Acadia National Park ~ Fantastic Vacation!

We went to Acadia National Park in Maine for a weeks vacation camping. What a fantastic time! The whole vacation we kept hitting good Karma…whatever we planned on doing, it worked out at it’s best possible. First off, I was supposed to go on vacation the week before but had to cancel, and so missed a crappy rainy week and hit the hottest, sunniest, best week of the summer.
We decided to leave late Saturday night, spent the day getting things ready. After a very late night drive, we bunked down in Augusta, ME at the last room in the last hotel – Yay!! Motel 6!
We arrived Sunday morning to a fairly empty Sewall National Park Campsite and picked our camp – Somewhere around noon. We spent the day setting up, getting supplies and picking up brochures of what to do. We went over to the Sewall picnic area later in the afternoon and played around on the rocks at the ocean until supper. We came back to camp,  had a camp fire, S’mores and planned the week.  I’ve learned (late-comer, maybe) that if we actually choose some things to do and plan a day to do them, we end up doing a lot of fun things on vacation. Playing it by ear often leaves us in camp until 1-2 in the afternoon, cranky, hungry and without any idea of what to do, or having missed some scheduled event that we might have liked to do.
The rest of the week  went like this:
Monday - Bar Harbor Day

• Rode the free Bus from Sewall to Bar Harbor
• Geddy’s for lunch 
• Hiked out across the low tide bridge to Bar Island, played and hiked all day, Jeremiah and I followed a doe and fawn all over the island, or rather, they seemed to follow us on our hike 
• Ice cream at Ben & Bills and walked around shops
• Caught last bus to campsite
• Campfire and Bed

Tuesday – Echo Lake

• Up early, drove to Echo Lake, already 90º by 10:00. Hiked up the extreme trail on Beech Mountain. Chutes and ladders, big views and cliffs.
• Ate lunch at 1:00
• Played at the lake all afternoon
• Back to camp
• campfire & supper
• Bed

Wednesday – Sailing Day

• Went to Southwest Harbor at noon
• Took 3 hour sailing cruise around the islands and sound on the Rachel B. Jackson
• Drove around the island around 4:00 then back to Southwest Harbor for Ice cream
• Back to camp, ate supper late
• Went & watched the stars over at the beech rocks at Sewall picnic area till 10:30.
• Bed

 
Thursday – Acadia Park Day
Decided to stay another day as the weather was fantastic.

• Drove to park headquarters, & bought a few books and maps. Decided to spend the day hiking and at Sandy Beech.
• Hiked from Sandy beech to Thunder Hole along the shore cliffs. Played, rock climbed, took lots of pictures.
• Hiked back to the beech around 4:00
• Went swimming in an unusually warm ocean. Saw lots of Jelly Fish
• Back to Southwest Harbor, to Quietside Café for Pizza and ice cream again. New favorite flavor – “Maine Birch Bark”
• Back to camp for a fire
• The waves were pounding and the fog rolling in late night.

 Friday

• Up at the crack of Dawn
• Packed the car by 9:00 and headed over to say goodbye to the ocean at Sewall Picnic area
• Left the island around 10:30
• Home around 6:00

Going to pick out some more fun for a trip next summer. There is so much hiking and food and fun to have there!