Road Trip 2011: Day 16 of 20 (Brunswick, ME to Bar Harbor, ME)

We stayed the night in Bath. It had a cute downtown and we drove around some before heading out.

Bath Iron Works is a major shipyard

We went by Red's again - too bad they weren't open yet

Lots of seafood restaurants

I was usually navigating, but sometimes we switched it up and let Derek sit up front. Derek's whole demeanor would change. He would perk up and stretch out in the front seat and just talk and talk with Helen.

Penobscot Expedition - the largest Naval expedition of the Revolutionary War and a complete failure

We were within a few miles of our destination, Acadia National Park, when we passed the Wild Acadia Fun Park and the boys about jumped out of the van with excitement

We were minutes from one of the nation's most beautiful national parks...playing minigolf...again

Adam wasn't old enough to ride alone so he had to have one of the workers ride with him

The kids thought the whole park was the bomb, but they had the most fun with this simple water balloon war

We spent hours at the fun park and the kids had the best time. It's a balancing act to keep everyone happy on these trips.

Finally made it to Acadia National Park

Along the main Park Loop Road (map)

Sand Beach

Setting up camp at the Blackwoods Campground

Derek and Adam take off on their bikes to explore the campground

At one of the overlooks we saw something breaking the water. It seemed like something big. Helen was convinced it was a whale. I thought maybe, but the boys were skeptical. Helen got so excited when the disturbance would pick up. We sat there a long time and Helen left convinced it was a whale. We returned the next day and saw the same disturbances and figured it was probably just water breaking over some rocks. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Wednesday June 15, 2011

We still had not reached Acadia National Park and time was running out on our vacation. We had originally planned to go from Acadia to Montreal and then on to Niagra Falls. We even renewed passports for the boys because we planned on making it to Montreal. Helen has family there and Derek had a year of French under his belt. However, by now it became obvious that some cuts were in order and we decided that we were not going to be able to make it to Montreal.

It's a deceivingly long distance from the border of Maine to Bar Harbor and Acadia - almost 5 hours. We had cut that distance in half, but we still had a good drive in front of us. We had stayed the night in Bath, just outside of Brunswick. Bath had a cute downtown and we drove around some before heading for Acadia.

Acadia was the 9th most visited National Park last year and when the busy season arrives some guides suggest taking I-95 to Bangor and then down to Acadia because of all the traffic. We were still a little early for the busy season so we took the scenic route along US-1 through some of the smaller coastal towns. We would have liked to have stopped more along the way to explore the area more in depth, but time had become an issue.

We were minutes from Acadia when we passed the Wild Acadia Fun Park. The boys were so excited and begged and pleaded to go. We drove a little down the road while we discussed it and decided to turn around and check it out. There were some school groups just leaving when we got there, otherwise we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

The fun park had it all - minigolf, go carts, rock climbing, bungee jumping, water slides, and water balloon war. The kids had the best time. The fact that we were minutes from one of the most beautiful places in the country and the boys didn't really care when there was some "real" fun to be had, says it all about the balancing act required to keep everyone happy on these trips. They had seen enough cute towns and beautiful views - they were ready for minigolf.

We spent a few hours at the fun park and then finally made it to Acadia. We went to the visitor center to orient ourselves. We entered the park on the Park Loop Road and took it around to the Blackwoods Campground where we had gotten a site for a couple nights. We set up camp and the boys explored the campground on their bikes. We explored more of the Park Loop Road and went into Bar Harbor for some hot dogs and smore supplies. By the time we got back to our site it was pretty late. It had rained recently and the wood was a little wet, but we eventually got a fire going and roasted hot dogs and made some smores.

We talked about getting up really early to view the sunrise from Cadillac Mountain, the highest point along the North Atlantic seaboard and the first place the sun hits in the United States each morning. The sun rises really early along the coast and we would have had to wake about 3 am. That didn't happen.