Monday, June 13, 2016

Acadia - Day 3

With Day 3 starting with rain, we had a slow start. We hung out at the camper and indulged Finley in her bizarre fixation since arriving - laundry.

In defense of Finley's strange fascination (since we do laundry at home and she's never indicated an interest...), the laundry building is directly across from our campsite - and she's 8, so novelty is the name of the game)




After finishing one load, we decided to finally head out and see what we could do despite the rain.

Thus far we'd kept to the east side of the island, so we determined we'd head over to the west side. We drove to a lobster restaurant we'd heard and read good things about.

Thurston's Lobster Pound did not disappoint. The girls each chose to have a steamer and Melissa and I had lobster rolls. These are the girls' "chosen" lunch specimens, pulled directly from the tank and weighed before steaming.




While we sat waiting for our food, something surprising happened - the sun came out! The weather here seems to change quickly, going from sun to clouds to rain to sun again in quick succession.

The sun lit up Bass Harbor and made it even more picturesque.




Our food was no less exciting than the view!







I must say that while the steamers were excellent (I may have stolen a bite or two while assisting in their disassembly) our lobster rolls were a lot easier to eat.




After finishing our lobster (and some pie, of course - blueberry and strawberry rhubarb) we walked down the shore a bit, taking in the beautiful view and a highly decorated fishing building.













A short drive away, right on the other side of the harbor is the Bass Harbor Lighthouse. The main walkway takes you down to the lighthouse itself, allowing a close up view, which was stunning.




But, after visiting the lighthouse close up, we observed some visitors taking a second, non-advertised path into the woods near the parking area. We followed it, and it up took us down some wooden steps and then stone steps toward the sea. (Here's a view from the bottom of the stairs and steps)




At the bottom of the short climb, it became clear why people were taking this walk.







The path brought us down to the boulders on the shore, giving us the opportunity to climb out and get a different view of the lighthouse.
















As you can see, I took a few. 😀

The girls also enjoyed climbing on the boulders and checking out the life in the tidal waters trapped in some of the crevices.













Finley didn't want to leave the boulders. She was having a blast climbing around and exploring. But, alas, we drug her back up the steps and to the truck, so we could get in a hike before the next band of expected rain arrived. It was already clouding up again.

We drove on to Flying Mountain - a short hike to the summit of a mountain, just inside the edge of Acadia, that overlooks the Somes Sound.

For this hike I strapped the GoPro to Finley's head (and then to Cadence's 7 minutes later when Finley complained it was too heavy), but my Mac doesn't currently have enough memory available to process the footage, so I'll have to publish that hiking video later. Until then, I'll just have to share a few photographs.

The hike up was pretty much straight up and we arrived at the summit and a few overlooks near it in a matter of minutes.










While we were there we took a couple of family shots, using the timer on the Nikon. The first one resulted in me rushing around and falling down, landing seated on Cadence's foot.




For the second one, I didn't fall down, but instead steadied myself by sticking my left leg out, which wasn't great either.




I think I like the picture where I'm on the ground better.

The path continued from the summit and back down the other side of the mountain, bringing us to sea level, with easy access to a small cove on the sound, which we also stopped and explored.











Apparently Cadence, while still wearing the GoPro, spent a lot of time looking at sea snails during our visit to this cove. I'm looking forward to seeing that footage on the GoPro...

While we were in this cove, the rain started to roll back in, so we got back on the trail and finished out the hike on a fire road that led us back to the parking area. The fire road led us through a thick patch of fir and pine trees, which, in the rain especially, smelled heavenly.

With the rain rolling back, we decided on getting some early dinner. A friend from work had recommended a little pizza place called Pepper's, and it was on our drive back to the campground.




They had delicious pizza and bottled soda. Melissa and I enjoyed Blueberry soda, while Finley had Root Beer and Cadence had Black Cherry.

The rain was still threatening, but elusive, so after pizza, we took in some quick mini golf.










After that, it was back to the camper (and our lovely furnace that helped take the chill out of the air) for showers (yes, we have a hot water heater and shower in the camper too - like a hotel suite on wheels) and a movie (uh huh - flat screen tv and DVD player). Everyone was out pretty early.

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Acadia - Day 2

We had big plans for our second full day in Acadia National Park. We wanted to take in a hike and finally put the kayaks in the water.

We started off the day headed into Acadia, traveling around Park Loop Road. Park Loop Road does something all together unexpected - it makes a loop around the park. Go figure.

Fortunately, Park Loop Road is well maintained (I'm guessing it doesn't get salted in the winter) and RT 3 (the main road that goes through Bar Harbor) is a mess - so even though the directions we had to our trail head called for going on RT 3, we opted to take in the sights on the slower speed Park Loop.

After several miles of driving, and questioning if we'd missed our parking area and trail head, we finally found our starting point. We were headed up Gorham Mountain - approximately 500 feet up promising beautiful views.















The path up the mountain was pretty smooth at first, and we even got the chance to stop and use the timer on the Nikon to take a family picture.








Then there was a fork in the road. We could continue our climb steadily, or we could take the path along the cliffs. Everyone but Melissa wanted the cliffs. The cliffs it was.

Despite her instinctive urge to turn around at every step, Melissa did great going up some of the steep parts of the trail.



















The girls also proved themselves good climbers.


















Especially Cadence, who wanted to look for even more challenging ways up the mountain. She may become a daredevil - the term "base jumping" came up in conversation... Here she is climbing ahead of us.









It was a fun hike up, with an interesting path.


































We finally made it to the top, and enjoyed the beautiful views from the summit.

















The pictures really don't do it justice. Even the panoramic.









The girls even sat and had a rest.









We descended on the other side of the mountain, and could see people climbing the "Bee Hive" trail.









When we got down farther we came to the fork in the path that takes you to the Bee Hive. At first Cadence was willing to
consider hiking it with me. But then, after watching a little while (while we had a snack) she changed her mind.

























We came off the mountain right across from Sand Beach - a rare Maine beach with natural sand. We walked down and enjoyed the view of the water from a different (less ascended) angle.
































We even had a little fun in the sand.









These 2 guys braved the water while we were there - but with air temps hovering around 60, we passed. (They didn't stay in long...)









While I like most of the pictures I took today (especially after playing with them a bit in Lightroom), this is one of my favorites. I can't decide if I like the color or black and white, so here are both versions.

















After the stop on the beach, we still had to hike back down the coast to our truck, which was about another mile. Not everyone was enthusiastic about having to walk some more.








We eventually made it back, and I got few more shots along the way, including this one.







Thunder Hole was on the way back as well. While the tide wasn't high enough for it to book as advertised, we still stopped and checked it out. Maybe we'll come back to see it again before we leave.

Once we were back to truck, we planned to have sandwiches for lunch. We'd packed a cooler with supplies. Well, I'd packed a cooler, which meant I'd forgotten bread and condiments. So, lunch consisted of meat and cheese. Low carb and gluten free! (I've since been relived of lunch packing duties, so my plans are working out perfectly!)

With rain in the forecast, we decided to forgo the kayaks for another day, and instead drove up to the summit of Cadillac Mountain. The views were spectacular, there was a bit of haze and while chilly, you could feel the rain coming.

















After that, we came back the campground and crashed for a bit. Just about everyone napped. Then followed Skyline for dinner (out of a can - no Skylines in these parts!) and ice cream for dessert. There's a place we can bike to.

















Tomorrow we expect rain. So, first thing we're going to let Finley do something she's been begging to do since we got here - LAUNDRY! (Believe it or not - she has been begging to point of extreme irritation)