Day 6: Bar Harbor and Acadia, Pt. 2

On Monday we had another whole day in Bar Harbor. Fortunately, Nolan was not up at the crack of dawn. So although everyone did get up a little early we were able to sleep in a bit. The plan for the day was to go back into the National Park in the morning and then in the evening take a cruise to see some Lobsters and Seals. We made breakfast and the girls all played around our campsite for a bit. This was a nice treat because they are getting old enough where they can occupy themselves as a group without us watching their every move.

Playing behind our campsite

However, right around this time Allyson started to get a migraine. This was extremely concerning. If she catches them early there is a chance of salvaging a portion of the day. So I headed off into the National Park while she laid down so she could hopefully salvage part of a normal day. I loaded up the five kids and headed off for a new area of the park. It was about 10am on a Monday morning so I figured that park would be much less crowded than the day before which was on a weekend. Wrong. The park was jam packed. Every parking lot was full, and even every little overlook was full, it was crazy.

All the kids were great when Dad had them in Acadia

The area I wanted to go to would take a long time to get to, so after driving through several parking lots we finally opted to go back to the visitor center and see if we could hike anywhere from there. After about five laps through the parking lot I found someone leaving and was able to nab a spot. We headed down a mixed-use gravel path which had the girls feeling disappointed at first. Caroline and Natalie think they are extreme athletes so anything other than pure danger lets them down. Well although this path was gravel it was insanely steep for a long period of time so they quickly came back down to earth. We hiked a little over a mile to the Witch Hole Pond. Lovely name. We had a snack and headed back.

They all did really well. Nolan was super chill being in the hiking back pack. Since Allyson wasn’t with us he couldn’t scream for her, so it was the good old version of Nolan, the one who still loves his Dad.

We headed back to the campground for lunch and to relax after the “strenuous” hike. After lunch we watched a movie and Allyson took the kids over to a nearby ice cream shop that you could walk to since it was adjacent to the campground. Our evening cruise was at 6:00pm, so we had to be downtown at the docks by 5:30. We tried to get the girls to eat dinner early, but only the older two were going for it. We left for the boat and got an awesome ($4/hr!?!) parking spot in the crowded downtown area, which was a huge score, and left us with plenty of time.

Getting ready to get on the boat

The boat was named the Miss Samantha, so that was fun. Caroline was a bit nervous about getting on it but ultimately she worked up the courage to go. Even I was pretty excited. I’m not really into boats. I don’t get motion sickness, and don’t have a fear of the water, it’s just that I cannot sit still for more than 2 seconds so the idea of sitting on a relatively small boat for 1-2 hours is not appealing. However this boat was a good size and it was not crowded so I could move around and interact with all the girls quite a bit. The agenda for the cruise was to learn about lobster fishing and pull some lobster traps. Then we would go out to Egg Rock Lighthouse to see some seals.

Nolan was back in the ErgoBaby for the first time in many months. I didn't think this would work, but Allyson did and she was right. Nolan was great in it on the whole cruise.

We baited Nolan with M&Ms

Our guide was aweomse!

The lobster part was way more interesting than I expected. The cruise had a guide who went over everything in great detail. The whole industry is much more sustainable than I expected because of all the rules that are rigorously followed. We all got to see the various lobsters and crabs that were caught and then we got to touch and hold lobsters. Next we went out to Egg Rock Lighthouse where there were a lot of seals laying on the rocks in the evening sun. It was rocky near the lighthouse so the boat had to keep back. You could see the seals on the rocks with your naked eye but to get a good look you had to use binoculars. Caroline and. Natalie were able to use the binoculars and they were really excited to see the seals, but Julia and Sam couldn’t. Unfortunately binoculars aren’t something another person can help a small child with.

Dad, who hates seafood, was the designated lobster holder

These are all seals laying out on the rocks in the sun

Eventually the boat headed back for the 15 minute ride back to the dock. The cruise was a lot of fun and it was the perfect length of time for the girls and Nolan. Once we docked we briefly walked around downtown which was still super crowded. It’s tough to maneuver around that area with all the little kids so we went back to the campground for the evening. Once everyone was asleep I went back downtown to pick out a shirt. On Tuesday we were heading down to Massachusetts and we were leaving early for one of our last days of long driving.