Acadia

Today we saw Acadia National Park by land and by sea.  We also saw lots of fog, and a bit of rain.  I've loaded a bunch of pictures into the slide show.

We all woke up very early:  5:33 a.m. for Jeff, shortly followed by me, and Henry at 6:45.  Painful.  The weather is great - cool and breezy, but we just didn't have a good night's sleep.

But getting up early had its advantages, which included getting ready without having to push and prod the kids to get moving.  They had time to get moving.

We were on the 8:05 a.m. bus to Bar Harbor to catch our bus tour of Acadia.  We got there in time to grab bagels and sit down to watch the bay before we had to get on the bus.  The bus tour was 2.5 hours, and perfect for a family who didn't want to lug their RV through the park.  We knew it meant we wouldn't be able to stop whenever we wanted and would limit our stops, but it was worth it for the history of bar Harbor and Acadia and bits of information we picked up along the way. 

After the rain went out to sea, the fog came in.  The fog blocked in Cadillac Mountain, but we still managed to get a good view of Bar Harbor halfway up the mountain.  The tour guide was excellent.

The kids loved Thunder Hole, which thankfully wasn't too thunderous today at low tide.  It was still amazing to watch the water come in and go out.  Henry wanted to climb all the rocks, but knowing that would lead to certain disaster, we kept him to a safe area.  We picked up some souvenirs at Jordan Pond, and I pored over the menu there, which includes popovers and a variety of soups.  They also have afternoon tea.

I forgot to note in earlier posts how many Newfoundland dogs we've seen so far on this trip.  I think my count is at six.  Yesterday, a family brought their Newfoundland onto the bus to go to Bar Harbor. Today, we saw tons of Portugese Water Dogs, like the one the First Family has.  It might be the way some are groomed, but I liked the ones I saw today at Thunder Hole better than Bo - no offense to the First Dog - after all, he doesn't groom himself.

With our bus tour over, we were starving.  We found a pizzeria and had lunch.

We had little time to spare before our lighthouse boat tour.  The rain had ended and the sun was out, but as soon as we got on the boat, we go two bits of not-so-good news.  First, we noticed that we were on one of the whale watching catamarans instead of the smaller boat we were supposed to be on.  The captain said that it was because there were some big waves on the water, so the bigger boat would be better.  Ruth's eyes nearly popped out of her head.  And then they told us there was some fog out there, so we probably wouldn't get to see the five lighthouses we should have, but the captain would do his best.  They offered a rain check to anyone who wanted to get off the boat, but we stuck it out. 

It did get pretty foggy, and we only saw three lighthouses.  But the captain, trying to make it up to us, coasted alongside of Acadia for a good bit so we saw Thunder Hold and the Sand Beach from the water, along with other Acadia coastline.  He also took us to Egg Island, where we not only saw a lighthouse, but some seals and bald eagles as well.  Henry got complimented by the guide when he found the eagles the captain was referring to, and he was so proud.

We did run into some rough seas, and I agreed with the comparison of the guide who said it was like being on a rollercoaster.  It wasn't as bad as the whale watching boat ride, but at times I felt like we were flying over hills.  Toward the end, Jeff got hit pretty hard with seasickness and went off to the side of the boat by himself.  Mental toughness won out, and he didn't throw up.  But he wanted to...

Needless to say, between the fog and the waves, there won't be any more boat tours in our future here at Bar Harbor.

We made our way to Testa's for dinner.  It's run by a family who live in Bar Harbor in the summer and run their other restaurant in Palm Beach, Florida.  Then we walked around Bar Harbor for a bit and then made our way home on the bus. 

Ruth and I walked along the campground beach and watched the sunset, and accidentally got stranded on a sandbar when the tide came in.  I could hop rocks most of the way, but Ruth's legs aren't as long, so she had to go in the water.  She took off her socks and went through in her sneakers.  She loved it, and also loved telling Henry all about it.