The Lobster Pound
You can’t choose your relatives or the weather. Uncle Joe may be an overwhelming bore, but to keep peace in the family you’ll have to put up with him. It’s the same with weather, especially when you are on the road. (Weather is heavy on my mind of late, since we are still stuck in this New Hampshire Nor’easter.) During our years of road travel of we have done our share of sightseeing in the rain. Sometimes inclement weather even changes things for the better.
When we were in Bar Harbor, Maine we were meeting some friends who had flown in from California. We had all kinds of plans for hiking in Acadia National Park, lobster boils on the beach and other similar outdoor activities. Unfortunately, the low front came in, and with it clouds, fog and intermittent rain.
The Oceanarium
We couldn’t let it stop us since we were leaving the next day for a fishing camp on the Northern Maine/Canadian border. Scrap the trip to the National Park, there were no “views” to be had or hikes to be taken. Instead we opted for an indoor activity and went to the Oceanarium where they hatch and release lobsters.
It turns out they greatly enhance the local Maine lobster population by hatching them in the lab then releasing them at a later stage where they have a higher survival rate. Who knew? After a tour of the Lobster Museum (it burned down not long after we visited and has since been rebuilt) and a walk around the marsh behind it, we were hungry for what else? Lobster. We found a local restaurant that steamed the lobsters outdoors in these large brick cookers. A fun production to watch and we enjoyed the resulting meal. After lunch we did a driving tour of Northeast Harbor and Seal Cove and went into Bar Harbor for some shopping. Lemons to lemonade, a nice day despite bad weather.
The weather was dreary, but somehow with a little change in our plans we had a great visit and, I think, added alot of atmosphere to the resulting photos. What do you think?
Red Road Diaries 
Thanks for this post. We will be in Maine tomorrow eve, Bar Harbor on Wednesday. Have our raingear packed and I am getting ready for gray. foggy pictures (BTW I love the photos you posted). Rain will certainly not prevent dining on lobster
Thank you. Safe travels. Take lots of good photos.
Nice photos–love them. Loved Bar Harbor when we were there many years ago. Had great weather, and ate our weight in steamers, lobsters, and clam chowdah!
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