Boston Day 2

Acadia National park in the morning.

We are staying right outside Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine, and that means getting an early start. We were up by 6, enjoying breakfast in the hotel by 6:30 and on the road by 7 o'clock. We'd heard that parking lots fill up quickly, and that was true. 

Our first stop was a very steep hike called The Beehive. This trail was very short and steep. In fact, it was so steep that there were metal rungs and hand rails secured to the granite for much of the way up. The mountain was shaped just like a beehive, and the trail wound up and around it, which meant that sometimes you were walking right on the edge of a steep drop to the rocks below. It was amazing!

This hike was STEEP!

The views were beautiful!

It was fun to use the rungs!

Mom really liked it.

Acadia sits right on the ocean.

Taking a quick break.

Made it to the top!

Such a beautiful summit!

The trail continued down to a second area called The Bowl. This was a small lake set in a bowl at the foot of The Beehive. Almost immediately we heard some green frogs (we didn't hear the color, but that's what they are called). Soon we'd spotted dozens, and the boys were amazed at how their throats bulged out when they made their rumbling call.  This was really fun for the boys.

The Bowl had a lovely lake.

We were glad we took this side trip.

Such a pretty spot.

We saw a ton of frogs.

The ones on the log were fun!

There was one flower by the lily pads.

This is one of the green frogs.

We also saw this woodpecker.

Back at the parking lot, we had access to sand beach. We quickly changed into our swimsuits, ignoring the cars that wanted our parking space, and walked down to the beach. This one was actually sandy, and Seth had fun playing in the waves while Dad and Dax waded along the shore.

We spotted a snake.

The beach was sandy, but also had rocks to explore.

The water was freezing, so we stayed in the sand.

After the beach, we finally did move the car. We drove to another busy parking lot where the original 1916 ranger station has been turned into a gift shop. From there, we did several more hikes. First we looked at a place called The Thunder Hole. Since it was high tide, the water slammed in making a thunder sound, though it sounded more like snorting to us. Then we walked down the Shoreline Trail for about a quarter mile.

The Thunder Hole area.

Walking along the ocean path.

This took us to our next trail, which was another climb. It seems like every trail here is a summit that starts at sea level and climbs up to 500-800 feet. This one was called Gorham Mountain. It was actually quite similar to The Beehive. Our big sighting was a cool woodpecker, but we also enjoyed a nice view out over the bay. Those hikes are real leg burners, though, and we were pretty tired afterward. We were glad to take a break for lunch in the parking lot.

Made it to the top.

The views are nice from the top, but the climbs are killer.

Such a good pic of Mark.

Seth was a trooper on these hikes.

Dax died after this hike.

Lunch in the car.

Still, we had a long hike that we wanted to try. This was a 3.2 mile trail around a large lake called Jordan Pond. Luckily, it was flat. Again, we were spotting frogs along the shore, but this time, we saw them in all phases of metamorphosis. Some had tails and legs, others had tiny front legs, and some were still swimming. There were also plenty of fish in lake. We even saw a loon right up close to the shore. Best of all, there were bridges along the way, and a narrow boardwalk ran about a quarter of the way along the shore. There were little passing lanes where you had to stop and wait for someone coming in the other direction.

Jordan Pond was super pretty.

Mom loved all the cute bridges around the pond.

The transitioning frogs were awesome.

Mom and Dad were loving this national park.

Some more green frogs.

Another fun bridge.

I love when people take pictures of us from so far away! Ha ha!

Mom caught a few butterflies in this pic.

After that hike, we were thoroughly worn out. We came back to the hotel for a bit and then went off to dinner. Bar Harbor has a nice, touristy little downtown area. We sat at an outdoor restaurant on the pier and enjoyed seafood. Mom's fish tacos were the best item on the menu this time, though the clam chowder was even better than last time. Afterward, we walked through town enjoying expensive ice cream.

Stopped at the Visitor Center.

Dinner was yummy.

So was the ice cream.

We loved walking around Bar Harbor.

It was a fun night!

It was getting close to sunset when we took the drive up Cadillac Mountain. You have to have a reservation to drive up there since it is the most popular place in the park. We enjoyed the short hike around the crown of the hill, but there were so many people you couldn't get a great picture. We didn't really get a great picture of the porcupine we saw on the way back down the mountain, either, but it was still exciting. It only sat on the side of the road for a moment before waddling off into the thick brush. 

We were beat at the end of the day, but it had been a wonderful day!

Finally found a sign to take a picture by.

The top of Cadillac Mountain has great views.

So beautiful!!

We loved our evening up here.

So many pictures of the view.

Being up on top for sunset was nice.

Part of a porcupine that just crossed the road. :)

Back at the hotel!

Boston Day 1

It was a really long day! Our flight was supposed leave at 10:20 pm on Wednesday night, but we got three separate delay emails. By the last one, it was 1:30 am before we left. The only good thing was that we got to see the chickens put themselves to bed before we left. It was their first time finding their way into the coop without our help, so we were a little less stressed about them throughout the day.

Worst flight delays ever!

The bad news, of course, was that we got in at 8 o'clock instead of 5 o'clock. That three hours really cost us. First, the car rental place had given our van away. They had another one, but it wasn't ready, so they got it washed and gassed up, but that cost us another thirty minutes. After breakfast and shopping, it was almost 10 am, and we were supposed to be in Acadia National Park 5 hours away in Maine by 11:30.

Dad even fell asleep waiting for the van.

The drive up the coast was long, but pretty. We made a short stop in a parking lot and Mom made sandwiches out of the back of the van. Record heat and humidity from the notorious "heat dome" had all the locals commenting about the unseasonal weather. It was a little over 90 degrees, but the humidity was 90%, too. We were racing up the narrow, winding roads into Bass Harbor because low tide was around 3:30 and we had two places to check out the tide pools. 

The first stop was a figure-eight trail that ran through the thick forest. The trees were really pretty and we spotted an Eastern Blue Jay like the one for the baseball team and some squirrels. The boys even saw a few deer. Then we checked out the tide pools. Honestly, there wasn't much to see until Mark spotted a crab about the size of his palm. We saw some fun shells and lots of hermit crabs. Finally, we saw a starfish in the deeper water. 

This trail began in the trees. 

And ended up by the ocean!

The rocky coast was lovely.

We were barely alive after a long night. 

Next we had another tide pool hike. This one was about the same, but we enjoyed the walk along the rocky beach. There were quite a few people out and about, but not much more than we'd already seen. We enjoyed a few loons on the lake, and we listened closely to their haunting call. Then we stopped at a little lighthouse and took a few pictures. The walk wasn't much, but the view over the bay was picturesque. 

Mom loved these pretty pink flowers.

She also loved the purple mussels.

We had fun exploring the tide pools.

This was the coolest crab we spotted.

The seagulls were enjoying the crabs, too.

There were some big water areas in the tide pools.

Dad ventured way out!

We spotted this turkey on our way to the lighthouse.

Mom loved this cute little lighthouse.

It was kind of hidden by the trees from this side.

The storm clouds were rolling in.

They made for some great pics!

The lighthouse from the other side.

For dinner, we stopped at a serious seafood restaurant. The boys were good about eating Dad's appetizer of calamari. Mom loved her shrimp scampi, Mark and Dad enjoyed fish and chips (haddock), and Dax had a steaming bowl of clam chowder. Seth didn't love his pasta, but that was okay as there were enough fries to go around. 

The restaurant was right by the water, too!

By the time dinner ended a storm was rolling in and everyone was done. Well, everyone was done except for Dad. He wanted to do the 1.6 mile summit that we'd missed because JetBlue kept delaying our flight. There was some minor arguing, but finally we all made the trek. 

We probably shouldn't have. The hike was straight up steps for 681 feet. Between the sets of steps were slick rocks and Dax went down hard. Dad was getting some serious glares, but we finally made it to the top and the summit was a wonderful look out over the bay. It was getting close to sunset, and we hurried back to the van, careful not to take another nasty spill. We didn't get checked in to the motel in Bar Harbor until 8:30, and we were in desperate need of showers and sleep, but we had wrung every bit of fun out of this day. 

Dax before the fall. 

Seth gave up here before we reached the summit. It was like 2 more minutes, but he said no, thanks!

It was a really pretty view. 

Dax refused to be in a picture to document that he made it, so this is the best we could do!

It was a steep and difficult climb, but pretty up top.