Acadia, Continued...

Since we're camping in a tent, we tend to be up at the crack of dawn. It doesn't exactly jive with the fact that the first shuttle comes to the campground at 8:50am. However, it does give us some time to hang out at Blackwoods so we wandered to the same ocean cliffs in the morning and watched the sparkling ocean before we headed out for the day.



After enjoying the morning sun, we took the shuttle to Bar Harbor and found a morning snack at the Morning Glory Bakery. I'd never realized that a cheese danish was something you could buy without opening a plastic wrapper - delicious!

We leisurely made our way back to the Bar Harbor town green and took the shuttle on the loop road towards Sand Beach, one of the rare sand beaches on that part of the Maine coast. We got into the ocean up to our knees before our legs went numb from the fifty-degree water. The beach also gave me an excuse to show off my Vermont farmer tan (but I'll spare you THAT terrible picture...).



After we had soaked up enough rays (which was about two minutes for my pasty-white chest), we walked the ocean path towards Thunder Hole. It's famous for the explosive sound and splashing water when the tide is right. Unfortunately, we showed up at low tide when it could have been named "gurgle hole."

We made a quick stop at the campground and then it was back on the shuttle, towards Bar Harbor. After a quick shuttle change, it was back to the Jordan Pond House for us! We were too full for dessert the day before, which gave us a convenient excuse to go back. It would be popovers a la mode (with BLUEBERRY ice cream) and tea for us.



When we went back to Bar Harbor, we bought some haddock to make for dinner. The bakery even provided us with a few pads of butter so that we didn't have to buy four sticks! After struggling with some green wood in the rain, I eventually got the fire going and we cooked our fish in lemon and butter. We ate, dried out our tent, and went to bed.

The next day, we packed up our things and headed to Seawall, the other campground within Acadia National Park. Our new site was much more spacious and wooded than our site at Blackwoods but was certainly further from the carriage roads and popular parts of the park.

We rode our bikes from our campsite over a wooded dirt road towards Bass Harbor. Our first stop was the Bass Harbor Light House. It was originally built in the mid-19th century and is still used today! In that time it has gone through a few fog-warning bells.



Riding down Shore Road, we found the Seafood Ketch Restaurant. It had a patio overlooking the bay and the menu forbade fishing while eating. I had a lobster roll (lobster #2 for the week) and Lisa had the haddock sandwich. While we were eating, a bald eagle flew directly overhead!

We slowly biked back to our campsite. We lazed around all evening and walked the rocks on the natural seawall. It was low tide - and we could only walk as far as the sea cucumber would allow.



We'll be heading next towards Yarmouth, Maine for the world-famous Yarmouth Clam Festival. It's a New England event not to be missed. I'm hoping to eat lobster #3!!!