Acadia National Park

Today wasn’t about the miles driven in the car, but rather the steps walked in our hiking boots. And it was 20,134 steps (over 8 miles) for me, if anyone besides my Fitbit is counting. We left our little apartment here in Bar Harbor at about 9:30. It was raining pretty hard as we headed to the car. The radar looked like the rain would mostly clear off soon, so we started on our way. We asked Google for directions, and she took us into Acadia National Park by way of a little back road with lots of curves and not much in the way of a shoulder (or even an edge). R.J. was just mentioning that this was the kind of road that would give him nightmares when I started taking pictures of the scenery. I had to chuckle when he complained, “When I say nightmares, you say pictures.” It’s funny because it’s true! It could probably be our slogan.

By the time we got to Acadia and went to the park store for our pass and a couple souvenirs, it was almost 10:30. We picked a trail that was rated easy and started on our way. The trail went around a pond, so we didn’t make very good time the first part of it, as I was stopping to take pictures every few steps. It was all so beautiful! R.J. wasn't as fond of all the stops as I was, because the mosquitoes tended to swarm every time we stopped. He had a point, and I eventually picked up the pace. I did stop occasionally, like when I saw Mrs. Robin just sitting there on her nest, right along the trail! There were a few drips of rain at first, but mostly the whole forest was just covered in raindrops. You have to love it when God bedazzles the world for you before you even set foot out the door! We took a side trail at the end, and on that trail we saw a deer cross the path ahead of us. That was pretty cool! And then a little red squirrel also posed for us. The hike took until about 12:30, and we were really hungry by the time we got done. Good thing we had leftover chicken from last night for our lunch. I love cold chicken. 

After lunch, we headed up to Cadillac Mountain. We had been hot by the time we got done hiking, but it was much colder at the top of the mountain, and the wind was fierce. It also started misting a bit and the fog rolled around the sides of the mountains a bit. It was spectacularly beautiful but also really cold. I made mention that it was “58 and windy, but I’m loving every minute” in a Facebook post. My loving daughter Laura messaged me to say “you’re 58 and windy!” I have been laughing about that one all day long. I walked right into it, and she delivered my words back to me perfectly. This is our family's sense of humor, and I love it. 

Anyway, after some pictures and some rambling around on the rocks, we headed back down. We saw another deer out the car window as we drove along, so R.J. stopped and I snapped a few pictures. Our next destination was Thunder Hole, a place where the waves echo around in the rocks and sound like thunder. It is more pronounced at high tide and we came almost at low tide, but we still heard a rumble or two. Again, the views were amazing. We found a little souvenir shop nearby and did a bit more shopping; then we decided to keep driving and head over to the west part of the Island. It’s a little different over there, with more private residences sprinkled in among the park land. We went to a beach on Echo Lake for a few minutes. Again, it was very windy so not much of a place to stay for long and admire the beauty. Our last stop of the day was Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. We saw it on the map R.J. had purchased as a souvenir and decided to check it out. We went down some steps that took us right up to the lighthouse, and then we walked back up the steps and down to the other end of the parking lot. There was another path and more steps that led to some rocks where you could get a better, more distant view of the lighthouse. It was worth all the steps. That view was really nice.

Five years ago when we came to Acadia, we only had one afternoon to explore. I am so blessed that we were able to return this year to explore it more fully. I am also feeling pretty thankful that we have been on the road a whole week. We have been planning and dreaming about this trip for a long time, and the reality of it has completely outpaced the dream of it.

Tomorrow: Canada!!