The Great New England Road Trip: Days 31-32, Back to Acadia
Day 31: When the Plan Changes
If there is one thing you have to be on a trip like this, it is flexible, especially when you are traveling with kids, and especially when you are traveling with seven of them! We make our plans far in advance, but we also know that somewhere along the way, those plans are probably going to change. Day 31 turned out to be one of our biggest changes yet.
Since we had missed out on tea at the tea room the day before, I had promised the girls I would take them back early the next morning before we had to check out of the campground. But sometime around midnight, the rain started pouring, and every time we checked the radar, it looked worse. Instead of letting up as the morning went on, the storm was only supposed to intensify.
Our leisurely morning and island tea quickly disappeared from the schedule. Instead, we rushed to pack up camp and get back across the seven-mile bridge before the weather got worse.
We were supposed to be heading north that morning toward Baxter State Park, a destination that had actually helped inspire this entire trip. The year before, while I was teaching some of the kids through the 50 states for geography at co-op, we read about Baxter State Park in an old book about Maine. It immediately captured everyone's interest, and ever since then, we had been excited to see it for ourselves.
As this part of the trip drew closer, though, we began wondering whether Baxter was really the best fit for our family this time around. The more we read and the more people we talked to, the more it sounded like many of the places we would want to explore would be difficult to access with our vehicle. We certainly don't have four-wheel drive, and our 15-passenger van isn't exactly known for its ability to conquer rough dirt and gravel roads!
We had already shortened our original Baxter plans, and after that we were supposed to head south toward Freeport and Portland. But after our experience navigating Charlottetown with our crew—and knowing we still had Boston ahead of us—we started wondering whether another city stop was really what we wanted either.
After plenty of thought and research, we realized there was another option that made a lot more sense: go back to Acadia.
We had loved Acadia National Park so much, and there were still plenty of things we hadn't gotten to do during our first visit. So instead of continuing north to Baxter, we rearranged the trip and booked two more nights near Acadia. Acadia, round two!
The rest of Day 31 wasn't terribly exciting, since most of it involved driving through the rain. Once we were settled back into the same campground near Acadia, however, we had enough time to drive over to Thunder Hole and give it another try.
I'm still not sure exactly how much Thunder Hole actually "thunders" even at the best of times, but this time it was definitely gurgling, spitting, and generally acting quite grumpy. We decided that counted as a successful Thunder Hole experience and headed back for the night, excited to have an unexpected bonus day in one of our favorite places.
Day 32: Back Where We Belonged
Waking up on Mount Desert Island the next morning felt strangely like coming home. We had only been gone a few days, but we were so happy to be back.
Acadia may very well be my favorite national park. There is so much to do, so much variety, and so many completely different landscapes packed into one place. Caleb would probably argue that Yellowstone still holds the top spot, and he has a pretty solid case, but even he loves Acadia.
If we had tried to plan one perfect day in Acadia National Park, Day 32 might have been it. We didn't repeat all of our favorite things from the week before, but somehow everything we did manage to squeeze into this day came together almost seamlessly. We started with one of the hikes we had really wanted to do during our first visit: the Bubbles.
The Bubbles are the two rounded mountains that create the iconic view across Jordan Pond, the same mountains you can admire from the lawn at Jordan Pond House while sipping tea and eating popovers. This time, instead of looking at them from below, we were headed to the top.
When we pulled into the hikers' parking area, we watched the car directly in front of us take the last available spot. Thankfully, we found an overflow area just down the road and discovered that another spur of the trail began right there.
It started raining just as we got out of the van, but it was light enough that we grabbed our raincoats and decided to go for it.
We didn't know a lot about the hike beforehand, but we could tell from the map that one side of the loop was considerably steeper than the other. We decided to tackle the steep section going up, since climbing a steep trail is usually much easier than trying to come back down it.
We were very glad we made that decision.
Once we reached the steepest section, we realized there was absolutely no way our crew would have wanted to climb down that route. Going up, however, everyone scrambled right over the rocks like a bunch of monkeys!
It was probably the most challenging trail we had attempted on the trip so far, and had we known exactly what we were getting into beforehand, we might have thought twice about it. Thankfully, everyone did great, and there was really only one section that felt a little sketchy.
When we finally reached the top of the first Bubble, we were greeted by...nothing.
A thick blanket of fog completely hid the view. We stood on top of the rocky dome surrounded by whiteness, as though we were floating inside the clouds. It wasn't exactly the sweeping mountain vista we had imagined, but it was pretty incredible in its own way. We made our way to the next summit.
When we reached the top of North Bubble and looked down, there was still nothing but fog. Then, literally before our eyes, it began to move.
The fog swirled and lifted, and suddenly Jordan Pond appeared beneath us. As the mist continued to clear, what seemed like an entire flock of seagulls rose with it. More and more of the pond came into view until we could see its shoreline, the opposite side, and even the carriage road we had biked the week before.
For a few incredible minutes, the whole landscape opened beneath us. Then the fog began swirling again. The pond slowly disappeared, the mountains faded back into white, and before long we were once again standing above a dense blanket of clouds. It was one of those moments we couldn't possibly have planned.
After coming down from the Bubbles, we headed toward Schooner Head Overlook, where we could see a small island and lighthouse offshore. We read that it was Egg Rock, and Jimmy immediately remembered Egg Rock from Barbara Cooney's Island Boy, one of his favorite books. We had completely forgotten about the connection, but sure enough, he was right!
From there we hiked down toward the cliffs to find something Caleb and I remembered from our honeymoon in Acadia 16 years ago: Anemone Cave. This is one of Acadia's unmarked places, and it is definitely a spot that requires caution. The cave is accessible around low tide and fills with water as the tide comes in, so timing matters, and the rocks around it are extremely slippery. We had checked the tide and arrived shortly before it began turning, giving us time to explore carefully.
Standing inside a sea cave and looking out at the Atlantic Ocean was an incredible experience. We had a great time exploring, although the slippery rocks did result in one minor injurybefore we were finished.
From there, we headed toward Sargent Drive, which Caleb's dad had recommended after biking all over Mount Desert Island during our first stay. He told us it was one of the prettiest drives on the island, and he wasn't wrong. The road followed Somes Sound through another beautiful section of Acadia and eventually brought us toward Northeast Harbor.
We briefly considered doing some shopping in Northeast Harbor but decided we'd rather head toward Eagle Lake and kayak instead.
We had biked there during our previous stay, but with only one full day this time, loading and unloading all the bikes seemed like more trouble than we wanted to tackle. Kayaking sounded much easier, especially since by this point the cool, wet, foggy morning had transformed into a bright, sunny, warm afternoon. Or so we thought.
When we reached Eagle Lake, the wind was whipping across the water and creating waves far rougher than our little origami foldable kayaks could handle. They're wonderful on calm water, but this definitely wasn't calm water. Plans changed again!
Instead of kayaking, we enjoyed the view and took a short walk along the carriage road. We would have loved to bike all the way around Eagle Lake, but that's one more reason we'll apparently have to come back someday.
Next, we headed toward what is known as the "quiet side" of Mount Desert Island to explore a few places we hadn't reached the week before. On the way, we passed the swimming area at the north end of Long Pond and couldn't resist stopping.
Despite the chilly wind, everyone had a wonderful time swimming. While we were there, I started talking with a local who gave me some great recommendations for other places to explore nearby. One of those was Pretty Marsh.
The name sounds promising, but it still doesn't do the place justice. Walking into Pretty Marsh felt like stepping into The Lord of the Rings or onto some kind of movie set. The woods sloped gently toward the ocean, with a beautiful little stone pavilion near the top, and everything around us seemed to be covered in layer upon layer of moss. Sunlight streamed through the trees and illuminated the green forest floor. It was surreal.
We could have stayed there for hours, or possibly the rest of the day, but we were quickly running out of time for our final big adventure. We had hoped to make it down to Seal Cove Picnic Area as well, but we had managed to secure a timed-entry pass for Cadillac Mountain, and sunset wasn't going to wait for us.
Cadillac Mountain was crowded when we reached the top, and parking took some patience, but it was absolutely worth the effort. We first explored the eastern side of the summit, looking out toward the ocean. Bar Harbor and the islands stretched out below us, and somewhere beyond the heavy clouds was the Schoodic Peninsula we had just explored a few days earlier.
Then we walked over to the western side, and the view was stunning.
Much of Mount Desert Island stretched out before us, with Somes Sound cutting through the landscape and everything glowing in the light of the setting sun. The thick fog from that morning hadn't completely disappeared; instead, it lingered in patches over the landscape and stretched across the sky in one enormous stripe, as though a painter had dragged a giant brush through the clouds.
Hundreds of people had gathered to watch the sunset. When the sun dropped behind that thick band of fog, almost everyone seemed to decide the show was over. The crowd streamed toward the parking lot like one enormous school of fish. We stayed.
Before long, the glowing pink sun dropped into a small opening in the clouds and appeared again, suspended for a few moments inside that enormous brushstroke of fog. Then it disappeared for the final time. The sun itself was gone, but the sunset wasn't.
For nearly an hour, shades of pink and orange continued glowing behind the clouds and spreading across the sky in every direction. With most of the crowd already gone, we were able to enjoy it in almost complete solitude. It was the perfect ending to our unexpected return to Acadia.
There was still one very important item left on the day's schedule. One of the things the kids had been most excited about when we decided to return to Mount Desert Island was going back to Udder Heaven Ice Cream Retreat. They had completed their Junior Ranger books and were planning to turn them in for free soft-serve cones. Those ice cream cones had been discussed all day.
In fact, as encouragement for tired little hikers to keep climbing mountains and stop whining, various upgrades had slowly been added to the promised cones. First there was a cherry on top. Then perhaps a second cherry. Sprinkles entered the negotiations somewhere along the way too.
By the time we piled into the van after sunset, expectations were very high. Then we entered the directions, and Google cheerfully informed us that the ice cream shop might be closed when we arrived.
I even called, and the owner kindly answered and confirmed our worst fears. Since it was the end of the season, their hours had changed that very week. There were some broken hearts in the van for a while.
Thankfully, Caleb has a way of pulling through when ice cream is on the line. We ended up at a grocery store in Bar Harbor, where we bought ice cream, raspberries in place of the promised cherries, and plenty of sprinkles. Harmony was restored!
Everyone finally crawled into bed that night exhausted, sugared up, and very happy that a change of plans had brought us back to Acadia for one more incredible day.
