Acadia National Park is THE reason to visit this part of Maine and we spent three days enjoying the park and the adjoining small towns and harbors.
We stayed at Mt. Desert Narrows RV Resort. We normally shy away from any campground with "Resort" in the name because, as I've written before, we are not Glampers. We're not even "campers". We do not go to a campground to spend a weekend communing with nature at the campground. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It just isn't our idea of traveling. We use our Airstream as a home away from home and sleep and eat in it while we tour whatever is in the area we came to see. That said, we really enjoyed our stay here. We met some wonderful work campers who gave us lots of good information on local and touristy stuff.
We met them the first evening. We had gone to bed early. I got up because I thought there was a big light right outside our Airstream. I checked, because I sure was going to ask for another spot in the morning. Here is what I saw out the door -
"CAROL. GET UP AND COME OUT HERE."
After I convinced her that her Jammies were just fine we walked down to the shoreline. That is where we met two couples who were also enjoying the sunset.
Incredible sunset and wonderful new friends. what a great way to start our visit to Mt. Desert Island.
Oh, and if you want to sound like a local, "Desert" is pronounced "Dessert". No, I don't know why.
The next morning we got an early start to drive through Acadia. But not a REALLY early start. I had told Carol that an absolute "must" was sunrise from the top of Cadillac Mountain. "We can be the first people in the United States to see the sun that morning." Except sunrise at the summit would be at 4:59am with dawn breaking at 2:39am. AND we wouldn't be the first to see the sun. That only happens at certain times of the year.
So we started like civilized people, at the Nature Center around 8:30. It was a great way to start our tour of the island and the park. The Park Loop Road circles a major section of the park and offers incredible views of the ocean, the harbor and Schoodic Peninsula which is separate part of the park that is not on Mt. Desert Island.
Bald Porcupine Island
Schoodic Peninsula
A beautiful private residence.
A steep walk down to...
Sand Beach
Thunder Hole
Wildwood Stables
Lunch at the Jordan Pond House.
Carol had a lobster roll and "side" salad.
I had lobster salad.
And we splurged on their famous popovers.
A view of Jordan Pond with "North Bubble" and "South Bubble." The pond is in a glacier formed tarn and is 150' deep.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. arranged the building of over 57 miles of carriage roads where motor vehicles are prohibited. About 45 miles are in Acadia Park. He personally supervised almost all of the construction of the road and 16 of the 17 stone faced bridges.
As tourism increased in the early 1900's, there was a great deal of pressure to open the carriage roads to motor vehicles. Rockefeller decided a better plan was to build a loop around the island for cars. He started what was to become the Loop Road in 1927 and retained Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. to design much of it. It was completed in 1958 and provides a wonderful tour of the east side of the island, Cadillac Mountain, Jordan Pond and Eagle Lake.
Way too late for sunrise and way too early for sunset. But we enjoyed Cadillac Mountain and the views from the top.
Bar Island. The "sand bridge" connects it to Mt. Desert Island at low tide.
The end of a wonderful first day in Acadia National Park. AND my Senior Pass made it FREE !! If you qualify, be sure and get yours before August 28. On that date the price for a lifetime pass increases from $10. to $80. This is a link to a site that lists all locations where you can buy one in person.
