Boston Day 3

We got to sleep in a little because our first adventure was a boat ride. We finished breakfast just before 9 o'clock and then drove down to the harbor. Dad had not seen any deer, but suddenly one jumped right in front of the car! Dad narrowly missed it, but only by squealing the brakes. We were glad we were only doing 35 mph when that black-tail tried to hit us! 

We lucked out on parking, but were unlucky when it came to Dad remembering his jacket. He forgot it in Utah, actually. Dad set off to buy a sweatshirt as everyone else scrambled on the boat. Dad was last up the gangplank in his warm new shirt as the boat left the dock.

The boat ride was a three-hour tour to see three lighthouses and a lot of birds. Most people, including us were trying to see puffins. At our first stop, there were no puffins, but there were seals lying on the beach at the foot of Egg Rock Lighthouse. We also saw black-backed gulls, black guillemots, and eiders. We spent awhile watching the seals in the surf and then headed off to the next lighthouse.

Do you like Dad's new sweatshirt?

Looking back at Acadia.

We are excited to see some marine life.

The first lighthouse.

There were seals everywhere.

Mark, what is the name of this bird again?

We loved seeing the seals playing.

So many seals hanging out at this spot.

This second lighthouse was called Petit Manan, and there were people living there and doing research. Our large passenger boat pulled fairly close to shore and two researchers rowed a small boat out. Then the crew dropped some toilet paper off to them. That was exciting, but best of all were the puffins. They looked just like the pictures and we saw them flying as well as swimming right up close to the boat. There were a lot of other birds, too, and we saw terns plucking fish right out of the water. This was the highlight of the ride, and we spent most of our time oohing and aahing at these clown-like birds.

Our second lighthouse.

We had a great time on the boat.

So happy because we spotted puffins.

Puffins!

It wasn't the best lighting, but they are the funniest little birds.

They really are little, too!

Mom took way too many pictures!

They kept getting closer to the boat.

We loved the puffins!

Another bird for Mark to identify!

Best shot of the day!

They were nesting on these rocks.

There was a third lighthouse called Winter Harbor Lighthouse. It is a popular place for authors to retreat and write books. We saw eagles and ospreys nesting near this lighthouse. There was also a natural sea arch on one of the cliffs that was pretty cool.

This was the third lighthouse that looked more like a house.

Bald Eagles

Bald eagle babies.

A cool hidden cave.

We had blueberry pie afterward and it was super yummy!

After the cruise, we went back to the motel for lunch. Then we made a brief stop at the Visitor Center to pick up the boys Junior Ranger badges. Our next hike was called Lower Hadlock Pond. This one was recommended by the park ranger, and she wasn't wrong. It was a nice little walk with lots of frogs for the boys. Best of all, we only saw 2 other families on the trail. There was even a fun little carriage house along the way.

Mom loved the old architecture in Acadia.

More frogs

This hike was nice and not busy.

It was a cute little lake.

We had so much fun searching for frogs.

The boys loved it!

Another great hike in the books!

We enjoyed Maine, other than humidity. 

We love traveling with these three boys!

We had to hurry back to Bar Harbor, though, because there is a hike there that is only available at low tide. This one goes out to Bar Island, which is an actual island at high tide. In contrast to our earlier hike, this trail was extremely busy. There were literally hundreds of hikers along the way. Still, it was pretty cool. We hiked out to Bar Island and walked to the summit. The best part, though, was looking at the receding shore line. We started flipping rocks and finding all sorts of crabs, mud skippers, and shells of every kind. We spent quite a while skipping rocks and flipping rocks as the tide slowly rolled out. This turned out to be one of the best trails we did.

This trail was so unique.

We spotted some cool things like this urchin.

A cool mussel shell.

We entered Acadia after crossing the water.

We liked this hike a lot.

Seth made it to the summit.

It was cool walking over to the island.

We saw lots of little crabs.

Tiny starfish.

Baby crab

Another crab

Everyone had a good time!

Since we were already parked downtown, we tried another restaurant. This one wasn't quite as good, but the boys were tired of seafood, and they had their hearts set on burgers. The burgers were massive, and everybody got full, so it must have been okay. Still, our night wasn't finished. We had one more hike to do, this one, a so-called carriage road to a cobblestone bridge. These walks are everywhere, and most people take bikes on them. They used to be used by the rich folks for carriage rides until cars took over. We managed the walk, only got lost a tiny bit, and found the bridge to be pretty cool. 

Dax tried clam chowder at every restaurant and gave them ratings.

This trail had tons of bridges.

Mom liked it other than getting lost.

This bridge was super cool.

Can you see us?

The boys are such troopers.

Finally, we stopped back at the Jordan Pond Restaurant. They have this specialty called popovers, which is a crispy type of bread. We ordered 5 with some blueberry lemonades. The lemonades were a huge hit, and everyone loved them. The popovers were not as popular. The boys called them too crispy, and Mom declared them burned. They were mostly crust without much bread inside, so basically you had a crust with strawberry jam. At least the jam was a good way to end our day.

It was a great view.

We liked sitting down for a second.

The popovers did not live up to the hype.

We love this national park, despite its popovers!