Acadia National Park
5 September 2023
68 miles
We were up before 7:30 AM this morning and left camp at 9:00. We drove into Bar Harbor, where we were fortunate enough to find a parking spot on Main Street, just one block from the harbor. We found a deli for breakfast sandwiches (egg and cheese) and also got a roast beef sandwich to go for lunch. We sat on a bench overlooking the harbor to eat, and then we strolled along the waterfront and watched the tenders coming in from the cruise ship. Our parking expired at 10:28 – we were out one minute early!
We stopped at the Hannaford supermarket for a few supplies. The place was a zoo! We were lucky to find a parking spot. Anyway, we got in and out of there and headed into Acadia National Park. We had a reservation to drive to the summit of Cadillac Mountain between 1:00 and 1:30, so we had quite a bit of time to kill. We drove back to Northeast Harbor and this time we had a hotdog from Bucking Lobster – for some reason we are extremely hungry today. We made our way back to the park, but were 16 minutes early for our reservation, so we drove by the Summit Road intending to go a few miles down the road and then turn around and come back. Well, my superior navigating skills completely failed us, and we went down the part of the Loop Road where it is one-way with no chance to U-turn. It was 1:24 PM by the time we completed the entire circuit and got back to Summit Road. The drive up was nice – very scenic – but it was quite hazy, so not the best for pictures.
The park is jammed full today and there has been no parking available anywhere – Jordan Pond, Bubbles, the Visitor Center. As a result, we didn’t really get to enjoy the park much at all. I highly doubt tomorrow is going to be any better – especially since tomorrow’s cruise ship has over 4,000 passengers.
The campground is also totally full. It’s reasonably quiet, considering the number of people, but we don’t think we would come back to Acadia again. It’s just too popular. Incidentally, we ate our roast beef sandwich from the deli around 3:30, when we got back from a walk to the ocean. It was huge – we think there may have been an entire pound of meat on it. The ocean is only about a 10-minute walk from our campsite – just across Loop Park Road (the one-way part). We were very surprised to be sitting at least 100 feet above the sea; we thought it was going to be a beach!
The weather today was very hot – in the mid-80s and unfortunately there has been little breeze. Even our short walk to the ocean made us sweat. With all that we ate throughout the day we weren’t very hungry for dinner, so we each had a cup of soup (Lipton) and that was it for the night.
6 September 2023
225 miles
Sadly, we have been entirely underwhelmed with Acadia. There are just too many people, and today, a 4,000+ passenger cruise ship docked at 8:00 this morning, which means that the crowds will be worse than ever! So, we decided to bail on our third night and head up toward Aroostook in the northern part of Maine. We made one quick stop at Miller’s, a Carhart dealer in Bangor, because Markus really needed a new pair of safari-style pants. His pair are way too big and even a belt doesn’t help to keep them up. Of course, he has had them for 20 years – and I think he was slightly heavier then. Anyway, it was a successful stop, and he got a new pair of pants. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
It took us a couple of hours to pack up and we had coffee/breakfast at a leisurely pace, so it was about 12:30 when we pulled out. We made one stop for gas and the aforementioned stop at Miller’s, and we hit I-95 north. Our original destination was Holton but once we arrived, there were no hotels of any note, so we decided to go 40 more miles to Presque Isle. Hotel rooms seem to be in short supply – the Hampton Inn was sold out – so we booked a room at the Best Western in desperation. It is also underwhelming, but at least the bed is comfortable, and we were able to take a hot shower. It has been unseasonably hot for the last couple of days – in the mid-80s, which is quite warm for September in Maine.
But before showers, we needed food. After our pig out yesterday, we had only an egg and a piece of toast for breakfast and a shared granola bar on the 5 ½-hour drive. There isn’t much in town, but there is a Ruby Tuesday’s, so that’s what we decided on. We sat at the bar and had mozzarella sticks as an appetizer while we waited for our entrées to go (a burger for Markus and a steak quesadilla for me). We got back to our room and ate our dinner – I helped with Markus’ burger, which was ginormous. We ate only two small pieces of the quesadilla so the leftovers will be breakfast. It’s either feast or famine with us!!
Footnote 1: Blackwoods Campground in Acadia has almost 300 campsites. It’s huge!
Footnote 2: I-95 ends at Houlton, Maine, and then US 1 runs parallel to the Canadian border – sometimes as close as 3 miles – all the way north to Fort Kent (the beginning of US Route 1).
Footnote 3: The traffic on I-95 north of Bangor was so light. We have never been on any stretch of 95 that is so devoid of other vehicles. Of note, the speed limit is 75 mph.
Footnote 4: We have been on US Route 1, 2 and 3 on this trip! It just sounds cool!