Woke up to cloudy, misty, light rain weather. Glad we had put the screen house up when we arrived. After breakfast, made the decision to go to Acadia National Park anyway. Let's see whatever we can see, even though the views may not be as nice as they would be in good weather. Make the best of what you have.
Stopped at a small gas station/store just before the park entrance to gas up, and also bought coffee/hot chocolate to warm us up as we started our day. Then made a stop at the visitors center to get a map, park pass, and just generally get our bearings. Dogs not allowed inside so we took turns looking and staying with Max. $10 for a pass which was good for seven days, that will be $20 later in the season so good to go now in that regard. In just two short years Steve will be eligible for a Golden Age passport which, for $10, will allow him (and I assume whoever is in the car with him, aka ME) unlimited access to any national park for the rest of his life. That will be a good deal.
Out to the park. We were planning to follow the Park Loop Road, which is a one-way road, 27 miles I believe, around the coastline of Mount Desert Island, where the park is located. We missed one turn and actually started down the back portion, which is not one way. Our first clue should have been that we found the turn for the Cadillac Mountain Road, which we shouldn't have come to until almost the end of the trip. We took the road up to the top of the mountain, the "highest" mountain on the east coast coastline, and were rewarded with a view of...nothing. It was foggy and windy at the summit, no view whatsoever but we can say we made it to the top. Did a little gift shopping in the small store there, took a few pictures of the "view", gathered info for a virtual cache, and headed back down.
Kept going down the road and soon came to Bubble Pond. A beautiful little pond which would, of course, been more beautiful with better weather. We also were able to view a small part of one of the carriage roads and the associated bridge. The carriage roads were put in by the wealthy summer residents many many years ago, before automobiles. They are very popular for biking and hiking now. With our limited time we weren't able to take advantage of them.
Moving on, we saw some beautiful little waterfalls alongside the road, ponds, wooded areas, and just general beauty. Ended up at the Jordan Pond area by which time we realized we weren't on the area of the road we thought we were. We turned around, went back up the road, really didn't take us too long with no stopping, and found our mistake. Soon we were on the Park Loop road for real this time.
First stop was Sand Beach. If you wanted to you could swim there, but I'd imagine even on a warm day that water would be COLD! The sign said no dogs but given the weather we weren't worried about swimmers and carried him anyway so no worries. Beautiful views! Also worth recalling, don't remember the exact name of the area, but there was a path down to the rocks, no access to the water but the views of ocean and rocky cliffs were stunning, even in the sub-par weather. Max, by the way, has been a trooper so far today. He is managing steps like a pro, thanks to "big brother" Scott teaching him to master the basement steps while he was home on leave in April. Max is still not too geeked about riding in the car but he is enjoying the change of scenery, I think.
We stopped at Thunder Hole, which is an area that the ocean has carved out a cave where water goes in and comes out with a dramatic splash and a BOOM! Got some great pictures and just watched the power of nature for a while.
Several other beautiful scenic stops later, we were at the base of the loop (where we'd turned around before) and chose to go on a different road, which turned out to be Sargent Rd. No, we weren't home. But the same name, how cool. Sargent Rd. followed the Somes Fjord, which is the only fjord in the United States. Very nice views, and of course I managed to find a cache along the way. Once back at the main road, we followed a few more roads around, saw some more sights, and then headed back toward the campground area.
We had decided that tonight would be our lobster night. We wanted to visit a lobster pound for dinner while in Maine, and one with outdoor seating so Max could be with us. The last part didn't work out because of the weather, so we decided to leave Max in the car as the weather was misty rain and not too hot to leave him inside the car nor too cold.
We came inside and Steve ordered a full lobster. Since I had been urged to have a lobster roll while on the trip, that's what I ordered. I knew, anyway, that we had a Red Lobster gift card waiting for us at home. The lobster was good, according to Steve. The lobster roll tasted good but certainly wasn't what I expected. I didn't know that lobster rolls come COLD. Basically it's lobster salad on little more than a toasted hot dog bun. Like I said, it tasted good but certainly wasn't what I expected. Not having much knowledge, I didn't say anything at the lobster pound, but looked it up later and sure enough, they are supposed to be cold. Live and learn.
Back to the campground after stopping for one last cache, then to bed for Steve and to the laundry room for wifi for me.
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