What we came up with was to stay in Acadia National Park for one more day only if we could do so without switching sites and not paying an insane amount of money at our campground. We wouldn't know that answer until about 9 AM on Tuesday.
In the event that we stayed and temperatures cruised to above average, the plan was as follows: go to Bar Harbor and get Acadia her gear, then a small hike, explore Park Loop Road, and then return to the campground for a pool break and decide how to spend the evening.
After Monday's insane biking day, everybody slept in and slowly go themselves moving in the morning. We were still drinking coffee and messing around camp when 9 AM rolled around. Acadia and I headed up to the park office to get the scoop.
It could be done. We'd be spending money and losing out on our first night in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. But our next site did not have electricity, temperatures were to reach 90, and any hikes (which looked absolutely stunning) would be done in the hottest part of the day. It needed to be done. We had unfished business in Acadia National Park.
My parents had started their day before we had officially made the call, so it would just be the four of us plus a dog for most of the morning and afternoon.
The first step would be back into town in the late morning. There, the girls got what they had been hoping for: Acadia got her namesake park gear (it made her day) while Aspen got climbing gear (seriously, this is what she wanted, and was super pumped to pick up a 50-foot rope). Cara and I also got a couple of things that we were glad to have found. While still in Bar Harbor, we checked out a cute bookstore, looped around to Atlantic Brewing Company to get a couple of 4-packs to go, and then a couple of smoothies at The Bite, which was a couple of buildings down from Side Street Cafe (which we didn't get to stop on this trip).
By then, it was about noon. We could sense that on this hot day, Sand Beach and Park Loop Road would be packed. However, we wanted to get a little hike in called Great Head Trail. The trail can be accessed by crossing Sand Beach and the main entrance. We'd be lucky to get a parking spot at the beach, though. Fortunately, we ended up finding a trailhead parking lot outside the main gates.
The trail makes somewhat of a figure-8 along the rocky coast, up some scrambles, through some woods, on the exposed rock at the summit, and then back through and occasional cutouts to Frenchman Bay. The dog loved it, the girls crushed it, and we all enjoyed one final hike. The day was going just how we had hoped.
After the hike, it was mid-afternoon, and we all needed to cool off in some AC on the way back to the camp. We decided to cut back across to Park Loop Road and take the long and scenic route back.
Once back, we all hopped into the pool while my parents came over after their bike ride. We hung out in the refreshing pool for about an hour finalizing evening plans.
After the pool, my parents headed back to their cottage while we all got some showers. We eventually met back up with them at their cottage, dropped off Molly with Kaylee, and drove on over to The Chart Room for one final round of seafood and beautiful views from the deck and pier.
Once dinner was over, we ventured back to my parents for about a half-hour before all of the awesome things that we did eventually caught up to us. We gave our hugs and said our goodbyes.
On Wednesday, we'd need to break down camp (for real this time) and then make the trek to the White Mountains and Dry River Campground in Crawford Notch State Park. We would only spend one night there before packing up again and heading to upstate New York for a family reunion.
Acadia National Park was everything that all of us had hoped for. The girls did so well on this leg of the road trip. While sitting in the car on Wednesday morning, waiting to checkout from the campground, both girls were nearly in tears because we were leaving. Both said, "I don't want to leave."
Guess we'll just have to come back again.
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