Acadia National Park - Dining Our Way Across Mt. Desert Island

Just the thought of spending any time over Memorial Day weekend in the tourist town of Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park on Mt. Desert Island was enough to inject fear into Alan’s heart and mine.  Those of us who are “socially selective” tend to favor opportunities for solitude in our National Parks over holiday bedlam.  That was reason enough to leap out of bed at o’dark-thirty on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.  Okay, let’s face it, we no longer “leap” anywhere.  But we were up and out early on our way to Café This Way.  Which way?  This way . . .

Acadia National Park - Discovering Schoodic Woods

I just recently realized that we’ll need to quit traveling for about two years if I ever want to catch up on blog posts.  Alan and I spent 10 days in Maine toward the end of May, and then two weeks at home trying to catch up before heading out to Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut for another 12 days.  Now we’re back home and playing catch up.  Again.  I’m not complaining!  We’re blessed to be able to enjoy this lifestyle in retirement.  But I always struggle with the decision on what to post first – the remainder of past trips that I’m trying to document (our West Coast National Parks journey, in this case) or our most recent travels while they’re still fresh in my memory.  Because my memory seems to take a vacation of its own at times, I decided that it’s probably best to strike while the iron is hot and our experiences are fresh in my mind, so I’ve put the West Coast trip on pause for now.

I absolutely love Acadia National Park in Maine!  While I’ll never commit to a “favorite National Park,” Acadia is always in the Top Three.  The park has so much to offer – that magnificent Maine coastline, miles of well-marked carriage roads for walking and biking, sparkling lakes for paddling, hiking trails that range from easy-peasy to holy sh*t, and, of course, popovers at The Jordan Pond House.  The only feature of the Park that doesn’t thrill me is Blackwoods Campground.  Blackwoods is a lovely campground, but space for bigger rigs like our 32’ trailer is limited to only 29 sites.  The section where we do fit feels a bit too tightly packed for my taste.  To make matters worse, at the time of our first two visits (2011 and 2014), campers reserving a site in the “big rig” section weren’t able to select a specific campsite; your site was assigned at the time of your arrival.  It was definitely not my favorite type of camping experience.  I always considered putting up with the process and the close quarters as the cost of doing business if we wanted to wake up in the park each day – which we did.  But now, we have a much better option.

Acadia National Park - The Adventure Continues

In the summer of 2011, our family of four enjoyed our first ever visit to Acadia National Park in Maine.  At the time, our son, Ryan, was 17 and our daughter, Kyra, was 12.  (That awkward “tween” age would explain the response I received from Kyra when I asked the kids if I could post a particular photo of them in Bar Harbor – “Oh my God please no!”  That, my friends, is the reason I always ask first.)  My previous blog post covered some of Acadia’s history, the hiking trails we tackled and a bit about the carriage roads that we enjoyed biking.  This post details our experiences with water sports in the Park, our pilgrimage to the summit of Cadillac Mountain, some touristy fun around the town of Bar Harbor and a favorite tradition at The Jordan Pond House.

Acadia National Park - The Lure of the Land, the Call of the Sea

I nearly choked on my morning coffee when I realized that it has been four weeks since my last blog post.  Alan and I spent most of the past month getting our ducks in a row for a couple of not-so-easy real estate transactions.  But I’m also happy to report that we managed to sneak in a short trip to Seven Points Campground, an Army Corps of Engineers facility on Raystown Lake in Pennsylvania.  (Watch for a future post on that long-awaited excursion.)  Since life finally seems to be quieting down a bit, I’m really happy to settle in at the keyboard again and share our Acadia adventures with you.  Our first visit was so full of exceptional and delightful experiences that it might take more than one post to deliver all the details. We’ll see how it goes. 

This post is dedicated to my cousin Anna who, I’m pretty sure, really, really wants to visit Maine, and to my cousins John and Janine who go there often.

Acadia National Park had been on my bucket list for years.  In actuality, it’s one of the National Parks closest to our home in the northeast United States.  Therein lies the problem.  Because Acadia is more accessible to us than the numerous Parks out west, it made sense to Alan and me to travel further when the kids were young and he could pull four weeks of vacation at a clip.  After all, it takes us at least five solid days of driving to make it from one end of the country to another.  So travel time alone often knocks off a week and a half of scheduled vacation time on our National Parks trips.  For a variety of reasons (none of which matter a bit here), we finally decided to visit Acadia National Park in the summer of 2011 when Ryan was 17 and Kyra was 12.  This exquisite Park immediately shot to the top of my favorites list.

Celebrating National Park Week 2019 – Why It’s Impossible for Me to Choose a Favorite Park

National Park Week 2019 runs from Saturday, April 20^th, through Sunday, April 28^th, with a “fee-free” day on the 20^th to kick off the week of celebration.  Other “fee-free” days during 2019 are August 25th (the birthday of the National Park Service), September 28th (National Public Lands Day) and November 11^th (Veterans Day), so mark your calendar accordingly.  Spring is a perfect time of year to get out and enjoy our national treasures, and many of our National Parks have special events scheduled during the week.  Plus, the National Park Service has assigned a theme to many of the days during National Park Week such as Junior Ranger Day on April 20^th and Bark Ranger Day on April 27^th.  (Yes!  Some National Parks and Monuments do allow pets!)  National Park Week focuses on the beauty and benefits of these glorious public lands – OUR public lands - and the countless opportunities that exist for us to enjoy them.

Photo credit:  www.nps.gov

Many of you know that our love affair with our National Parks began back when Alan and I honeymooned by tent camping across the country on a journey to visit several of the iconic Parks in the American West.  Currently, there are 61 National Parks in existence, but properties managed by the National Park Service number 419 and include National Monuments, Battlefields, Military Parks, Historical Parks, Historic Sites, Lakeshores, Seashores, Recreation Areas, Scenic Rivers and Trails, and the White House.  We’ve made a dent in that list, but we still have a long way to go to see them all.  (Interesting tidbit of information:  The largest National Park is Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska at 13.2 million acres, and the smallest is the Thaddeus Kosciuszko Memorial in Pennsylvania at 0.02 acres.)  With all of those Parks to choose from, (okay, Mike, I admit it should be “from which to choose”), the question that inevitably comes up is, “Which National Park is your favorite?”

Unique Travel Experiences Enrich Our Lives in Distinctive Ways

Since I posted the most recent installment detailing the second of our cross country National Parks camping trips, a thought has been percolating in my mind that I’ve been having a hard time putting into words.  Actually, I think it’s more about feelings than words and, although I’ve been pondering for weeks, I’m still having a difficult time expressing those thoughts and feelings.

When I wrote about our visit to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, I felt like I didn’t successfully convey just how much the opportunity to ride the tiny tram up to the top of the Arch really affected me.  That got me thinking about a number of other experiences we’ve had in our travels.  Let’s face it – I love to travel and I believe that all travel experiences enrich our lives in many ways.  I remember almost every single one of our travel adventures in a positive light (although there are a few exceptions that I’d be just as happy to forget).  Some served to relax and recharge after an exceptionally busy or stressful time.  Some provided a sense of personal satisfaction as a check mark was placed next to a Bucket List item.  Some simply brought the pure enjoyment of being in a magnificently scenic setting. But, every once in a while, we enjoy an experience so rich, so unique or so fascinating that it is forever imprinted on my mind, my heart and, maybe, even in my soul.  Like I said, it’s really hard to explain, but I’m going to give it a try.