Acadia goes to Acadia!

“Let Nature be your teacher.” – William Wordsworth

Back in June, Cara brought up the idea of going camping in Acadia National Park. Naturally, I felt just as interested in the idea. Who wouldn't want to pack up a 2008 Saturn Vue that just cracked 100,000 miles with all that was necessary to camp for a few nights in a National Park in beautiful Maine?

And we had to leave enough room in the back for our dog.

And we'd bring our eight-month-old along for the trip.

Oh - and did I mention it was more than 11 hours away? On an island. In Maine.

Anytime we brought the idea up - both before we had a campsite reserved and the numerous times once we committed to doing it - the number one adjective used to describe us was "crazy."

Crazy or not, when we finally started to think about it seriously, the number one issue we had was that we'd plan to go Labor Day Weekend. That was great for us as we would each only have to use one personal day, but we'd still get the perks of a four-day-weekend. The problem was that hundreds of others had the same idea and there were no available campsites.

We weren't too worried, though. (A very similar thing happened to us when we wanted to camp in Arches National Park back in 2016.) I tried to check the availability once or twice a day just in case somebody canceled. On July 4, sometime around 10 or 11 p.m., I checked. And there it was: an open site. Before we could sleep on it, I punched in our information and had the site reserved.

Acadia National Park is where we'd spend our Labor Day weekend. We'd spend it with our dog and daughter, who got to visit the park she was named after before she was even a year old. We'd also get to spend some time with friends, although we didn't know that at the time.

As the summer went on, and especially once school kicked back up, excitement and adrenaline superseded any type of anxiety or second-thoughts.

So, before we knew it, the car was situated with enough room for a dog and a car seat.

Now, the goal was to get to Boston on Thursday night, stay with Lou and Emily, wake up early on Friday, and make the final push into Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park.

Our trip had us take I-81 right past the exit to get to Cara's parents. No time to stop this time as we were on a mission and a race against the clock. But this proximity would come back to help us Monday morning.

When we first began our trek northward, the GPS said it would be a roughly seven-hour trip, which meant we'd get into Boston around 11:15. A few stops here and there and the occasional traffic delay pushed it back about an hour.

We got to Lou and Emily's a little past midnight. That adrenaline and excitement I mentioned earlier were still there. But after a full workday and then being in the car for eight hours, dozy eyes took over everybody. We were asleep by 1 a.m.

We ended up with only about five or six hours of sleep, but some breakfast and a cup of coffee were enough to get us out of Boston proper and keep heading north through Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and eventually Maine. We'd see Lou and Emily again in less than 24 hours as they were on their way, coincidentally, up to Acadia National Park as well.

The trip to Acadia National Park from Boston takes somewhere between four-and-a-half hours (on the best of days with no traffic) up until six or more hours (on the long, holiday weekends). We knew we were in for the latter, but a few slow stops meant we didn't get to our campsite until around 3 p.m. after about a six-hour drive.

Still, there was nothing better than seeing this sign after all that we'd traveled over the last 24 hours:

And a few minutes after I took that photo, we were at the entrance to Blackwoods Campground, which is situated directly across from the trailhead to the Cadillac Mountain South Rim Trail in Otter Creek. It's also just a quarter-mile from where we stayed when we visited the park in 2017.

First thing first, soak in the coastal forest aroma and unpack. After a little bit of time, we had cozied up the campsite to the best that we could. Lily had her run all set to enjoy most of our site, but she pretty much wanted to follow us wherever we went.

There are bits and pieces of this trip that blend together, and after getting to Maine, I can't really remember if Cara or I took a nap (or even if Acadia and Lily did for that matter!) once camp was set.

But Acadia was loving being outdoors, whether she was playing in her pack-and-play or hanging and bouncing on the air mattress with mom and dad.

Lily was loving it, too. Although her initial energy was probably just from not being in the vehicle anymore. But before Friday was over, she'd be back to enjoying life like the water-loving dog that she is.

After setting up camp and getting everybody acclimated to our living quarters for the next few days and nights, we took a stroll around the campground.

This was part stretching out our legs after all of that driving and part waiting for a response from Lou and Emily. They were working half-days and traveling closer to the holiday weekend. We didn't know when they'd get in and what they'd want to do, if anything, once they did arrive.

After we got word that they weren't going to get to their campground (Smuggler's Den on the other lung of Mount Desert Island) until later in the evening and being 20-some minutes away from us, we figured we'd be on our own this evening.

With no hikes or trails planned for Friday evening, we figured we'd get everybody back into the Vue and drive into Bar Harbor, the main town on the island.

We walked around some different streets, hopped into a few shops, picked up a six-pack at Atlantic Brewing Company, and eventually landed on the north end of Bar Harbor.

During low tide, a land bridge forms in the Frenchman Bay, which is on the north end, and that connects to Bar Island, a small island with a trail or two that is only accessible during low tide.

We didn't plan to do any hiking, but we did want to get Lily some exercise after keeping her in the vehicle for much of the last day.

Needless to say, Lily was having a blast chasing after rocks and crab shells thrown into the water.

 
A comfortable, late-summer ocean breeze can do wonders to your spirit, that much I know. As peaceful as the Bar Harbor wind was to your mind, it doesn't fill your stomach.

With a baby and a dog, sometimes finding a restaurant can be difficult. Fortunately for us, this time around, it wasn't.

Near the access point to the land bridge is a place called Stewman's Lobster Pound. We'd never heard of it before, and it never came recommended from any of our friends or family that had visited Bar Harbor before.

But it was dog-friendly, and that's what mattered.

I got the haddock sandwich, and Cara ended up deciding on a shrimp one. The service was incredibly fast and friendly. Despite the quick service, the quality didn't take a hit.

We were full, but we saved just enough room to get a cone at Mount Desert Ice Cream - and absolute must-stop.

After dessert, we got in touch with Lou and Emily.

While there wasn't a whole lot planned for our trip this time around, the one thing on our list was a sunrise hike on Cadillac Mountain. While we have hiked Cadillac Mountain before, it was done as a through-hike as we went form the South Rim to the North Rim.

This time around, Cara and I wanted to do a hike at sunrise. With two vehicles available, we could leave one car at the bottom of the mountain, drive to the top, hike down (always a plus!), and then get in the car and drive back up to the summit to get the other car.

We originally thought the sunrise hike would be Sunday morning. But because of the arrival timing of Emily's brother, they figured it best to do the hike Saturday morning instead.

That would mean the next day. We'd have to get up by 4:15 a.m. in order to be ready and drive to the summit in time for sunrise before descending in the early hours of the day.

It was already getting late in Bar Harbor. We'd have to get Acadia down for bed and pack up for our hike the best that we could.

So, we were off to our campsite from Bar Harbor to prepare for a unique trek on one of Acadia National Park's most famous mountains.

The first day on Mount Desert Island was a success. We could only assume that the second day would be just as successful.