Day 10: Acadia National Park

I have to start off with a quick note of thanks to the weather gods. We have had perfect blue skies here in Acadia so far, and I’m just so thankful! (I think some clouds might be moving in for tonight/tomorrow.) But the weather has been just beautiful.

It’s just like the cherry on top. 🙂

Yesterday’s highlights!!

After a relaxed morning on the deck/breakfast in our room, we headed into town by 9:15 or so.

Lulu’s Lobster Boat

* We had 10:00 tickets for a tour on Lulu’s Lobster Boat, which left from Bar Harbor. This was a most excellent tour!!! I would recommend 1,000% to anyone visiting this area.

* The marina area in Bar Harbor is just so cute!

I wanted a pic with these beautiful flowers and the boats, but no one cooperated.. so here’s me:

Our boat. Not too big! I was glad to see it is actually a pretty small tour group, which was awesome.

* The boat tour started with a ride through Bar Harbor and then out toward Egg Island, past the breakwaters.

* Got to see a ton of seals sun bathing and playing in the water!

* The guide spent the whole time out teaching us all about the area, the history of lobster fishing and all about the logistics of a pretty complex business. Lots of rules/regulations surround it- it was super interesting.

* (He is also a school teacher, and had a very fun, engaging manner about him. Made everything easy to understand. Great sense of humor, too! 🙂 )

* Also, the guy driving the boat is an actual commercial fisherman (actively works in that field), so he had a lot of insights and stories to share. Really, really interesting stuff.

* Eventually we got to the actual “fishing” part… time to pull up the traps they had set. We all had to guess how many lobsters we thought would be in there. (could be anywhere from zero to a dozen or more!)

I guessed 4, Asher guessed 1.

Asher was right! Pulled it up and just one in the first trap.

He got called up to assist, as his prize. 🙂

Passed him around…

* They pulled up a couple more traps and found even more (and a crab).

* After we said hi to all the sea creatures, they all got tossed back in. 🙂 (This was just a demonstrative tour, not an actual fishing expedition!) I felt better freeing the kind of cute little guys anyway.

Lunch in Bar Harbor

* After the tour, it was a little after 12:00. We were all hungry, so we walked around in Bar Harbor and stopped for lunch.

(The Mexican place Ivan wanted to try was closed for lunch! I think we will go back tonight maybe).

I had a SALAD.

Carriage Road Trails

* Next we drove about 15 minutes into the park to walk on one of the Carriage Roads.

* There are many miles of these wide, gravel roads winding through the park, built by John D. Rockefeller 100 years ago. They are beautiful! They all have unique stone bridges along them, too. (each bridge is different.)

* These aren’t traditional “hiking” trails- they were made for horses to travel on. So they are easy to walk on. But still very scenic and beautiful.

* We did a 4.2 mile loop to see 3 bridges along the way (Hadlock Pond Loop).

* Started out uphill and with more sun exposure than I wanted.. so I wasn’t sure at first. But it quickly turned very beautiful and I loved it.

* The bridges were so cool!!! I love bridges.

* You can veer off the carriage trail and climb around below the bridges. They all pass over little brooks, streams or waterfalls. So serene! Barely any people around on this trail, too.

* Waterfall Bridge was special because from one side you can see the waterfall through the opening, like a picture frame! (hard to see in the picture though).

* Along the carriage trail, Asher found more frogs.

* The last couple miles were so beautiful. Very wooded and the sun filtered just right through the trees. Ahh. So nice!! Even my mom made the whole 4.2 mile loop!! (Pretty far for her!)

* One more bridge… Hadlock Bridge.

* This 4.2 mile hike took us over 3 hours. We really lingered along the way at the bridges, which felt perfect to me. Not rushed, not crowded… just enjoying it! 🙂

* We decided to just go back to the hotel and chill for a while. It was a lovely sunny evening, so the boys swam (briefly- the air temps had cooled off some). Ivan, my Dad and I sat out at a table and just relaxed.

* We’ve had a LOT (like, mega amounts) of fresh air this past 10 days… so everyone was sort of tired out feeling.

* We spent the rest of the evening just lounging around, mostly. Ivan and I went to pick up a pizza from a place nearby to eat in my parent’s room with them.

* felt nice to just relax! 🙂

This morning we are driving to a more remote part of the park, the Schoodic Peninsula. It’s an hour drive or so, so we want to head out fairly early.

Daily Gratitude: I am grateful for the lobster boat tour being so great! My dad said (and I agree) that it might be one of the best tours he has ever been on.