We went camping in Acadia National Park (in Maine) over Labor Day weekend, and had a wonderful time. We could not have asked for nicer weather - low 70's during the day, low 50's at night, not a cloud in the sky - perfect camping weather.
A friend of Chris's from work let us borrow his 2-man kayak, and so the first order of business was a stop in
Hampton Beach, NH. We strapped the kayak to our car, and stopped to enjoy the waves at Hampton Beach, a classic Maine beach town. Hurricane Earl was in town, and while the weather was a bit windy, the waves were in full swing. Turns out they wouldn't let anyone in the water past their knees, which was frustrating for Chris, who I think wanted to show the hurricane-force waves who was boss. We did stop and see surfers going to town on the non-public beach front a half-mile away.
Since we decided to go only 2 weeks before, and it was Labor Day, we could only get a campsite in the park on Sunday night. Chris booked a night at the Red Barn Campground for Saturday night, an hour outside the park. We weren't expecting much from this campground - we get a bit snobby about RV Park campgrounds, but we were pleasantly surprised. The place seemed to have a really strong community, a pool, rabbits and chickens in cages for the kids to examine (and fresh eggs for sale in their camp store!) The site was clean and private, and best of all, Maisy was welcome.
We all slept well in our 4-man tent from REI, and packed up the next morning in a hurry to get to the park itself. To expedite our packing, we let the kids wander in the field next to our campground. Then we made the mistake of letting them wander in the field next to our campground with our tent poles.
An hour later, deep in Acadia at the Blackwoods campground, we discovered the mistake. The idea of driving another 2 hours round-trip just to get some tent poles when a fantastic hike was calling our name was too much to bear. So we decided to sleep in the car. A quick test of putting the seats down all the way flat revealed Chris could stretch out all the way sealed the deal.
We went for our hike up Bear Brook Trail to the top of Champlain Mountain. It was a 2.2 mile round trip, with some pretty steep uphills for our little guys. They were in good footwear though, and went up like little goats. Frankie completed the entire hike, with maybe a 5-minute "shoulder ride" from Chris here and there. Dex went 90% of the way up, and about 40% of the way down on his own. We were so proud of them!
The views were gorgeous - ocean as far as the eye could see in 3 directions. I'm so sad that we did not have a camera on this trip. We're in the process of buying one, and will not be without one in Thailand, I promise!
As soon as we got in the car after the hike (it was about 4 pm), the kids fell asleep, so Chris and I took the time to drive around the rest of Mt. Desert Island to get a fuller sense of the island. We'd been to Acadia 9 years ago - and realized it was before we had both kids, and Maisy.For some reason we didn't remember doing the drive around the island, and it was a treat. We ate dinner in Bar Harbor, which is a really cute little town, and went back to our campsite to sleep in our car. It actually was pretty comfortable, and always nice to know it's an option!
The next morning we got up early and headed to the boat launch at Eagle Lake. We put the kayak in the water, and much to our amazement, were the only boat on the lake. It took about 45 minutes to paddle across the lake. After about 30 minutes in Dex began moaning that he was "all dum, mama, all dum!" We decided to get out on the far side of the lake and go for a little hike to break up all that monotony of being paddled around a gorgeous lake surrounded by mountains covered in pine trees in 72 degree weather. It's a hard life for the little guy.
But, we were really glad we did, because we came across the largest snapping turtle I've ever seen outside a zoo. Again, because we didn't have a camera, I can't show you the actual turtle, but he looked about like this dude:
He was climbing through a rocky stream-bed that led into the lake, a stream-bed we literally had to hop over on our trail, so that meant we were about 4 feet from him and were able to follow his progress down the stream-bed. So I've seen turtles before, and turtles are known for being slow, and friendly, but let me tell you this creature was neither. He was fast. Freakishly fast for a turtle, and huge, and at one point (clearly scared of us) turned around and hissed at us, much like the turtle in the picture above is doing. It was awesome. The kids loved it. Dex started saying turtle, and he now loves to spot other turtles he sees around (mostly in pictures and stories). It's been over 2 weeks, and we're still talking about that turtle.
Back in the kayak, we paddled back across the lake, and by we, I really mean Chris, because about 10 minutes in to that trip, Dex started his moaning again, which quickly turned to full-on screaming, so I left the paddling to Chris while I distracted and comforted the boy. But we made it safe and sound back to the car, where Maisy greeted us with tail-thumping joy.
We stopped back in Bar Harbor again for lunch and delicious cookies at the
Morning Glory Bakery, and headed home. With a stop back at the Red Barn Campground again for our tent poles, of course. Which were still there :)
