27 September 2023 - We woke up in Maine on Wednesday morning and headed straight for the park. We weren't able to get tickets to Cadillac Mountain for sunrise (which would have been really cool to be the first* people in the US to see the sunrise, but also we didn't have to wake up and leave our hotel at 5 am either!) (*actually Cadillac Mountain only holds this honor between October and March). But we did get morning tickets, so we drove up at a more reasonable 8:30 am. And guess what? It was still spectacular! I think it would be spectacular any time of day (except maybe after dark like the first time I went up there six years ago).
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| A little hazy today. (Spoiler alert: it's smoke from the fires in Alberta! And it gets worse! :( |
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| Porcupine Islands. (I spy a cruise ship down there at Bar Harbor.) |
After Cadillac Mountain, we backtracked to the visitor center to pick up one more Jr. Ranger booklet (since the campground only had one yesterday and the visitor center didn't open till 9 today). We got our stamp in our passport, too, while Gregg went into Bar Harbor to get gas.
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| I just had to think of the picture book Miss Rumphius when I read this sign. It's about a lady who goes around making the world a little more beautiful by spreading lupine seeds all over Maine. (insert cringing emoji here) |
Our next stop was Sand Beach, the first spot you come to on the Park Loop Road after the entrance station. We didn't know the trick to park on the side of the road before the parking lot, since the parking lot was full and the road is only one way, so Gregg dropped us off and drove another half mile down the road before he found an open spot. Busy morning! But we brought snacks and swim suits and the kids played in the frigid water and we sat in the sand and just soaked up the sun and the beauty for nearly three hours. I tell you, that is the life! Just sitting in a National Park and not feeling rushed at all. The kids found piles of shells (SO many cool and colorful sand dollars!) and crazy cool seaweed. It was the best.
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| As far in as my toes went. Brrr! |
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| This is Sam making a sand angel. (Oh to be 8-years-old!) |
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| Ta da! |
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| Sand dollar seeker - she was a pro! |
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| Nerds on the beach, trying to keep the sun out of our eyes while we lay in the sand on a log. |
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| The dunes and the mountains right behind us were so lovely. |
After the loveliness of Sand Beach we made our way along Ocean Path to our car parked up the road. There are lots of great spots to peek out above the trees and see the views. We loved listening to Thunder Hole at low tide (everyone and the signs say to go at high tide, but we went at high tide the next day and it was much lamer than today when the tide was out).
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| Luckily you only go up through this hole if you want to, which the 10 and unders surely did. |
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| Made it to the top! (And I spy Sand Beach way down there!) |
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| Back down we go. They loved the rungs and ladders and wanted more. Next time maybe we'll try Precipice Trail. |
The tide was still low when we got to Otter Point, so we hopped out of the car and went exploring. I'm so glad we did this again, since this time we found the motherload of crabs! We were spotting them left and right!
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| Check out that beaut! |
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| Cal and some crabs. I think she took pics of every crab we spotted, so hang on tight. |
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| I don't know why this water is orange, but wow! some colors! |
We brought a couple of bikes (Sam's and mine) so we could try biking on the carriage roads near Eagle Lake. (Cal was not into the biking thing, so she and Gregg walked around on the roads by the lake while Sam and I rode for about an hour.) It was beautiful! It reminded us a lot of the rail trails in Vermont that we love, though I think these were a bit hillier. And the bridges are amazing! No cars are allowed, so it was a lovely stress free ride.
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| I spy Eagle Lake. |
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| There's Cadillac Mountain, where we were this morning. |
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| Cal and the Bubbles (well, one of them - they're mountains near Eagle Lake). |
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| Back on the bike ride: this is what Sam and I were seeing. |
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| We met up with Gregg and Cal on the road on our way back, but I kept going on past the parking lot a bit to get some glimpses of that side of the lake. This way had more lake views and more fall colors, so I'm glad I checked it out. |
For dinner, we tried another Lobster Pound on the road toward our hotel. This time we knew we just wanted fish and chips and chowda, so we ordered two of each and split them between the four of us. Yummo! What a dinner! This chowder was thinner/brothier and herbier, but it was super yummy. And the haddock dinner was delish! It was just what we needed after a full day of adventure in Acadia.
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