New England Summer 2018: Day 13 - 27 Mile Loop Acadia

[Melbatb]

I was woken up at 1.30am by a big storm. Lots of rain and lightening. It had the advantage of cooling things down!

I woke up for the day at around 5.30am. I think everyone was awake by 7! Not a holiday for sleeping in!

I made coffee and then J and I did our loop down to the ocean. We liked this house - there are seriously big houses - this was one of the smaller ones!

It was still drizzly - there was a mist over the water.

At the marina there was a farmers' market. We got some spinach tarts for lunch and some cookies and muffins from the bakery store.

The rain continued on and off do we decided we would hit the mainland and do a bit of shopping.

In Dollar Tree (everything really was a dollar) we got some tide washing detergent and F got 2 jigsaws.

In Walmart we restocked the fridge - it was a lot cheaper than in the Park.

We also stopped at LL Bean but no purchases were made.

We had the spinach tarts (J and me) and the kids had cheese sandwiches.

We decided to drive the 27 mile loop. I highlighted some potential stopping points.

We entered the loop at Seal Harbor. Our first stop was Jordon Pond. We parked at the overflow carpark.

We walked down to the pond.

There were quite a lot of people around. Today was more about seeing the different highlights than doing a long walk.

F spotted a fair few frogs.

We explored a little - we were there about 30 minutes.

We continued on the loop road. We pulled up to look at Eagle Lake.

We then drove up to Cadillac Mountain as the weather seemed to be a bit clearer. The weather seemed to change from rain to sun to rain very quickly today.

At the top we spent a good 30 minutes exploring. This was the view over to Bar Harbor.

The views were spectacular.

I think we picked the ideal time to go up - not so busy and the clouds added to the beauty of it.

The next stop was Sand Beach. This part is on the one way stretch of the road.

This is one of the very few sandy beaches. I think on sunny days it is very busy but as it was about 5.30pm it was getting quieter.

F was getting a bit angsty - we promised one more stop then home!

The last stop was Thunder Hole. This is a popular stopping point - especially at high tide when the waves crash around. It was about 2 hours after low tide so not the optimum time.

The waves crash into the hole under the rock. It was a bit underwhelming!

But again the scenery was lovely!

We then headed back to the house. It was a good choice to do the drive this afternoon. We managed to stop at all but one of my highlighted points. If you only had a day to see Acadia this would be a good option. It took us over 3 hours with all the stops.

Back at the house I made dinner - pan fried salmon and pesto rice. The rain has been on and off all evening so indoor games! The forecast is better for tomorrow!