Acadia National Park

4 June 2015

Acadia National Park

This morning we woke up to sunshine and clear skies.  With plans to set out early to bike the carriage roads of Acadia National Park, we finally made it to the trailhead by around 10:30am.  And that was with some pre-planning.  Sometimes it just seems to take forever to get all these childrens out the door with food in their bellies and shoes on their feet, not to mention layers of clothing in this chilly weather.  The weather was perfect for the bike ride.  Not buggy (while moving), clear, sunny, and around 60.  The carriage road system is so nice at Acadia.  It really makes the park.  We did the stretch from Lower Hadlock Pond to the Jordan Pond House and back.  (The park shuttle, which carries bikes also, was not running yet for the season and we didn’t realize you can drive a car to the Jordan Pond House, otherwise there are other areas we would have preferred to bike).  The trails are extremely well-kept, and the directional markers are super easy to follow.  We brought our mountain bikes on this trip, as the carriage roads are packed dirt and gravel.  (A hybrid would be fine too, but we have mountain and road).

Once at the Jordan Pond House, we were able to get a table outside.  The views were beautiful, and the food wasn’t bad either.  The popovers were warm and yummy, my lobster roll was nice, Matt’s meatloaf sandwich had some good flavor to it, the apple chips were unexpectedly tasty, the blueberry lemonade was tart but customizable regarding sweetness, and they had a flourless chocolate cake (but unfortunately it didn’t even make it close to the top of my flourless-chocolate-cake-snob list, the undefeated champion being the Nemesis Cake at La Tavola Trattoria in the Virginia-Highlands area of Atlanta).  Because the JPH lawn wasn’t yet open for table-seating, we were able to take advantage of the well-groomed grass overlooking the pond for a mini photo shoot.

Both girls fell asleep on the bike ride back to the car.  The next sight to see was the summit of Cadillac Mountain.  It’s apparently the first place to watch the sunrise in the US, as it’s the highest point on the Eastern Seaboard, but let’s be real… we didn’t even make it to the trailhead in the parking lot until 10:30am.  So we checked it out around 2:45 pm instead.  Whatevs… still very scenic, with a wide vista point overlooking countless islands and water. 

Because the bright sun and clear sky were still going strong, and both afternoon naps were over, we decided to head back to the campground for some heated pool time.  After reading reviews on most campgrounds on the island, (surprisingly a lot without hot showers), we found a perfect spot just north of Southwest Harbor - Smuggler’s Den Campground.  Heated pools, firepits, picnic tables, trees and dirt and grass instead of concrete… everything is extremely clean and well-kept, from the bathrooms to the playground to the pool with waterslide.  (I haven’t tried, but I read that you could even buy lobster at the camp store).  I think we were probably the first people of the season to use the pool.  Watching Charlotte try to go down the waterslide, but getting stuck at the bottom was pretty entertaining too. 

Part of La Vida Casita is that there’s always something to be done.  While Matty was grilling the pork chops, I was getting the girls dressed and tidying up our tiny living space, because it’s just not possible to live in clutter when you have four people and only 17 feet of space.  But, it’s a fun challenge to live minimally.  It’s like those Tiny Houses that are catching on in Oregon.  You can only keep what you absolutely need, and it forces you to be organized.

After dinner we went to the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse for some sunset pics.  I didn’t know what to expect, but there were a lot of photographers with their tripods on the rocks, being all profesh and stuff.  I pretended I knew what I was doing, but didn’t have the patience (or body insulation) to stick around.  Also, Matty and the girls couldn’t join me out on the rocks, and it was resultantly the first time Sis wet her pants this trip, so, while beautiful, it wasn’t quite what I had in mind for sunset-watching.  We may try the actual harbor area tomorrow if the sun decides to join us again…

Baby Gear Used:

Car Seats (Britax Advocate & Clek Fllo)

High Chair (Fischer Price travel folding chair)

Bike Trailer/Stroller: The Baby Jogger POD (sadly, discontinued).  Back when we lived in California, I sort of went stroller crazy.  And then I totally went bike trailer crazy.  We had a colleague of mine from the VA living with us for a month or so during her transition to the West Coast, and at one point during her stay, we were strapping large stuffed animals into the trailer harnesses and performing crash and rollover tests with the two Chariot Cougar doubles and one Baby Jogger POD I had in my living room.  (Craigslist and Amazon are wonderful things).  Ultimately it came down to a storage-size conversation that ended on Matt saying “if you want to go to Nantucket for a week, keep the POD.”  So I did, and we did.  (But I’m happy to have the decision-making conversation with you, which would now include the one I’ve set my sights on that came out since my crash-testing days… the Chariot (now Thule) Chinook 2.  Swoon.