6-14-06 (Wednesday): Today is Margo’s birthday (Tom and Kristin’s youngest—at least until mid-July when their third daughter is due). I’d been looking for two weeks for a present for her, but there’s just not much in the way of toy stores here. I found something today while we were in Bar Harbor (more about that later). Kristin says both girls are still playing with the little dolls I had gotten them as a little surprise when I was up there last time, so I got some similar dolls. They’re so small the girls can carry them in their pockets (they’re called “Polly Pocket Dolls”) and the clothes are made of soft plastic, so they’re easy for little fingers to put on and off.

We headed out early for Acadia National Park. It’s about a 2½ hour drive (very scenic). It was spitting rain for part of the way up, but since we were just planning to do the 20-mile drive around the park, we weren’t too concerned. We just needed to get outside after so many rainy days.

The park is the most spectacular place I’ve seen this trip. It reminded me a lot of Skyline Drive in the Blue Ridge Mountains, except that the vista below was wild ocean dotted with wild islands. We bought a CD that we listened to along the way that talked about the history and geology of the areas we were driving through. It’s not a huge park (I think it was 6,000 acres), but it’s pretty unique in that it’s the only place on the East Coast where there are mountains so close to the seashore. It’s also unique in that the land was bought up by some of the fabulously wealthy people of the time (Rockefeller, Ford, Carnegie, etc.) specifically to give to the U.S. government for a park. Rockefeller then built a network of carriage roads throughout the parcel complete with stone bridges designed by a famous architect. The land was given with the caveat that no gasoline powered vehicles were allowed (that must not have gone over very big with Henry Ford!). People (called rusticators) used to flock to the area to ride horses, hike and ride in horse-drawn buggies on the roads. There were many mansions built in the area, too (they called them “cottages”), most of which burnt down in a tremendous forest fire in 1947. The fire also destroyed the ancient spruce forests that covered the area. The “new” forest is quite lovely, with a wide variety of deciduous and evergreen trees and a diverse wildlife population.

We got out of the car and walked around some of the best areas. There’s a wide variety of trails, ranging from paved to climbing over rocks. On one of our stops, we’d walked down to look at some tidal pools. We were probably half a mile down from the parking area when a young man in the party walking behind us started staggering around and then fell. My first thought was that he was drunk, but I quickly realized he was having a medical problem. His mother was looking for some sugar for him, so I guess he was diabetic. I jogged back up to the truck and back (yeah, I’m in pretty good shape!) and got a peach left over from our lunch. Someone else had an orange. He was doing much better by the time we left them. I wonder why he didn’t have some hard candy in a pocked! That could have been very serious!!

My favorite part of the whole day was Thunder Hole. It’s an area where there’s a cleft in the rocky cliff and the wave action has undercut the cliff. As the waves come in, the air in the chamber is compressed and makes a loud noise. It was only a gentle booming when we were there because the surf wasn’t very rough, but I guess it sounds like thunder in heavy surf. The waves also spray up quite high and there’s a walkway right down to where they’re crashing. Quite a few people in rain suits were going down to get wet. I’ll bet it’s a fun spot on a hot day!

Another fun spot was Sandy Beach (one of the few sandy beaches we’ve seen in Maine). The granite rocks in this area is pink due to its feldspar content. The cliffs seemed to be glowing on this cloudy day. Plus, Wiley found a sand dollar.

We stopped in Bar Harbor on the way back. It’s picturesque, but far more touristy than Rockport and Camden (the villages near us). We walked around through some of the shops (I found a great variety store where I got Margo’s birthday present and also picked up a sketch pad and some pencils for myself). We watched the ferry come into the harbor. We had a slice of pizza in a busy shop that also had great looking subs. Then we headed back home, tired but happy. I'm posting all the Acadia photos here at the bottom so I can caption them for you. Enjoy!

Vista from scenic drive (note the
seagull).

Wiley on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia. The granite up here is pink!

Fog on Cadillac Mountain (taken

from Sandy Beach).

Cadillac Mountain and Lupine

Pitcher Plants

Thunder Hole