Day 5: Bar Harbor and Acadia, Pt. 1

Nolan treated us by getting up at 5:45 on Sunday. After initially trying to contain him in the back room of the motorhome I eventually decided to take him out for a ride. The two of us went downtown and walked around then harbor. He is still in peak Mom phase so he was treating me like a stranger which was a great visual for passersby.

After about an hour we went back to the campground to cook breakfast. A grilled breakfast felt like a treat since we hadn’t been able to do that yet.

The main activity on Sunday was the National Park. First we went up to Cadillac Mountain at 10:30am. Allyson and I had been there before, but it felt more special this time around. The views up top are beautiful. While we were up there I was trying to wrap my head around why it seemed so special considering its elevation is only 1,500 feet. A year ago we were up at Pikes Peak which is nearly 10 times the elevation and Cadillac Mountain just seemed cooler. I can’t think of another place where you can drive up a mountain and look down on a town like Bar Harbor and have the ocean all around. It was awesome. We also didn't have to worry about kids asthma or our son's lips turning blue!

Next we drove back down to Jordan Pond, which is really more like a small lake. We parked and then hiked about halfway around stopping to take a bunch of pictures.

The last main stop of the day was Sand Beach. We got everyone down there and then headed over to the ocean. The ocean was just as cold as I remembered it….a chilly 55 degrees. It was so cold that your feet hurt standing in the water. Of course kids don’t care and they were all wishing they had their bathing suits.

It was pretty difficult with Nolan at the beach. He wanted to run down into the water but it was way too cold for him so Allyson and I had to struggle to hold him back. After about 45 minutes we headed back up to knock off the sand, load into the car, and drive on back to the campground.

For dinner we were making meatloaf sliders. I intentionally prepped all the ingredients beforehand so that it was easy to mix the (vegan) meat and form patties. I was hoping that by having the girls make the food that Sam and Julia would eat it without the need for persuasion. That didn’t happen. However, the rest of us enjoyed delicious sliders.

After dinner Allyson took the older three downtown to do some shopping while I walked around the campground with Nolan and Sam. The Bar Harbor Campground has to be one of my favorites. When you go on a walk with Sam at the right time she just talks and talks about all kinds of random things, and I love listening to it. It’s like a little window into her 3 year old brain that is free from stress, pressure, and responsibility. You wish they could stay like that forever.

At 8:00pm Allyson got back and we put the youngest three to bed, then sat out with Caroline and Natalie to do s’mores. It was great way to end a really good day in Maine.