Acadia National Park- the national park tour continues!

I was lucky enough to visit Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park 16 years ago on an epic road trip with my parents between my Senior 1 and Senior 2 year of college (I may have taken a little extra time to make it through school) where we took their fifth wheel up the east coast to Maine with multiple stops along the way.  I already had some amazing memories and unforgettable stories about the area but I was eager to go back and see it again.  The funny thing is with a second trip under my belt, I am still eager to go back and see it again!

On my current contract, I had to work one obligatory weekend and then could take one day off the week before and one day off the week after so I took my day off the week before on a Monday and made it into a 3 day weekend.  Now with 3 full days off it made it worth the 4.5 hour drive to get to the park.  I requested the help of my best friend since preschool, Jen, to help with suggestions of things to do since she use to live there and she came up with some awesome recommendations.

First stop on my arrival was the welcome center to purchase a park pass, I opted for the annual national parks pass because I seem to be going to a lot of them and it is really a bargain at $80 for all the beautiful places that it gets you into.  Plus it is so nice to be able to just show the pass and your ID and move on.  Some of the parks even have a separate entrance for pass holders so you can bypass the crowds.  My second stop of the day was to Jordan Pond, one of the recommendations from Jen to try the popovers and jam.  And, of course, I felt the need to throw in a lobster roll to because it was lunch time after all.  Those popovers (and the blueberry lemonade- yum!) were so good that I made a second stop to the restaurant before I left on Monday!  Sitting with a beautiful view of the lake and mountains around me and flowers just outside the window was a memory that will be with me for a long time.  I chose to sit inside because it was the time of year that the bees were extra active and I didn't feel like getting stung was a memory that I needed and the view was still amazing from inside.

View from the deck by the restaurant

Jordan Pond with the Bubbles in the background

After gorging myself on the delicious popovers and lobster roll, I decided I needed a bit of a walk before clambering back into the car.  I walked part of the way around Jordan pond, stopping a taking pictures along the way so I'm not sure it was actually exercise with the frequent stops but I enjoyed it.  I made a stop on Cadillac Mountain as well.  Perhaps one of the most famous points of the park, it is the first place that the sunrise can be seen on the coast of the continental United States.  I made a trip back to the spot on Monday to see the sunrise as well but seeing it in the daytime also gives you a great feeling like you are on top of the world and can feel the expansiveness of the nature around you.

Cadillac Mountain

Dinner that evening was a fried fish sandwich and a beer at the Thirsty Whale in Bar Harbor curtesy of another recommendation from Jen.  I'm normally not a fried fish fan but the batter was so light and didn't distract from the fish at all... it was delicious!

Sunday started with the loop drive and a very foggy start to the day at the beach.  I loved how the fog sat just off the shore making it look like the waves were coming out of the fog.  I walked around a bit taking pictures and just enjoying the morning before moving onto the next stop, Thunder Hole.  I'm not sure that I made it to Thunder Hole at the best time.  It is a cave that makes a loud crashing sound when the waves push the water through the hole with great force.  I stood and watched with many others for a good 10-15 minutes before getting a decent crash of waves then wandered around on nearby rocks that were still a good, safe distances from the strong waves.

Foggy beach

Thunder Hole

Beautiful views

The afternoon brought a drive out to the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse.  It is a fairly famously photographed lighthouse with beautiful rocks leading up to it.  The lighthouse itself is still active and run by the Coastguard so you cannot tour it but you can wander around up to the fences and down onto the rocks to get a better look at it.  One unique thing about this lighthouse over the many others that dot the coastline is that the light is red.

There are so many beautiful vistas on Mount Desert Island that I kept pulling over and taking pictures of water, birds, boats, trees and flowers.  My final destination in the park for the day was to Echo lake for a little hike.  I parked in the parking lot and headed to the trail only to find out later that I parked in the wrong parking lot and picked a little harder hike than I had anticipated but all the stairs and rocks led to an incredible view of the lake below and were well worth it.  Plus all the calories burned made the lobster roll that I indulged in at Upper Deck for dinner that much better!  It had all the makings of an amazing dinner from a view to remember, one of the best lobster rolls I've had so far on my New England adventures, and a salad with a blueberry dressing that actually made me want to eat more salad.  They were really busy and the service was a little slow but with a view like this, who cares!  Take your time 'cause I'm just going to stare out these windows for a little while.

View from the top of my hike

Dinner view at Upper Deck

I arrived back at my hotel just in time for s'mores!  The hotel would light the fire pit every night and provided sticks and little individual packets to make s'mores.  It was such a sweet little touch that I really enjoyed and after a long, busy day, it was so fun to sit in a big adirondack chair by a fire pit and work on my marshmallow roasting skills.

Monday it was up super early for the sunrise on Cadillac Mountain and a final stop at the Jordan Pond House again before having to head back home to reality.