Day 114 (Sep 7) – Acadia Diversity

I did not get up early enough to go sit and look at the ocean.  I did have a great night’s sleep.  The temp was perfect.  After breakfast we went back to Sand Beach with the girls in swimsuits so they could get as wet as they wanted.  It was cooler today and very foggy, but that didn’t bother them.  I did not swim, but waded in the cold Atlantic Ocean. At first, your feet ache, then they go numb and the water feels fine!  There were full-grown “adults” out swimming in the water.  I don’t know how they did it.  The girls got pretty wet, but never actually got down in the water.  Audra got cold and gave up before Carmen.  We had to drag Carmen away.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen her smile so genuinely for such an extended period of time.  She had a ball playing in the seaweed, sand and waves.

The girls changed into dry clothes and we drove on down Park Loop Rd to the Frabbi picnic area for lunch.  Then we continued on to Jordan Pond House, which I think is just an old teahouse left over from the hoity, toity days in the early 1900’s.  We perused the gift shop and looked over a hiking map to figure out where we needed to go.  The ranger we talked to yesterday gave us no hiking info other than we should definitely buy a trail map.  This is the first park that hasn’t had some sort of simple brochure on hiking trails.  So we picked a trail out of the blue that went up Cadillac Mtn.  (And of course, we did not buy the map).  When we finally located the trail from the parking area (Bubble Pond), we started up the trail and quickly realized this was the least trail-like trail we have been on the whole trip.  There were blue blazes on rocks and trees every few feet.  It is more a mountain climb than a trail.  We almost stopped once when we had to cross a wet, slanted 35 ft. slab of granite, but we persevered.  After that it wasn’t quite as treacherous, just super steep.  We went on for a while, but turned around before reaching the top.  It was more than we were prepared for.  Sweet Audra was hiking in a skirt.  We had to sit and slide down several wet rocks.  By the time we got back down, we had wrung out the back of her skirt several times.  Both the girls were still wet in the seat when we got back to camp tonight.  We all loved it.  (Well, I’m not sure Brad did).

Then we were headed back around to Bar Harbor, so we were on the lookout once again for Lobster Rolls.  Brad had seen some for $10.95.  We found them at the Lazy Lobster along with a very nice man who explained to us how to recognize good lobster meat and the difference in pricing.  He was so helpful that we bought 2 lobster rolls, 2 cups of clam chowder, 2 cups of lobster bisque, one hot boiled lobster and one slice of blueberry pie.  And we remembered to take pics!

Carmen wanted to shop some more (funny because she is the least patient shopper in the family), so we walked around for a bit till we ended up back at the Internet Café to use their restrooms.  While we were there we bought some coffee, tea and hot chocolate.  Then we sat and sipped.

We shopped (this was all window shopping and dog-petting – lots of store dogs here) a little more on the way back to the truck and then drove back to camp.  It was a day of diversity: from beach to mountain to town.  We are exhausted, but it has been one of our favorite days.
Acadia Day 2