Mount Desert Island Rocks: Day 6

This day was not rainy but quite foggy or low clouds, so when we would drive around the island we could tell what the elevation was by whether we could see ahead of us or not.

We got a few neat photos on Echo Lake:

Mount Desert Island Rocks: Day 5

Here's a few photos of the Fernald Point Carriage House which we found via VRBO. We highly recommend if you are a family of 2, 3, or 4 . .





Today was a rainy day . . we spent some time at the Oceanarium
and we did a very wet guided hike to see beavers active near their lodges at dusk. We also tried a hike up Bubble Rock, but it got way too steep at the top for Douwe's safety. . .disappointing turn around so close to the summit!

We also did a picnic snack in a little spot called Pretty Marsh, I think, on the far west side of the island. . It was very surreal and out of a different era with moss carpet all over and spongy needle paths, so beautiful, even soggy!

Mount Desert Island Rocks: Day 4

Today was a water day . .
Jeff took a kayaking excursion in the am while Douwe and I went to Thunder Hole to see the waves crashing against the rocks.

In the afternoon we rode a lobster boat to learn about lobster fishing and see a bunch of offshore wildlife. Very fun.

Mount Desert Island Rocks: Day 3

Today was our biking day. The park has a bunch of "carriage roads" designated for non-motorized vehicles and pedestrians, so we picked a morning and an afternoon route.
Our morning route took us all around a wetland area and Witch Hole pond. We saw about 6 huge beaver lodges
and about 8 different beaver dams, it was so amazing to see what they build close up. We stopped in one spot to explore some more and could not believe this dam. One huge pond was made by this beaver dam and only a few trickles were getting through to the brook that was about 8 feet below. Unbelievable.

We also found a beautiful rock fall under Duck Brook bridge. These carriage road bridges are something else, and then the trails go under them to brooks and falls and then the leaves of all colors and the light orange pine needles carpeting the paths . .no wonder we kept running into photography club people with their tripods set up. . They were probably annoyed with us playing by this brook when they were trying to set leaves just so and get some good nature photos. . .

We went back into town for lunch . took a takeout pizza to the public dock at Southwest Harbor and Douwe befriended a cat that seemed to be a dock cat.

After a little pit stop at home for regrouping our snack pack and letting Douwe watch some TV, we headed back out to a trail, this time a carriage road that went around Amphitheatre Mountain. . the sun was getting ready to set but we still had some beautiful light. Found a few more brooks. Douwe could not be more excited than just jumping around on rocks and trying to cross these little brooks, it is fun for us, so I can't imagine what he must be feeling in terms of the adventurousness of rock hopping over a stream.

Mount Desert Island Rocks: Day 2

I'm getting into extra detail on place names because if you are reading this you will definitely want to plan a trip sometime to this area . . and either everything around here is picture perfect, or we are just landing on really good spots for our vacation adventures . .seriously this place is unbelievable.

Today we made a list of all the things we want to do this week and set up some tour times and stuff, then decided this would be a good day to do Douwe's choice: a hike in the woods, and Jessica's choice: a hike by a waterfall.

Our morning hike started only a few blocks from our rental house and it went up to the top of Flying Mountain. It had a beautiful view of Somes Sound which is supposed to be the one fjord on the east coast? I think someone said. Douwe met a few other kids at the top and shared snack time with them. . We are seeing a lot of families with younger children so it is fun to see other kids hiking up mountains and enjoying it also.
We had snack time on the bottom of the mountain right on some waterfront rocks and saw lots of lobster bouys in the water.

For lunch we went into town (southwest harbor) and had some great food at Little Notch Bakery and decided to come back in a few days for sure to get some of their pizza after we tried a bite of Douwe's slice.

Our afternoon hike was so gorgeous I can't even believe it. We barely even went that far on the Hadlock Brook Trail, but we made it to Waterfall Bridge and it was beautiful. Douwe was the first to spot a rainbow in the falls and his favorite part of the whole day was climbing up higher than the trail to the top of the waterfall. The danger, the adventure, the spray, the rocks . this is as good as it gets for a four year old. I stayed below on the bridge and just relaxed and watched some people go by.

Then we scurried into Bar Harbor for low tide to check out the sand bar between our Island and Bar Island which turns into a path of dry land during low tide. We didn't make it across to the other island because we got too busy watching seagulls dropping shells onto rocks from above to crack them open, and watching a guy collect a colander full of live mussels? clams? and overturning rocks to find starfish and little creatures. .
Then we went to the harbor waterfront part of the town and walked the path a bit and saw the moon and a cruise ship and boys jumping off boulders and all kinds of exciting things, before finding a place for dinner and then having the most delicious flavor of ice-cream: Indian Pudding at the Mount Desert Ice Cream Shop.

A jam packed day of fun and I just have to add that it is October and the leaves are colorful and the summer congestion is gone, but it was over 75 degrees today. How could you improve on those conditions?

Mount Desert Island Rocks: Day 1

We got an early start out of Ellsworth this morning to get right on that island and start exploring the Acadia National Park. We did the little intro video at the welcome center, bought a good trail and road map, and then went right for the Park Loop Trail and before we knew it we were at the highest point of the island and looking down on Bar Harbor from the peak of Cadillac Mountain. This point is when Douwe decided that this vacation is fun after all as he was thrilled to find that the whole mountain (and pretty much this whole island) is made of rocks and boulders to climb and jump and hike upon. For about an hour he tested his limits of how steep a rock he could climb or how high he could jump down or what trail marker he could find next. He was so excited. The view was beautiful.

Since it was about 85 degrees by mid day, we decided to spend the afternoon on Sand Beach, a lot of other people were there too and a few brave swimmers. THe tide was going out so it was fun to try to build castles and dams to redirect all the rivulets flowing out of the higher sand and down to the sea. Douwe's squat sank lower and lower until he was fully sitting in wet sand puddles and by the end just pouring wet sand on his legs. We should have packed swimsuits but who knew?

Our check in time was 4 and we were eager to see our carriage house, so we drove over to Southwest Harbor to move our stuff in and see the place. Perfect set up for us on a very quiet road, we are so glad to be on this part of the island and this little carriage house is very new, very small and very beautiful. We love it!

Went into Southwest Harbor for dinner time and to get a few groceries. On a whim we tried to find XYZ to see if they were open and they were and they seated us even though we didn't have a reservation! THis was a find and thanks again to our trusty guide book as this restaurant was hidden in the woods down a lane outside of town.

Maine: First full day

We woke up in Portland and bought a couple of New England's best sticky buns at the Standard Baking Company.
We walked along the Eastern Promenade Path for a while and then found the City Marketplace to buy some lunch ingredients for later. . Then headed north and east on Route 1 out of Portland to make our way towards Ellsworth.

We stopped in
1. Rockland for lunch overlooking the waterfront
2. Camden to explore a park and follow a river as it disappeared upstream under buildings and reappeared in other places about a half mile, and crossing various bridges over it.
Found a shop that was selling all ice cream treats for half off on its last day of being open. We also found the underground library which had the nicest children's room I've ever seen in a library, almost too nice, because there were so many fun things to do that books probably don't get noticed. . .

3. Searsport to stretch our legs at a waterfront playground and a game of follow the leader which included about 40 boulders up and down. . .Good prep work for all our rocky hikes in the coming week.

4. pull-off for a view of the bridge over the Penobscot narrows absolutely beautiful

5. old old town of Castine for dinner on the wharf. Jeff was amazed because a book he recently read called THE FORT is set in this town. He saw the fort on the way to the restaurant, and he did not pick that book knowing it was set in a town that we would be near.

It was a leisurely day of driving and eating and exploring and every stop seemed to be the perfect place to experience the coast of Maine. I had my first experience having a full lobster meal. . . .it was very good but the green stuff kind of grossed me out . .I wasn't expecting that part of it. . .

Arriving in Maine

This is going to be a great vacation . . setting in Maine, fall foliage about to peak and the expected temperatures in the 70s!
We landed this afternoon in New Hampshire and set out for Portland, Maine where we will spend our first night.
After we checked in, we found dinner and great draft selection at the Great Lost Bear.
Tried to get a glimpse of the waterfront after that but it was a bit too dark. . .we'll try again tomorrow. ..