Acadia National Park

Our route is planned around visiting as many National Parks as we can. The first, Acadia National Park in Maine, did not disappoint.

Our adventure began with cousin Judy and Steve who were just ending their week at the Park. They had a spreadsheet of ideas and spent a day exploring with us. Beginning with Kate and Judy becoming "Passport Pals."

The National Parks have a passport that you can get and have stamped at hundreds of national parks, sites, memorials, and preserves across the country. Who knew?

Extra bonus, Kate is a 4th grader, so we get into National Parks for free this year. If you have a 4th grader check out their program online.

A dear friend of ours recently asked the question "When are you in awe?" In this place, with our family, there have been so many moments of awe. Here are a few of our favorites...

Kate: Beehive Hike, rated "hard" on the All Trails app, is a 508 foot elevation change in just a mile and half. Kate liked it because it was high up and it wasn't like normal hikes, because it had bridges and grip bars to scale the mountain side. When we made it to the top, the view was spectacular!

Ben: He liked Beehive Hike and getting stickers for his new water bottle in Bar Harbor. This village, as they call them in Maine, is just on the edge of the Park and is bustling with people in and out of the quaint shops. Somewhere between New York and Maine his other water bottle got left behind. Oh Ben!

Mallory: Mal enjoyed biking in Acadia more than hiking. We spent two different days biking both the Carriage Roads, which were first built in the early 1900's weaving around the mountains and valleys, and the roadways. A 9.7-mile Carriage Road ride took us along Eagle Lake and Jordan Pond. A 12-mile bike loop, sharing the road with a few vehicles, around Schoodic Peninsula offered many great views of the ocean. Both trips included stops for special treats. Our favorite place in the Park was the Jordan Pond House, which is known for popovers. Chuck and kids each enjoyed a popover sundae!

Miranda: Being near and on the ocean are what I loved the most! It is both calming and amazing in its power. Sand Beach was the first place we explored. The Ship Wreck hike takes you along all types of ocean shoreline to explore, At Seal Cove you can watch boats in the small harbor, look for shells and sea glass, and even see a seal. At Schoodic Point, we saw first-hand both low and high tide in the same day and had a picnic lunch on the rocks with an ocean view. The ferry ride to the Cranberry Islands weaved through lobster buoys and harbors.

Chuck: Amazing views are what he is coming away with...Cadillac Mountain sunrise over the ocean and the fact that it was the first place in the U.S. to the see the sunrise was neat. Cranberry Island had unique shoreline with a backside rocky shore where the waves crash. An entire afternoon could be spent watching the surfers catching waves. The key to Cranberry Island was an impromptu tour on an 8-person golf cart by Jim, you can find him at the Cranberry Island Historical Society.

There is still so much of this beautiful park to see, but in our week here we had school, work (Thank you Mid Minnesota Federal Credit Union for allowing me to work part-time from the road!), and a low-key afternoon at the campground playing shuffle board, basketball and gravel (the east-coast version of lava monster) with a handful of other kids at the campground.

Along with the adventures are the normal parts of everyday life...laundry in the campground laundromat, dishes at the

outdoor wash station, cooking over the fire or Blackstone grill, and vacuuming our 22 square feet of carpeting.

Harvey, as we affectionately named our 1997 26-foot Tioga Walkabout Class C RV, feels like home.

Packed-up, Chuck is again behind the wheel as we make our way down the coast to Massachusetts. More moments of awe ahead in this adventure.