Acadia, Part Two: Hot and Crowded

Tonight's Campfire

I'm writing from the dry comfort of our RV, while outside the rain is falling.  Can't beat it when it's sunny all day and then rains at night, although I was enjoying the fire until the rain started falling.

Today we decided to take the bus to Acadia and check out some of the places we didn't stop yesterday.  Apparently, so did everyone else in the Bar Harbor area.  We should have taken it as a bad sign when we saw the huge cruise ship in the harbor on the way to our first stop at Sand Beach.  Shortly after we saw the cruise ship, the traffic started.  Cars everywhere.  A cop directing traffic.  The bus was 10 minutes behind schedule because of a traffic jam. Where did all these people come from????

I remember looking at Sand Beach from Thunder Hole yesterday.  It was practically empty.  Today, it was like Seaside Heights Beach in New Jersey on an August weekend - packed.  There were people everywhere.  Even in the water, despite the water temperature being around 55 degrees!  Jeff and I decided they were probably all Canadians who thought 55 was balmy.

The kids and I took our shoes off and walked along the shoreline.  The water was cold, but refreshing because it was pretty warm out.  Jeff got caught by an unexpected wave and got his sneakers soaked.  The bus was due in 30 minutes, so we didn't stay long.  If it wasn't so crowded, we might have hung out longer, but this wasn't our idea of time well spent in a national park.

The tide was high, so I'm sure Thunder Hole was pretty active, but we skipped that stop because of the crowds and headed toward Jordan Pond.  There was no fog today, and we noted that today would have been a better day for both the bus tour and the boat tour of the area.  But what can you do...

We saw hikers at the top of Champlain Mountain and people rappelling down other mountains.  The waves were crashing upon the granite coast and the sky was clear blue and it was gorgeous.  We just couldn't stop anywhere to enjoy it.

Our next stop was Jordan Pond.  We were hungry, and there's a restaurant there that is famous for its popovers.  I wasn't sure what the kids would eat there, but to be honest, I didn't really care.  Popovers!

Even though there were people everywhere, the wait was only 20 minutes for first available, indoors or out.  Most people wanted outside, but we didn't care.  We got a great table inside with a view of the lake, which was great.

I ordered the lobster salad, keeping with my all lobster, all the time mantra.  Jeff ordered a panini sandwich, as did Henry.  Ruth, what a shocker - went for macaroni and cheese.  Jeff ordered strawberry lemonade and Ruth ordered raspberry lemonade - fresh squeezed.  When the drinks came, the lemonades came with little cups of simple syrup to sweeten the drink to your liking.  Nice touch.  I used some for my iced tea.

And then the popovers came.  Henry's eyes went huge.  I had told them what popovers were to get them excited for the restaurant.  They were not disappointed.  We only wish there were more of them.  I might have to look for a recipe when I get home...

We capped off lunch with ice cream for the kids and a wild Maine blueberry crisp with ice cream for Jeff and I to split.  It was delicious.

Bellies full, we got back on the bus and decided that we had enough with the crowds and were going home.  We saw Bubble Rock from the bus, and ditched the idea of getting out to hike up to see it.  Too hot and too many people.  And lunch had made us sleepy.

We rode back to the Visitor Center and picked up the bus back to the campground.  We got back around 3:00 p.m.  The kids and I went down to the beach to explore and Jeff got on his computer and did some work.  Gotta pay for the trip somehow...

We found snails and some glass that wasn't quite seaglass, and met up with a family that had found starfish and some crabs.  The kids enjoyed seeing them in the tidepool. It was a nice, quiet ending to a bit of a hectic, crowded day.