Acadia National Park - Maine

There are just so many photos (over 1,000) that we took of Acadia National Park, including some of the nearby towns. This post will be just a few samples of how beautiful it is.

At high tide, we watched the waves crashing for about an hour.

Typical coast harbor.

From the top of Cadillac Mountain...looking north.

The only sandy beach in the park...guess what it's called? Sand Beach ! The water was about 51 degrees when we were there. Brrrrrrr.

I love the way the ocean sparkles in the sunlight.

Notice the rocks piled up near the water? They're called Cairns....they are here in the park to designate hiking paths.

Closeup of the Cairn.

Coming to Acadia National Park has been a life-long dream for Kim. She certainly looks like she's enjoying her visit.

Notice all the white dots in the ocean? Those are all buoys that are hooked to a lobster trap on the ocean floor. There were thousands out surrounding the land.

This is a lobster boat retrieving traps. They will leave the harbor around 3am to start their day. They'll pick up maybe 200-300 traps and ferry them to the docks, unload, then go back out for the remainder. 

The long empty docks are where the lobster fishermen come to empty their traps.

Here are two boats unloading. First they put rubber bands on the lobster claws (you don't want those claws to get you!) and load them into the plastic bins.

Next, the fisherman will make sure each bin is properly loaded. You can see the lobster in his hand.

He next drags the loaded bin over to the rest of them....hard work.

You can see a couple of things here. One, the blue bins waiting at the end of the dock. He's dragging a new one towards them. Two, after they get the dock lined up, they'll put them into the water. You can see a number of them along the edge of the dock. This is to make sure the lobsters stay fresh. Lastly, after they're done for the day's catch, they'll take all those OUT of the water, load them onto their boat and over to the main dock to be loaded into the large reefer trucks to deliver to the customers. Fun to watch but this is a LOT of work!

One day we took a nice hike in the forest. Kim has her fancy hiking pants on today.

Not much sun gets in here...moss everywhere.

Look how this tree has twisted over the years.

Who can guess what this is?

Tour boats come into the park via Bar Harbor....what a site ! 

Look in the foreground and you can see a strip of land going out to the island. This is low tide where people can hike out there.

This is heading towards high tide. You better make sure you get back to the town or it's a six-hour wait until the tide turns again.

View from Cadillac Mountain looking at Bar Harbor or....as they say it here "Bah Hahbah"

A moment to contemplate life...ooohhhhmmmmmmm.

We like to do puzzle in the evenings while listening to music. This was was tough...took us three nights...but it's perfect for this autumn time of year.

Nattie likes her special bed in the front of the coach while we're travelling.

And Hobbes too...he's probably saying, "Food? Do I smell food"?

That's it for Maine. We've been here about a month....time to head back to Vermont to watch the leaves changes into their spectacular colors. We'll become Leaf Peepers !

Kim and Steve

Acadia Maine Carriage Ride

At Acadia National Park in Maine they offer carriage rides ranging from 1-3 hours each over the specially built carriage roads through the park. We've never been on a carriage ride and it's something Kim has always wanted to do so.....

We picked the two-hour ride to the summit of one of the peaks starting at 4:30 in the afternoon.



This is our driver, Sarah, getting the warm blankets ready for us. They also were good to pad our behinds !



Off we go!



Pat on the left and Junior on the right. Pat likes to dawdle a bit and Junior gets a bit impatient so he'll start nipping at Pat to "get going !"



These trails were made by Rockefeller when he owned most of the island.



The mountain drops off rather steeply to the right. Fortunately, the horses were very steady.

Great views looking South down the coast of Maine.

Some fantastic cloud formations above (well, of course, they were above) as we went up and down the mountain.

When we reached the summit, we were allowed to get out to stretch our legs. Kim decided to stay put and take the small loop around to pick up back up.

Doesn't she look happy?

"Look at me....I'm taking a carriage ride!!"

...with rap attention, Kim watches Sarah handle the horses..."Step up, Pat, Step up, Junior....goooood boy".

These horses are Clydesdales but not the huge Budweiser ones....those are bred to be extra large. In the winter, once the season ends on Acadia, they are taken up to northern Maine to work the owner's farms and rest up. They prefer the colder weather more than the warm.

That is one contented looking wife.

Back home....just in time for a gorgeous sunset.

...a little something for Junior.

A wonderful, relaxing, two-hour carriage ride up and down the summit. Great time.

A day later, we headed back to Vermont to see the fall leaves change color. September 23rd was our one-year anniversary of being on the road full-time. Now...we have two more to go !