Betty in the National Parks II: Part Four

The continuing adventures of Betty AnoninTX:

 After leaving Mammoth Cave National Park, we drove for several days to reach our main Maine destination:  Acadia National Park!  Taking the trip with us were Venetia and Duert (The Convenient Wife).  Since they enjoy climbing on rocks by the edge of the sea, I felt sure they would enjoy Acadia. 

We stayed in Bar Harbor at the Bayview.  Oh my stars, what a wonderful place.  I gained at least ten pounds eating the wonderful breakfasts.  Blueberry pancakes… mmmm.  Bar Harbor is on Mount Desert (pronounced dessert) Island.  The park is very different from any we have visited.  The area is a mixture of park land and private land, with the park being primarily on Mount Desert, Isle au Haut, Schoodic Peninsula, and other smaller islands.  Acadia is a mixture of forest and sea, and that is what makes it so wonderful.  We stayed six days.   We did hiking and touring, but my favorite activity was sitting on the rocks, watching and listening to the waves, and taking great sniffs of clean sea air.

We took a two hour bus tour the first day to help us get the lay of the land and to hear some Acadia history, then we drove ourselves back over the park loop on Mount Desert.  The view from Cadillac Mountain is gorgeous.  Thunder Hole is a favorite spot.  It’s a granite crevasse where the waves boom and thunder.  Sand Beach is really pretty.  People mostly climbed on the rocks and watched the water, but a few brave people swam.  My favorite hike was from Sand Beach to Thunder Hole to Otter Cliffs, about 4 miles round trip.  I took these photos of Venetia and Duert as we were hiking.  Schoodic Point on Schoodic Peninsula is my favorite spot.  It’s a bit of a drive to get there so it’s not nearly as crowded.  Granite rocks.  Crashing waves. Hardly any people.  Heaven.

We took two boat tours. My favorite was the Baker Island cruise with a park ranger.  It’s uninhabited.  It has a lighthouse and several other buildings, an old one room school, a small cemetery, and flat rocks where teenagers used to have dances.  They would sail over and have parties at night.  We took another ranger led tour, the Islesford Historical cruise.  It goes to Little Cranberry Island then it goes up the fjord of Somes Sound for some wildlife and bird watching.  We saw more lighthouses and seals.

Jordan Pond House is a restaurant and tea house.  I was able to celebrate Bettysday on the 15th here!  We had tea on the lawn, which is a big tradition here.  There are small tables and bench-style seats on the lawn facing the pond.  They serve tea and warm popovers with strawberry jam and butter.  I drank the pot dry.  The walk around the pond is really pretty too.

After leaving Acadia, we headed up the coast to Lubec.  We stayed two nights at a wonderful B&B, the Peacock House.  Blueberry French toast with cream cheese and blueberries.  Mmm.  We drove over to Campobello Island and toured the summer cottage of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.   Again, we saw beautiful lighthouses in the area, but I still forgot to take a photo.  We really enjoyed watching seals.

More to come…