Maine - Bar Harbor / Acadia - 09/14/2015

The second day was the first and only full day we had to explore the gorgeous Acadia National Park! After the warm up hike we had yesterday, we planned for longer hikes in the morning and the afternoon. But before that, a nice breakfast is something desperately needed to give us the energy for the exciting day ahead of us!!

Food - Breakfast
There were two more breakfast spots we wanted to sample for the two mornings left on our trip. We picked the closer one - Jordan's Restaurant to try first. It was a diner like set up with a open kitchen. The place was packed but the turn around was fast enough so that we were seated within 5 min. Our seats were these narrow old fashioned booth table. It wasn't the most comfortable but it was cozy. The first thing that caught my attention was the efficiency of the staff.  It seemed chaotic with all the staff going around everywhere but everything seemed to work out well. We had our water, coffee, and even food in front of us in less than 10 min from the time we sat down!! That itself deserves a 1 star by itself.

The coffee was too weak like most of the other places but the food made up for it. As the pattern goes, I ordered their blueberry pancakes. They were fluffy, moist, and flavorful! Without a doubt, they were the winner in my books out of all 4 places were tried. A solid 4 out of 5 stars if not 4.5 stars. Only bummer was that they charge for the maple syrup but the overall price was reasonable that the checked turned out to be about the same as other places if not less.

Hiking - AM

Ocean Path map

As a side note to start with - I think one strategy to find out the must see sites when you travel is to see which places are made into souvenirs in the gift shops. Even though we mostly mapped out our game plan, it was reassuring that we were on the right track. Jordan pound and Cadillac Mountain are the places that we can't miss. For this day, we planned to walk the Ocean Path and loop around Jordan pound.

Before hitting the sites, we decided to stop by the visitor center to see what's there. It turned out to be a very good idea. Like most visitor centers at national parks, the Hulls Cove visitor center had a good size model of the park with the famous sites mapped out and had a short 15 min film introducing the park which we didn't see. Instead, what turned out to be very useful is that we were able to purchase the park pass and get some very helpful information from the park ranger before the crowd came out of the film session. And of course, pick up a map of the park.

Ocean Path

We noticed that there are free shuttle buses that run throughout the park but didn't plan to use it since we were driving. What we didn't think about is that not all trails go in loops and we would need to use extra time to double back on some trails. The perfect solution was to park further down the one way park route, hike back up the road, and take the shuttle down to our parking spot. It made perfect sense and it was exactly what we did for the Ocean Path walk. The other piece of advice was to hike up to the the South Bubble while we were in the Jordan Pound area. We didn't think we had enough time but we did and it was worth the while! The third piece of advice was to make a reservation at the Jordan Pound House restaurant beforehand which turned out to the absolutely necessary. All these advises turned out to be great suggestions that saved us a lot of time and allowed us to hit all the sites.

Thunder Hole observation deck

Taking the advice, we headed towards the parking lot at Otter Point which was at the south end of the Ocean Path (link1, link2) and easily found a parking spot. The weather turned out to be quite nice. And a walk along the coast was a perfect way to start a day like this. The trail was flat and ran along the coast. It was a great warm up walk for rest of the day that also was had great views of the ocean. Two of the attractions on the path are Thunder Hole and Sand Beach. Thunder Hole - you got to love it if not for its name! We made thunder and hole jokes for the next 2 days. It was basically a cave on the side of the cliff and as waves rush in and out of it a thunderous sound occurs! As we finished the Ocean Path at Sand Beach we were lucky to catch the bus coming in and hopped on it that led us back to our car.

One thing that we didn't get to experience was laying on the soft Sand Beach watching the starry night blink at us without the interruption of the city lights. And this is a the guided tour by the park service. Maybe next time!!

----------------------- TBC -----------------------
Food - Lunch
Jordan Pound House restaurant (link1, link2)
Hiking - PM
South Bubble / Jordan Pound (link1, link2)

Food - Dinner
Bar Harbor Popcorn / Bar Harbor Beerworks / Mount Desert Island Ice Cream /

Maine - Bar Harbor / Acadia - 09/13/2015

Introduction
Fall is indeed a great if not the best season to visit Maine. The weather was a bit cooler than we like (in the 50s, 60s F) and started overcast with sprinkles of rain throughout. The leaves are hinting at the turn of colors but still display in lush green. Oh well. we're on vacation; everything is going to be OK :)

Accomodation
By the recommendation of our local friend (Heather*) we stayed at The Central House. It was a quaint bed and breakfast/hotel. It was definitely an old house with a lot of charm and conveniently located on Cottage Street, which was a short 5 min walk to Main Street (where most of the the shops and restaurants are) and probably 10 min walk to the waterfront. Due to a last minute trip extension, we stayed in 2 different rooms for a total of 4 nights - Rm 203 & Rm 201. They basically have the same room setup - "Queen bed, private bath with shower". However, the layout of Rm 201 is better than Rm 203 so it made Rm 201 feel more spacious. Rm 201 is also a corner room so the additional windows definitely was a plus for the extra natural light. The TVs didn't work even though they had cable available which the the inn keeper mentioned could be fixed upon request. But who goes all the way out to a beautiful picturesque town and magnificent national park to complain about cable TV? Worth mentioning is that the wireless internet worked pretty good (ie. streaming Netflix) for most of the time.

Food- Breakfast/Brunch
Just to back track a day to Saturday Sept 12, we had an early breakfast at 7am to kick start the busy day ahead of us. We picked out the most obvious brunch/breakfast spot that had gluten free pancakes option which was Jeannie’s Great Maine Breakfast. As a side note, Bar Harbor is full of breakfast/brunch spots throughout the town and most of them seem to serve it 7 days a week. Back to breakfast. I thought we got there early (it is by New York weekend standard) enough to have the place for ourselves. On the contrary, the place was packed already and we were lucky to grab the last open table. I ordered the regular (non-gluten free) blueberry pancakes. They were fluffy, moist, and with a good amount of blueberries in it. I would give it a solid 3.5 out of 5 stars. Of course, my 5 out of 5 pancakes are the ones from Clinton Street Bakery in LES, NYC. All in all, Jeannie's was probably my second favorite spot out of the 4 we tried.

Fast forward to Sept 13 Sunday, it was Sunday after the wedding we attended on Saturday. We planned to have a big brunch with friends that we here for the wedding as well which included 12 adults and 1 toddler. Foolishly, I assumed that we could get a table (or even two) within 15-20 min at Jeannie's at 10:30am. Of course, it was like hunger games already like at any trendy brunch place in New York City. So we had to quickly improvise and find another spot before we turn into hangry zombies. Fortunately, we landed at Testa’s Restaurant. We were able to split up into 3 groups and be seated without any wait. Again, I order a short stack of blueberry pancakes. Unlike Jeannie's, Testa's pancakes we are crepe like - thinner and chewier. Not that they weren't good but just different. They would land at a 2.5 - 3 out of 5 stars in my book.

Hiking
Somehow it felt easier to plan to the hiking trips after we arrived in Bar Harbor. I mostly read recommendations from these 2 sites. They were very helpful - acadiamagic & JOE'S GUIDE TO ACADIA NATIONAL PARK. Even though my wife and I are both in pretty good physical condition, we haven't really hiked in a while. So we decided to go for the easier trails so on one hand we won't break our backs and on the other hand we can see all the "must see" sights.

For Sunday, since we had less than half day left in the afternoon we decided to stay local in town and go on the trails within walking distance. So we ended up trekking on the Bar Island trail (link1, link2). Luckily the timing worked out for us just right as well. The most interesting part of the Bar Island trail is that you walk to Bar Island through a sand bar that is only available about 2.5 hrs before and after the high tide (most guides recommend you plan the trip 1.5 hrs before/after). The sand bar is otherwise under water for rest of the day. In other words, unless you bring a kayak, you'll be stuck on the island if don't come back in time!

After reaching the island, it was a fairly easy ascend to reach the end of the trail where you have a high vantage point with a clear view of the cute Bar Harbor "downtown". You can also see some of the mansions along the coast on the right hand side. Another short side trail (as mentioned in acadiamagic- "Left at Fork" section ) leads you to capture another shot of Bar Harbor from a different angle. I think it had an even better view than the "official" trail.







After dinner, we took a walk along the Bar Harbor shore path. It was a flat paved path along the shore. We passed by many stunning historic estates and had a view of the surrounding "porcupine islands". It was a perfect short distance accompanied with a good number of information display boards to give you some background of the history of the town, the geographic composition of the foundation rocks, and the ecological environment of the marine life. It was a perfect way to end the day as dusk settled in as we finished our walk.

Food - Dinner
Not to digress on the timeline and contradict with the title of the section but I'll just rewind back to Sept 12 Saturday lunch. We joined our friends Dylan and Dora for lunch at Stewman’s Lobster Pound. The place was by the water and had a spectacular view of the bay. The seats were on an extended deck so you could have very nice view from almost any table. I ordered a lobster roll and a blueberry ale. Both of them were good. The lobster roll wasn't cheap (~$22 I think) but the portion was generous. There was definitely more lobster than roll. And the ale even had blueberries in it!! Overall, it was a good lunch albeit touristy (like most restaurants there). I would absolutely recommend it.

Back to dinner. Most of the American lobsters meals offer steamed lobster with a side of golden melted butter. This is something I love but it's predictable. It all relies on the freshness and quality of the lobster. I wanted to try something different. So based on the recommendation of my colleague, we decided to give the Chinese style (this one was more Hongkongese style) lobster a try at the only Chinese restaurant in town - China Joy. We had the ginger and scallion style lobster, scallion with beef (蔥爆牛), and salty soybean with string beans (鼓汁四季豆). I was not disappointed. Of course, it wasn't the best Chinese food I've had. But it definitely hit the spot and it was as authentic as you could get in Maine. The lobster was very flavorful and went well with rice (下飯). The same went for the other 2 dishes. To my surprise, we annihilated all 3 dishes. It wasn't a cheap Chinese meal but was well worth it (for what I was craving). [To note] By rule, they also served traditional American Chinese food (Orange sauce with any type of meat or sauteed American vegis with/without any type of meat etc.).

No vacation dinner is complete without sampling the local ice cream shops. There were more than a hand full of ice cream parlors in the small town of Bar Harbor. We stopped by CJ’s Big Dipper which happened to be located by one of the entrances to the shore path (where we were headed towards). They had a good 20+ flavors to choose from. I choose the blueberry cream flavor. You could see and taste the floral blueberry and you could tell that it was fresh. I could sense the crunch of the sugar but that didn't stop me from enjoying it (as you could see from the picture)! It earned a solid 4 out of 5 stars.

Choza Taqueria

This is probably the best taco joint we've been to in New York so far. The corn tortillas were fresh and sweet. Each filling had their own unique taste from their distinct combination of meat and other ingredients. We mix and matched 3 different fillings and all of the were great! I also forgot to mention the horchata was an excellent complement to the spicy tacos.

Our ranking of the flavors go as below:
Barbacoa: This was their special made from  lamb shoulder
Choriza: Mexican pork sausage seasoned with spices & chiles, topped with queso fresco & Valentina’s.

Choza Taqueria
Yelp

Din Tai Fung Dumpling House - 鼎泰豐

Official website

Taipei 101 85th FL Restaurant - 隨意鳥地方85樓景觀餐廳

Taipei 101 is the tallest building in Taiwan and once the tallest building in the world. We had a first meal at the restaurant with the best view in Taipei. On the 85th floor, it has a panoramic view of Taipei from north of south. It is suppose to serve "authentic Italian" food. However, it really serves "authentic Taiwanese Italian" food at best. In any case, most people dine there for the ambiance and most definitely for the view. The first thing all patrons do is to walk straight to the windows and enjoy the view even before sitting down. And of course, take a few pictures of the spectacular view.

Restaurant website
A nice blog in Chinese about it

Village 44 (Xingyi Assembly Hall) - 四四南村

 As Taipei rushes to become a modernized city, many old parts of the city are torn down and are replaced by new and shiny office buildings or shopping malls. As the old part of the city is removed, some of the history is lost along the way. These "Nationalist relocation villages" are part of this disappearing history that will only exist in memory.

Original village

The Village 44 preservation is a great project that keeps part of this history alive and gives people an idea of what it was like.


Too bad it was closed the day we visited it. Nice blog with photos

English travel website introduction
Of course, the Chinese wiki site

Estela

It took me a minute to locate the restaurant. The restaurant entrance is hidden up a flight of stairs on the "first floor" level (in terms of brownstones). The layout of the place was long and narrow with an isle down the middle. The bar was jam packed already at 7:40pm on a Thursday evening and the all the tables were reserved already. We just grabbed the first 2 bar seats that opened up.





I ordered a citricy egg-white cocktail - Governer's fizz and N had a Sherry. A deviation from the regular beer or red wine we usually order maybe because the restaurant had a yuppie feel to it. I wasn't wow'ed by the drinks but it was a interesting solid choice.


Overall rating was 6 / 10

New York Times Review

New York Mag