simply livin' it up
Today after work we went back in to the park, for one last hike. We hike the Jordan Pond loop, which is a 3.5 mile hike around Jordan Pond. It was a beautiful day and a neat hike with some interesting elements.
Yesterday we walked around downtown Bar Harbor. We needed to get our t-shirt and car sticker for this stay on our trip. Bar Harbor reminds me of Estes Park, Colorado. It is pretty big, with plenty to do.
Acadia National Park has a cool carriage road system that runs throughout the park. They are used by horse-drawn carriages, horses, bikes, and pedestrians. Today we went for a short walk on one of the trails to a couple of beautiful bridges. The carriage roads were really nice and it was a beautiful walk.
Yesterday we have one of the more interesting moves on our trip. When planning our trip to this area we realized that not many of the RV parks are even open yet, because it is still so early in their season. We found an RV park to stay at just a few minutes outside the park. Last week we realized that our RV park membership group has a park closer to Acadia and on the water. It opened on the 15th, so we decided to do a mid-week move. It was just a 10 minute drive.
Well, when we arrived at our new place we realized that we didn’t have a sewer hook-up. That doesn’t work so well for us. It was nearly empty, so we decided to set up in another spot with sewer and figure it out in the morning, when their office opened. One of the workampers stopped by and said that because of our type of membership we would either have to move to our spot or likely they would want us to pay. We decided to explore other options so I got on the phone with a reservationist who got us a spot at another park.
We went there, but, like the last place, their office was closed. Luckily the reservationist told us what space we had been assigned to. When we arrived, we realized that the space is actually made for Class-A motorhomes that can pull in nose-first, so they can have an ocean view. We were nearly all set up in the wrong site when a seasonal couple came and explained it to us, so we moved, yet again, to be oriented the right way. We ended up pulling in nose-first, with enough room to get our truck out of the site. Now we just have to hope we can get out on Saturday!
Today we headed in to Acadia National Park. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed a beautiful hike that included some tough climbing, using metal rails embedded in the rock face.
Today we drove from Burlington to just outside of Acadia National Park, in Maine. We took backroads from Montpelier, VT to Augusta, ME, which was cool. One interesting part was when we got detoured around an accident. We had to go for about 4 miles on gravel roads, with the final 1/4 mile being a steep-downhill, single-lane, offroad-like road. We arrived just in time for dinner and a walk.
This afternoon we got out to explore the Ethan Allen Homestead, which is just a mile from our campground. There is a possibility that I am related to Ethan Allen on my dad’s side. He would be my great^6 uncle, or something of the sort.
After walking around his homestead we went to a regional park that houses the Ethan Allen Tower. The park used to be his farmland and the tower is on top of one of the highest points in the city. The tower was closed still, for the season, but it was pretty and the view even from the base was good.
Finally, while out running errands at night, we had one of the most beautiful sunsets we have seen, over the lake.
This afternoon after work we headed out to hike Camel’s Hump. For the first time on our trip, we didn’t make it. It was a cool hike, but we just didn’t have enough time to make it all the way to the top. It would have been tight, but the amount of snow on the ground made it take too long and we didn’t want to have to hike down in the dark.
Still, awesome hike. Beautiful woods, creeks, waterfalls, and tons of snow and ice – more than we have seen all year. We did not even consider there still being snow on the trails. The picture above says it all.
Camel’s Hump, we will be back, someday.
Perhaps our top priority in the area was to stop by the Ben & Jerry’s Factory, just a short drive from Burlington. We took a tour of factory, bought some souvenirs, and enjoyed some ice cream. We also paid a visit to their Flavor Graveyard, where they celebrate some of the flavors that just didn’t make it.
