Up early, but we skipped breakfast since it hadn't been very good the previous day. Instead we got on the road early, this being one of the longest drives of the entire trip, Cape Cod to Bar Harbor. We checked out and made good time up to the bridge out of the Cape. Soon we were on the outskirts of Boston, and we drove up past the exit where we would be staying at Medford in a few days time. We were starting to get hungry, so we stopped at a Friendlys north of Boston central, where we had Lumberjack breakfasts, which are three pancakes, three sausasges and three eggs, with a big spoon of butter which we thought was ice-cream at first!

Once out of the city, we made a detour to see Ipswich, Massachusetts, where we stopped at the town line to take photos of Connor and the signpost. The town itself is typical New England weatherboard and is much nicer than the one where we live! We got back on the I-95 and continued north. We passed briefly into New Hampshire on the road up, and soon we were in Maine by mid afternoon. We stopped at a service area to let the kids have some burgers to eat, and a browse around the shop, before continuing north to Bangor, home of Stephen King novels. I tried to see if I could see the 'Marston House' (from Salems Lot, supposed to be based on a real house in Bangor) but I couldn't and we soon headed south out of the town down the long single carriageway road which leads to Mount Desert Isle, though Ellsworth and across the small isthmus of land which separates the isle from the mainland.

We got to the hotel on Route 3 in late afternoon. It was the Best Western, and was a traditional American cabin style motel right in the middle of the woods between Eden and Hulls Cove. It also represented the best value for money hotel on the entire trip. We got into the spacious room, and the Connor being fully recovered, wanted to go try the outdoor pool, which was right next to the row of rooms. So we got dressed and went for a swim in the pool, which was outdoor and being farther north than Cape Cod, was considerably colder than the previous one!

Later, we started to get hungry, so we went into Bar Harbor town in search of somewhere nice to eat. We got parked right on the main street, and had a nice walk down to the harbourside, which was very picturesque. We found the West Street cafe had tables and we went in to order. It was a lovely meal, even though the kids didn't like their pizzas because they had real tomatoes on them, instead of cheap tomato paste they are used to!

I passed a bank with an ATM, and decided to see if my Maestro card will work in the ATM, which it did, so I got a couple of hundred dollars out. It was getting dark by the time we left the town, and it was a lovely buzzing wee place. We drove back to the hotel, and spent some time swinging on the wooden swings on the front lawn before retiring to bed.

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