We left early Saturday morning to see Acadia National Park, down near Bar Harbor. It was a 2-hour drive from Bangor, a beautiful drive through some of Maine's gorgeous coastlines. The views were reminiscent of California's coastal highways, but much more lush and green. The day was immaculate...a brilliant blue sky with some fluffy clouds, bright green grass and lush forests edging out to the choppy, dark-blue water. The roads taken to Acadia were an experience all their own.
Acadia National Park is located on Mount Desert Island. When we got to the park, we took the Park Loop road, the most typical route around to see the sights. The coastline was rocky, just like in the photographs you see of Maine...foamy blue waves crashing into the rocky cliffs. The Porcupine Islands dotted the Bay, and while it didn't seem like we were very high up, we had a terrific view of the surrounding areas. Much like Yellowstone, Acadia National Park is a photographer's dream.
Thunder Hole was a highlight of Acadia- A cavernous hole carved into a rock hill by the ocean waves would flood with the tide then boom out of the hole like a cannon. Each time the tide came in, the air pressure would boom water out of the hole. Truly an amazing facet of nature. It reminded me of Hawaii's similar landscape, where rushing tides shot water out of holes in the cliffs like mini geysers. I can't wait to see those in person.
At the center of Mount Desert Island is Cadillac Mountain, a relatively small mountain (only 1,500 feet) but somehow the highest mountain on the East coast of the U.S. I thought for sure that Mount Washington (N.H.) was the winner of that contest, but apparently, it's not ON the coast, it's somewhat NEAR the coast. Details...
Cadillac, despite its minor elevation, had an AMAZING view of the Bar Harbor area and Porcupine Islands. We spent some time getting up there, as many tourists like us were out and about on July 4th weekend, but when we got to the top, it was worth the wait. The weather could not have been better.
On our way out of the park, we stopped into Bar Harbor to have a look around downtown. We went to church there in the town, then got some dinner at a crappy little restaurant that failed to meet up to the AAA hype. We window shopped along the streets of Bar Harbor and visited the docks where we signed up for a whale tour. (more on that later) It was a full day, so we headed back around 7. I worked on my paper from the hotel room, cursing both, the assignment's mandatory word count which was totally unneccesary and that I had to be in a hotel room in Maine to work on a paper.
