Acadia National Park

The carful of kids are in Maine to explore Acadia National Park on our way home from a three week road trip. We started in Central Texas and drove to the Atlantic Maritimes in Canada and now we are headed back south.

Maine and Acadia National Park have been on my list for years; it's a long way from home, just over 2200 miles away but worth the trip. The carful of kids have one day in Acadia and it is not enough but we are going to see as much as possible.

The Bar Harbor area is a popular summer getaway and the hotel prices reflect that, so we stayed in Bangor, Maine, instead. It is an easy drive to the park especially if you start early.

Acadia National Park is packed in the summer months and traffic can be a problem. Acadia offers free transportation from Bar Harbor to the park and within the park itself, thanks to LLBean. We have discovered this is a good way to tour the most popular national parks.


Hopping on the Island Explorer at Hulls Cove Visitors Center, our first stop is the Sieur de Monts Nature Center for a Junior Ranger Activity--these activities are Park Ranger-led and the schedule of events is located in the park newspaper. The carful of kids enjoy learning about the animals and plants of the park while I look over the park newspaper I got at the visitors center.

It's inching towards lunchtime and the carful of kids love the beach, good thing there is one just up Park Loop Road. I have a towel to sit on, water bottles, sandwich fixing in the backpack.

Sand Beach, in Acadia National Park, has plenty of space to spread out even on a busy day. But beware, the Atlantic Ocean is freezing, mid-fifties even in the height of summer.

I start making sandwiches as the kids head to the water to chase waves and before I have slapped the bread together my oldest son is in the water thigh-high. Geez. Well, I'm not the one who will be walking around the rest of the afternoon in wet shorts.

Sand Beach has bathrooms, changing rooms and an area to wash the sand off your feet. This is a great place to spend the day in a beach chair with a good book but the carful of kids don't like to sit so we wash off our feet and head to the bus stop for our next destination, Thunder Hole.

Thunder Hole is a natural inlet and when a wave hits it just right, you get a big boom. There is also an opportunity to get wet when the waves crash against the rocks and splash onlookers. Thunder Hole also has a small, seasonal hut filled with souvenirs and cold drinks. The carful of kids find a local blueberry soda and refill the water bottles before getting on the bus again.

We heard there are blueberry bushes at Jordon Pond House and my middle son wants to pick some blueberries. We drove from Texas because he did a project on Maine and wanted to see it and the blueberries.

Jordan Pond House is a restaurant that has been serving popovers and tea since the 1890s when Nellie McIntire started the tradition. It is a lovely area with outdoor tables on a expansive lawn next to Jordan Pond and the Bubbles, the mountains nearby. Reservations are recommended if you plan to eat.

There are also several hiking trails in this area, the carful of kids take the Jordan Pond Nature Trail for a better look at the Bubbles. After a quick hike the carful of kids find the blueberry bushes and start darting along the tiny foot paths among the knee-high bushes looking for tiny blueberries. My son finds one and looks to each side before popping it into his mouth.

The carful of kids need to turn in their Junior Ranger Booklets to get our Junior Ranger Patches so we hop aboard the bus back to the Hulls Cove Visitors Center before they close. With minutes to spare, the carful of kids take our oath to protect our public lands.

We're hungry and it is Maine, so the carful of kids are on a quest for lobster. Right outside Acadia National Park is Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound, serving up lobster since 1956. You walk into the building and pick out your lobster, they throw them all into a numbered bag and take them outside.

A line of wood-fired cookers filled with fresh seawater awaits--minutes later, the best lobster in the world is ready to eat. We eat fresh lobster several times a year at home since it is a favorite of mine but I have never had lobster like this before, perfection.


After eating lobster, clams, corn and a pound of melted butter, we finish off dinner with blueberry pie. The carful of kids have a reservation in Boston to get to and that is 275 miles away.

Up Next: Boston in a Day