ACADIA NATIONAL PARK & BAR HARBOR
This stop takes us to the farthest point away from home of the entire trip! And, what a stop it is. We have visited Redwood NP, Olympic NP, Glacier NP, The Great Smoky Mountain NP and now Acadia. (Niagara Falls is a state park if you’re wondering).
Trip stats: Total miles 12,081, Towing miles 6063, non-towing 6018
We’re staying at “The Narrows Too Resort” in Trenton which is just off Desert Island where Bar Harbor and the park are located. The island itself is about 30 miles long and 30 miles wide. The main part of Acadia NP takes up 1/2 the island but includes other parts of the island like ponds, lakes and lighthouses that are under park control. The park was on the water and our site wasn’t far from the beach.
Over the week we visited Bar Harbor a few times. During the day we visited the local shops and ice cream parlors. We found a great place for ice cream and ended up going back twice…on different days! There were cruise ships in the harbor most days, dropping their cargo of humanity on this tiny little town.
Acadia National Park has a road that circles the park and
gave us a chance to see the popular spots. It was raining the first day we 
got there, so we drove the route and found spots we wanted to go back on another day. We found Jordan Pond about 3/4s of the way around the loop road and took a little while to check it out. It is a crystal clear lake that provides drinking water to the locals and has a trail that goes around it. We ended the day by up going to the top of Cadillac Mountain. This is a 1530 foot
“mountain” and is the highest point in the eastern continental U.S. so it enjoys being the first place in the country to get the first rays of sunrise. Unfortunately, since it was stormy and overcast, we only got a fleeting glimpse of the surrounding area and sunset.
Returning to the park a couple of days later, we hiked around Jordan Pond and took Cody with us. The first part of the trail was a nice level shaded walk, mostly through forested coastline. The trail then changed as it went through what looked like a significant rock fall and became bolder hopping. Cody didn’t have a problem, but it slow us old folks 
down some. The last third of the trail was elevated on wooden planks so as not to disturb the forest floor. This presented a balancing act to a degree and even Cody missed a step or two. We ended the hike at a restaurant/snack bar and rewarded ourselves with blueberry soda.
Arline’s bucket list included hearing the call of a loon. Apparently they are particular 
about where they live. They rarely come on land except to nes, t and require pretty pristine
conditions. Not only did we hear them, we actually saw a pair close to shore. It was an amazing experience. Now she can scatch that one off her list.
You can’t go to Maine and not have lobster. There were dozens of Lobster Pounds all over the place.
We decided on a place that was right on the water. It was a nice evening and warm enough to sit out on the patio with a view of the ocean right in front of us. Arline decided she didn’t want to fight to get to her lobster, so she ordered the Lazy Man’s Lobster, and I went for the Halibut. We rounded off the day with another visit to our favorite ice cream place.
Next stop, Old Orchard Beach.
OLD ORCHARD BEACH, MAINE
A hidden gem just south of Portland Maine, Orchard Beach is small beach community and quite famous as an Atlantic beach resort. We chose it because it was the right amount of miles and driving time, but soon found it was one of the better places we have been. 
Sometimes refered to as the “Coney Island of Maine” the Old Orchard Beach Pier is the main attraction, 
built in 1898 and in its heyday featured entertainment of Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman and Guy Lombardo. Although it was pretty much closed for the season, the pier and beach were still fun. Just up the coast is the famous home of George H.W. Bush in Kennebunkport. Not a bad piece of beach
property. We heard that old George was visiting the local L.L. Bean store just before we got there. The little village of Kennebunk is an old New England coastal town and looks like it’s
right out of “Murder She Wrote”. It’s also where Arline finally met up with a Lobster Roll!
It was nice just to walk along the beach and Cody 
just loved it. Lucky dog has romped on the beaches of both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans
Craig & Arline's circle the U.S. trip 