Acadia National Park

The sun was shining brightly when we got up this morning. Both of us were a little stiff and sore from all the hiking yesterday. Of couse that didn't stop us from venturing out to the park.

First, we drove along the Park Loop Road that goes by the ocean. This is our last day on the coast, so we wanted to spend some time there. We went in search of tide pools, which are found during low tide. We did locate some pools, but really didn't find any interesting critters moving around. We did, however, manage to find some spectacular scenery along Otter Cliffs. These are sheer pink granite cliffs that drop off straight into the ocean. We met two groups of rock climbers who were in the process of repeling off these cliffs. If I were 30 years younger, I would have loved to learn how to rock climb. I love heights. Instead, we had to settle for a few cliff hanging pictures.

Cadillac Mountain is the highest point on this island (1500 feet) and the highest place on the Eastern seaboard. At 11:00 the Forest Ranger gave a talk on the geology of Arcadia. Sonya, our Ranger, did a fantastic job of explaining how the area was formed and how the glaciers eroded it to make the features we see today. I love to hear good teaching, and she was very effective. Even the kids could follow her, and we had a family of homeschoolers from Round Rock, TX in our group. From the top of Cadillac Mt. you can see Bar Harbor and much of Acadia. It was a wonderful place for a geology talk.

After our cool (literally) Ranger talk, we headed for Jordan Pond Restaurant for lunch. We had some great soup and their speciality, popovers. I can't say I've ever had a popover before, but it was delicious. It's a very puffed up type of roll. The area around Jordon Pond is gorgeous. There is this beautiful lake with two small mountains called The Bubbles in the background. People were eating out on the big yard set up with tables. As much as I love to eat outside, it was a little too chilly for me. The high was suppose to be 58 degrees.

After lunch we decided to go on a one-hour carriage ride on the Carriage Roads. For $18 we made a terrific decision. Our driver, Randy, was a great story-teller. Ted and I got to sit up front with him, so we didn't miss a thing. He reminded us so much of Steve Johnson. We learned lots more about this historic park. We even went by Martha Stewart's house on this island. Terrific experience.

We did some downtown hiking after that. I wanted a t-shirt, but ended up with a fleece. We bought Christmas ornaments and some other little things. Tonight we had dinner at a small restaurant that we had seen people lined up for the last two nights. We thought they must have something good. Tonight we were early enough to get in. Ted had a lobster dinner, and I just got a salad (still too full from the popovers). Except for their 19 homemade dessert choices, I'm not sure what the big deal was. Blueberry pie is what they serve here everywhere. It was terrific tonight.

Talked to Larry tonight. He and Larry would love this place. Tomorrow we leave for New Hampshire. We're taking the scenic road, so it will take us atleast six hours.