Day 8: Belfast, Maine to Acadia

On vacation I always start to lose track of what day it is, but I think yesterday was Saturday.

Since we arrived later/after dark to our hotel in Belfast, we had decided we would take a slow morning to enjoy the place.

Unfortunately, we again had a foggy morning, so the ocean views were obscured for a while.

I relaxed in the breakfast area with my tea a while, wrote my day’s recap/blog post, etc. I had planned to sit outside, but everything was a bit damp.

Finally it did start to clear up! The boys/my mom went to the indoor pool, and Ivan, my Dad and I walked down by the water:

We asked for late checkout, so we eventually all went up to the pool and hot tub:

Would have been nice to have more time here! It was a nice place. I’m glad we had until noon at least, though.

Finally we checked out.

We headed into downtown Belfast to explore a little.

It was cute! Lots of red brick buildings.

The kids got ice cream at a 50s themed ice cream parlor:

A beautiful marina:

A beach for more rock skipping… the boys just love doing this!

It was super hot out, and we were all dripping, so we cut short any more “wandering around” and went back to the vans.

Next up… Acadia National Park!

It was just over an hour from Belfast to Acadia.

Drove over the bridge to Mount Desert Island, where the National park is located.

We went straight to the Bass Harbor Lighthouse, since it is on the SW side of the island, opposite from where we are staying. (Was kind of “on the way in”, though).

Unfortunately, the radar showed a storm cell moving in fast, so we didn’t stay too long. I wanted to do a couple hikes nearby, but decided to just head to our hotel to check in.

Proof the boys are reading some of all the books they brought along:

Probably good we didn’t try to hike, because it DID rain for a while. We checked in to the small motel and got the lay of the land:

We saw a beautiful rainbow at least! The bright spot in the little storm.

The rain moved out quickly. The pic above of Ethan was from 5:09 pm, and this was the view at 5:41:

It was already kind of late, so we just went for a drive down the Park Loop Road to check out the infamous Thunder Hole. It’s a section of rock where waves often crash in and make big sprays up against the rock.

Apparently it was low tide!! A little anticlimactic. Lol!! It was still a beautiful spot though. We sat up on the rocks and took in the views.

From here we started to head into Bar Harbor for dinner, the main town near Acadia National Park.

Stopped at another scenic lookout as the sun was getting lower. So pretty.

It was a most beautiful evening in Bar Harbor!! Definitely hopping with plenty of people on a Saturday night, but not overly packed either. Just a nice buzz of happy activity.

We put our name in for a table at a restaurant I had heard good things about, and then waited the 30 minutes or so down by the water. Boys skipped rocks, adults sat on a stone wall and just watched the boats coming in, etc.

Gorgeous sky last night:

The table was ready pretty quickly. We ate inside but got a corner table away from people/noise which was perfect. Could see the water too before it got dark. 🙂

I had ANOTHER bowl of clam chowder…. I know. Getting ridiculous. This was #4. I might be getting a little sick of it?? I’m not sure. We’ll see. Lol. I shared this one with Ivan, though.

Then we shared a pizza! They had fresh jalapeños- score.

It was a great, relaxed feeling day, even though we did several different things.

I am really happy with our hotel, too. Each room has a private balcony overlooking the water, which I was so happy to find. We have 5 nights here before heading toward home.

Finally got a clear morning, too!! View as I write this:

I need to go get ready! Lots of exploring to do. The great Acadia National Park awaits us. 🙂 First stop.. the visitor center! I badly need an official park map!

Daily gratitude: I am grateful that the restaurants weren’t as busy as we were worried they might be!! I think we might be just past peak time, as kids head back to school earlier in many parts of the country than we do.