By the time we were ready to leave the Walmart the next morning, some of our fellow overnight campers had already left, likely hoping to get an early start to visit Acadia National Park. We arrived at the park fairly early as well, but once we showed up at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center and entered the parking lot--woah! It was already packed with vehicles and we just managed to find a spot for our RV.
While it wasn't a holiday and the busy summer season is well and truly over, many folks were musing that the reason for the crowds was due to an impending US government shutdown, that would start at midnight if the Democrat and Republican parties failed to resolve a budget dispute. We wouldn't know for sure until late in the evening whether the shutdown would happen, but clearly everyone was preparing for it by visiting the park.
To help us figure out the best itinerary for a one-day-only visit, we went into the already-packed Visitor Center, adding to the long queue to chat to a ranger to get his recommendations. Given the size of our RV, the amount of people at the park (making finding places to park difficult), and some low tunnels to drive across, we were advised to leave the RV in the lot and instead take one of the shuttle buses that would take us along the loop road. We'd taken a shuttle bus within a national park last time at Zion National Park (another overwhelmingly busy park!), but the upside this time was that all dogs are allowed in Acadia, and Sheila could just come on the bus with us. The ranger (Paul?) was very patient and willing to go into great depth to plot out an itinerary for us, despite the long line behind us. We really appreciated it, knowing that they could be furloughed from tomorrow, with no clear date of when they'd be back at work!
Acadia National Park is a 47,000-acre recreation area, perched primarily on Maine's Mount Desert Island. Its landscape includes forests, rocky beaches, and granite peaks including Cadillac Mountain. Plus, there's an abundance of wildlife such as moose, bear, whales and seabirds. So much to see and cram in just one day!
We got on the shuttle bus with Sheila, although she was rather anxious when she noticed the 3 beagles all getting on as well (a remnant from her almost-attack experience in Florida). One of the places the ranger recommended that we check out was the Wild Gardens of Acadia, where visitors can see over 400 native plant species that exist within the National Park. While it would have been cool to see all the plants in each of the park's habitats--including mountain, heath, forest and seaside--we made the tough decision to focus on the popular coastal trail for this trip.
The Beautiful Atlantic Coast
We disembarked at the very popular Sand Beach stop, as a big contingent of other visitors left the bus with us. From here, it was a short paved walk to Sand Beach, the largest sandy beach in Acadia, where crowds also flock to swim in the summertime. During the peak swimming season (which typically runs from May 15-September 15), dogs aren't allowed on the beach, but we were there after this, so we took Sheila along the sand, so she could also check out the shore with us in the off-season. Standing on the stretch of beach, we could see the waves crashing loudly onto the shore in front of us, and take in the sight of the forest trees around us, creating a horseshoe-shaped perimeter with the beach's coastline. We can imagine that this would be a gorgeous place to also be here during the sunset and into the night, stargazing up at the dark sky, and not battling any light pollution.
Adjacent to the coast there's an easy trail to walk along, with various points where you can walk right out onto the rocks and stare out into the ocean. Thunder Hole was a place we could hear before we saw it--we walked down a flight of stairs (and a ton of tourists), to get to the carved inlet, where we could see the tide crashing up against the narrow channel, with a loud bang sound occurring as the same time as the water sprays leaped as high as they could towards us (and scaring some people in the process!)
We continued to follow the curvature of the coast, stopping at various rocky outcrops on the way. We had a lovely lunch stop sitting on the rocks by Boulder Beach, looking out at the ocean. There were quite a few boats out on the water near us, likely going fishing, although we hadn't realized how close they could get to the shore! Our last stop on this trail was Otter Point, an rocky crop overlook where we caught the bus back to the Visitor Center.
Unsurprisingly, when we got back the Visitor Center was teeming with people, who were all hoping to get some time at the park before the possible government shutdown. Our RV was sandwiched between multiple cars, making it exceedingly difficult to get out, so Lisette and a park employee had to help guide Michael out so we didn't inadvertently swing out and hit a car or something. Plus people were so anxious to get our spots, 1 person driving right in behind us while we were still in the process of backing in and out!
More of Maine
Fortunately we got out without a hitch and drove back up towards Bar Harbor, a pretty bayside town that's the gateway to Acadia National Park, with lots of museums, restaurants and shops. A lot of visitors like to dine and shop around here and see stunning views out onto the coast, although we were happy to simply drive through and see the places as we cruised past.
As we were driving up Maine, we were struck by a big red barn along the highway, which had a ton of colorful-looking buoys strung around it, which we'd seen already on a few buildings and signs in the state. The barn was Country Store Antiques, a shop that sold antiques, books, wine, and other items. There was a man doing some painting on the side of the barn, and Michael asked him about the colorful buoys. It turns out that these were attached to lobster traps, so that fishermen could identify them (and who owned which cage) when they were out in the ocean. The more you know!
We passed many more pretty coastal towns and beaches, including Barrett's Cove, a public, freshwater beach for people to go swimming, have a picnic, or hang out. We can see why this area is such a popular destination! As the sun was quickly setting, we needed to find a place to have dinner and stop for the night. It turns out that we were near a McDonald's--now, while it's not Lisette's first choice for even a fast food restaurant, the quirky thing about this one in the town of Freeport is that it's built in an old house, rather than in its usual building with the golden arches! In 1984, when McDonald's wanted to have a restaurant in Freeport, the building design restrictions were strict, so McDonald's chose the Gore House, a house that was built by a wealthy local merchant around 1850, so the restaurant is in a Greek Revival and Italianate architecture building! While some of the McDonald's aesthetic is familiar when you go inside and order, some of the old house interior remains--we sat inside by the old fireplace to eat, which was definitely very different!
It was dark by the time we finished, so we could just make out Eartha lit up on as we drove past on the highway: the world's largest rotating globe housed in a 3-story building, with all glass windows. We drove until we arrived in the city of Portland, staying on the side of the road in what seemed like a safe and quiet part of town for the night.