Bar Harbor – August 2020

The boys were at sleepaway camp for 5 full weeks this summer. While my wife and I enjoyed the time away from the kids after several months of COVID-related isolation with them, it was an amazing experience for the boys. The camp was amazing with its COVID protocols and set up a bubble at the camp. That allowed the boys to play with other boys their age for weeks on end. Normally that’s not a big deal, but nothing is normal when it comes to COVID.

We knew that when we picked them up from camp, there would be some adjustment. The boys had been living without screens and in cabins in the woods for over a month. They had been playing outside for endless hours every day, swimming, and running around. We wanted to find a way to ease the transition by keeping them active and engaged and we knew the perfect place.

Bar Harbor

I grew up in Maine and my father had grown up in Bar Harbor. It’s a beautiful village on an island on the coast of Maine. Mount Desert Island is also the home of Acadia National Park where there are hundreds of miles of hiking trails up mountains and on smooth gravel roads called carriage roads where no cars are allowed. It’s a paradise for those who enjoy outdoor activities.

As a kid, I went there several times a year with my parents and my wife and I even got married there (last century!). Think of Bar Harbor as a touristy town a stone’s throw from all the activities nature has to offer.

This would be the perfect place to help the kids bridge a transition back to the “real world” and to visit a place we haven’t been for almost a decade. Tomatico had been there when he was a baby but he was too young to remember.

Finding a Hotel

We came up with the idea only a few days before we were scheduled to pick up the boys from camp. We were hoping that the “slow summer” would mean we could find some hotel availability.

Our favorite hotel by far is the Bar Harbor Inn. It’s not a chain hotel and there aren’t many points and miles hotel on the island. There are a few but they aren’t the greatest and they aren’t located within walking distance of the town. By contrast, the Bar Harbor Inn is on the water and a two-minute walk to the core of Main Street. It’s a perfect combination of quiet and location. Plus it’s the hotel we got married at so we may be a bit biased.

Unfortunately, it didn’t appear that the hotel had any availability for the three nights we were hoping to stay. The first and last night showed availability for 2 adults and 2 children but the middle night did not.

As an alternative, I found another hotel called the Bar Harbor Grand Hotel which is on the far end of Main Street but not on the water. It’s a hotel that’s more of a place to sleep than a destination in itself. The only option we could find was a two-room suite, so at least we’d have a decent amount of space. I booked a refundable AAA rate and noted the cancellation date. I would continue to look for other options until then.

As the trip got closer I kept looking for rooms at the Bar Harbor Inn. I noticed there was availability for a room for 2 people on the dates we wanted, but not for one with 4. As I looked more closely at the rooms that were available, I saw it was a room with 2 queen beds. That most certainly could hold 4 people. In the web interface, once I selected the room type I was able to update the search to add 2 children to the search request and I was suddenly able to book the room for 4 people. YIPPEE!

I quickly booked the room and called to cancel the room at the Bar Harbor Grand. Not only was I able to get a room at the hotel I wanted, but it cost less than the two-room suite at the first hotel. We ended up with a room overlooking the ocean and would be getting amazing sunrise views as well. We were even more excited about the trip now!

Planning Activities

My wife and I had a checklist of things we wanted to do, though it would be tough to fit it into the 4 days and 3 nights of our stay. My wife would also have to work three of the days so we had to arrange our schedule to do the things she was most interested in for our arrival day.

For the other days I was planning to rent bikes to go on the carriage trails, hild some mountain trails, visit the Jordan Pond House and otherwise ecxplore the island. We’d do things based on weather and what the kids were most interested in.

It would be an active vacation and the boys were sure to love it!