Acadia National Park

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I've always wanted to go to Maine. I'm not sure why. Maybe it just felt exotic because it was a state so far from where I've always lived (though certainly not the farthest).

It took me almost 43 years, but I finally made it. We were there to visit Acadia National Park. I didn't know a thing about it going in, but given our goal to visit as many as we can, it didn't matter. We were going.

Acadia is broken into two sections: The main section takes up the better part of Mt. Desert Island, and the secondary section is a little farther north on the Schoodic peninsula. We were able to visit both.

One of the main draws on Mt. Desert Island is Cadillac Mountain, the highest point in Maine at a whopping 1530 feet. There is a road leading to the top, and thanks to the pandemic, it was necessary to book a timed ticket to get up. We were fortunately able to grab one. (They also sell early tickets to see the sunrise, which folks told us was amazing, but we decided to pass on waking the kids at 4 AM for that opportunity.)

The coast of Maine is very different from the coast of the southeastern United States, where I've spent over half my life. In Maine, a sandy beach is such an oddity that it gets named "Sand Beach" and put on the map! Different or not, it was gorgeous.

Frenchman's Bay from the top of Cadillac Mountain

Jordan examining a rock on Schoodic Point

Other than Cadillac Mountain, we mainly meandered around the scenic drive, stopping at a few locations to get out and explore. After hitting the major east coast cities, the kids were a little worn out from walking so much, so we tried to get around by vehicle this time. Despite our efforts, we still managed to rack up 6 miles of walking.

I had to fly to Wilmington, NC for work in the middle of our stay in Maine, but Julie and the kids were able to return to Acadia while I was gone to ride their bikes on the carriage roads. These are roads built by John D. Rockefeller Jr. that are closed to motor vehicle traffic. There aren't many carriages on them any more, but they are widely used by pedestrians and bikers.


Oh yeah... it was 70 degrees during most of our stay. This was in the middle of July. Would I want to be here in Feburary? No, I would not. But I'll take 70 in July anytime!
Location: Acadia National Park, Maine, USA

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