking, talking, talking, as good friends do. Sarah is one of my favorite people to travel with and I always love our girls weekends away. It was great to be able to show her around BH and for her to enjoy it so much. All and all, a fabulous weekend!