COA & Shopping in Bar Harbor

I woke up to this stunning view on our second day in Bar Harbor, I never wanted to leave that beautiful place! We had breakfast in the reading room, with peaceful views of the bay.

In the morning, we took a tour of the College of the Atlantic. College of the Atlantic (COA) is a private, liberal-arts college in Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island, Maine, United States. Founded in 1969, it awards bachelors and masters (M.Phil.) degrees solely in the field of human ecology, an interdisciplinary approach to learning. Focus areas include arts and design, environmental sciences, humanities, international studies, sustainable food systems, and socially responsible business.

The college is small, with approximately 364 students and a full-time faculty of 35, and 15 part-time faculty. Tenets of the pedagogy include field-based or applied learning; small, seminar-style classes; student-directed projects; community involvement; and interdisciplinary learning. It was the first college to be carbon neutral and one of the first to divest fossil fuel holdings from its endowment. The college appears on most of the top "green school" lists. Tuition for this one-of-a-kind college is $55,000 a year.

The campus consists of 37 acres on Frenchman Bay, two organic farms, two off-shore island research stations, and a 100-acre protected area. The farms, Beech Hill Farm and Peggy Rockefeller Farms, are living laboratories for classes and student research. Peggy Rockefeller Farms includes livestock, crops, orchards. Beech Hill Farm provides produce. Both supply the dining hall with organic produce, eggs, and meat. The off-shore island properties include the Alice Eno Field Research Station on Great Duck Island where students conduct studies on Leach's storm petrels, guillemots, gulls, sparrows and other fields of natural history. The Edward McCormick Blair Research station on Mount Desert Rock is a center for the study of marine mammals and oceanographic issues.

We got to tour through an exhibit of taxidermy animals the students had created. Such a fascinating skill to learn while attending college! 

We also had a chance to learn about their tide pool and the creatures they had collected to study.

In the afternoon, we strolled up and down the Main Street of Bar Harbor and had so much fun exploring all the fun shops and little eateries.

Bar Harbor is such a picturesque little town

A few silly items that gave me a good giggle, mainly because I could relate to them so well ...

I loved this idea, and I feel like it embodies why I started my business, it's what I love, so I wanted it to be what I do.

We had heard about this lobster ice cream, and we had to confirm that it was really a thing. Once again, Maine has taken the whole lobster thing too far! I usually am willing to try anything that is unique to a place, but I drew the line at lobster ice cream.

I did however, load up on plenty of blueberry goodies!

We had a successful day of shopping!

For dinner that night, we ate at Mckay's Public House, which was recommended by our tour guide and was a short walk from our hotel.

I ordered the pork chop which was glazed with the  chef’s chipotle blueberry bbq and fried leeks accompanied with smoked cheddar mac & cheese and vegetables. It was everything I wanted it to be. 

For dessert, we all shared a warm serving of sticky toffee, pudding. This rich and decadent dessert has been a favorite between me and my parents ever since we discovered it on our trip to England, Scotland and Wales a few years ago. Whenever we see it on a menu, we have to order it and analyze how it compares to the others we have had. This one got a pretty high score.