We started our day with breakfast in Portland, and then made tracks downeast on a glorious early spring day. Our destination was Bar Harbor and Cadillac Mountain, in Acadia National Park. We made it in good time, but arrived at the gate only to find it closed. A friendly ranger seeing our disappointed faces, hurried over to tell us some happy news: he had to make some rounds, but he would re-open the gate in an hour, so we would be able to get up the mountain in time for the sunset.

 We headed into Bar Harbor, just a mile from the gate, and looked at our rather limited options for April dining in Bar Harbor. We saw that an old favorite, McKay's Public House, was open and serving, and we were able to be seated right away. That was good not only considering our rush for the sunset, but also because right after we were seated the placed filled up more crowded that a lifeboat from the Titanic! (This weekend being the 100th anniversary of that disaster, many people were dressed in Edwardian formal dress, and the waitstaff were dressed as ship's crew.

We were a bit nonplussed over the celebration, but the dinner was excellent. I had a burger of local island-grown beef (no pink slime for me, than you!) and a Marshall Wharf Ace Hole Pale Ale. I had read for years the superlative reviews of the elusive Marshall Wharf products, and this met and exceeded all my expectations. Lorna had the poached salmon, but declared it not as good as mine. I say it's all in the court-bouillon!

It was a long drive home, to be sure. We took a break in Waldoboro at Moody's Diner, a Route 1 icon since 1927. The food there is seldom great (although they do have deep-fried tripe), but their Maine Blueberry Pie is excellent. Lorna had a piece of pie and I had three cups of coffee. By the time we got back to Portland we were halfway home and we felt like we were in our own backyard. We staggered in the door at 1:30!