Bar Harbor Panoramic Oceanfront for Your Whole Family! Kids and Dogs Love It!

Thank you, Linda, for your kind review. It's a challenge to make sure, week after week, that each arriving family finds our home set up *exactly* as it should be. To accomplish this, we use one of the simplest but most effective management tools -- computerized checklists. Tina has her checklist as a way of making sure that she and her staff have thoroughly cleaned *everything* that might need cleaning. So it's helpful to me when guests like you note "cleanliness" in your review. Jen has her own checklist to make sure that she's placed enough of every supply, room by room, that our guests might want -- cooking and baking ingredients and equipment (including properly sharpened knives); herbs, spices, olive oils and vinegars, salts and peppers, and more; paper towels, tissues, toilet paper, laundry and dishwasher supplies; extra towels, blankets and beach towels; water and beds for the dogs; propane for the grill... and much more. So though it may seem a mundane aspect of one's vacation, I very much appreciate guests' mentioning that they found "everything we needed". Tina, Jen and I work hard to make sure that happens, and comments like yours are a valuable reinforcement that I show to Tina and Jen so they know their work in preparing our home for your vacation is not taken for granted. Thank you, Linda, to you and your family for being wonderful guests. Ned and Nick

We're pleased to hear that your dogs enjoyed their water! We scrub the water bowl and fill it with fresh well-water just before our guest-dogs' arrival. I (Ned) once was so busy upon arrival in lugging everything into the house that I totally forgot to give our dogs water... so ever since, we've made certain that our guest-dogs are greeted with a clean bowl of fresh water in the kitchen. Also, after what might be a stressful trip for the dogs, and coming into an unfamiliar house, I think that having a dog bed on which to relax will be welcomed by some of our dog friends. Thank you, Danielle, for your kind comments.

Dear Jenn, I wish I had known that some of your older guests were having a problem with the path to the ocean. I would have arranged for them to take a longer, but easier, path. At any rate, I appreciate that everybody in your extended family were wonderful guests, and hope you'll be able to return next year.

The same topography that creates such panoramic views of the ocean from every room in the house does make one short stretch of our path down to the ocean steep. However, if this poses a problem for anyone in your group, let me know and I'll do what I did for Madeline -- arrange for you to take an alternate, slightly longer but flat route across the lawn of our adjacent home. Whichever route you take, you'll find our oceanfront to be quite spectacular ... equal to the most beautiful shorefront in Acadia National Park!

It seems that our housekeeper in showing our guests around Rising Sun upon their arrival may have neglected two important points that are not obvious unless shown: *For any guests who forget to bring their own, we have an ample supply of shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, eye shades, slippers, and more. These are centrally located for those who need them, and normally Tina shows these to the arriving guests. *As for reading in bed, each bedroom has overhead lighting that can be adjusted for reading via a dimmer slider in the light switch; this lighting complements the reading lamp next to the bed. Again, this feature needs to be pointed out to the arriving guest, who otherwise may not be aware of this dimmer feature. As for guests with mobility issues, the house does have three floors, and though the Ground Floor can be accessed directly (without steps) from the parking area, the normally used entrance to the First Floor requires use of steps. These steps are significantly wider and deeper (by a foot) than normal steps, which makes them much easier and safer to navigate than narrower steps (with or without railings.) Prospective guests with mobility issues should assess our photos in considering whether they might find the steps needed to directly access the First Floor (rather than the Ground Floor) to be excessive. I regret that Kristina did not make me aware of her concerns while she was there, because most likely they could have been easily ameliorated.