Writes of Passage

At the Acadia Mountain

ME-3, Mt Desert, ME 04660

This manicured garden is cross street from Asticou Inn. The garden is lovely and very enjoyable. Azalea is bit misleading -:) because it has many things to offer. I like their little hidden corners and mini stone temple/statues … It is a place waiting for you to discover it.

Northeast Harbor is on the Mount Desert Island in Maine. It has a few famous residents, such as the Rockefellers and Brook Astor. It also known as “Philadelphia on the rocks” for many people from Phillys.

Asticou Inn
15 Peabody Dr,
Northeast Harbor, ME 04662

Won’t return – the Azalea garden is better!

It is at the west side of the Mount Desert Island, which is far less popular than their east side Bar Harbor. Their Main Street is short, sweet and one way only.

The restaurant is at the namesake inn, which opens May to October only. Unfortunately it’s a little windy and cold, they closed the deck. Our table is by the window. The view of NE Harbor is nice. Good service. Good food – crab cake is good. Overall, food is on the expensive side. A cup soup costs $11 – the same price at Bar Harbor Inn, which is a notch above, buys you a bowl. The Aveleda white is pretty good tho. A persistent fly just won’t leave us alone. Bathroom is a floor below, it has no soap. Fake purple flower …

Cross the street is their garden which is really worth your time.

After lunch, we hiked on Lower Hadlock Pond, and I won’t recommend it.

This trail on the NE Harbor ( Mount Desert Island in Maine) is my least favorite: very plain, small and easily missed. We went only because of lunch at Asticou.

Dirty utensil. Yucky napkin. Great view even it’s cloudy. Decent food and service.

The park in Mount Desert Island of Maine can be summed up by a few words:

Majestic ~ Pristine ~ Spectacular

There are more adjective to describe this beautiful and well maintained park but I’ll leave some for the readers and little imagination for the people who have not visited it.

The hikes

If hiking is on your agenda, do buy their map ($5.24) which has all the trails the free map doesn’t.

This is our first trip to Maine – loving it!

MDI is the largest island in Maine. Its size is smaller than Long Island NY and larger than Martha’s Vineyard. It’s on the east coast of U.S. The population is 10,615 (2010 census) but hosted 3.5 million visitors in 2017 – aiming at Acadia National Park.

Bar Harbor on the east is the largest and most popular area. It’s a quint small town of 5,235 people (2010 census), with many nice hotels, ice cream shops and public bathrooms, aside from the usual trinket shops. Southwest Harbor and Northeast Harbor are less visited – they only have medical center. Bar Harbor has a hospital (@ corner of Main and Wayman Lane, which is at one end of the Shore Path). Between two smaller harbors, I prefer SW over NE.

Acadia Park dominates the MDI. The park and lobster are the twin engine that drives their economy.

Some restaurants we dined:

• Bar Harbor Inn
• Project Social
• Beal’s
• The Chart Room
• Jeannie’s Great Maine Breakfast
• Jordan Pond
• Asticou