Eastern Road Trip-Acadia Day 1 and 2

 After we left Salem, we drove up to Acadia National Park. The weather was pretty gross on the way up (pretty much misted the whole way) but was nice once we got to our cabin. We stayed at Hinckley's Dreamwood Cottages a little bit outside of Bar Harbor. It was a great location, and I'll post a little more about that later!

Since it was later in the afternoon once we got there, we just drove to the visitor's center to get the kids' National Park Passports stamped and then took the Island Explorer on the loop road in Acadia to get a feel for where everything was. We were all pretty tired so just chilled back at our cabin before bed.

Thursday we got up nice and early to drive to Sand Beach (the parking lots fill up really fast) so we could hike the Great Head trail early in the day.

Sand Beach.














We walked across Sand Beach to get to the start of our trail. The kids absolutely loved this trail. Lots and lots of rocks to jump around on and Josh and I loved it too for all the awesome views. It was my favorite hike we took for sure.

Always leading the way.

If you squint you can see the deer we encountered.
















First wildlife sighting. Really one of our only sightings!









We made frequent stops to pop off the trail and let the kids climb around while we took in these views.

They wanted to take a picture that made it look like they were jumping off the cliff. Don't think I accomplished that but it's still cute!

Dave snagged my phone for a selfie.

Had to put their toes in the water-whew that was chilly!











After we finished the trail we had a quick picnic lunch and then walked down to the Thunder Hole. We were not impressed by this site, but it was mostly because the ocean was so calm while we were there (we went back another day and it was the same story). It is supposed to make load thunder-like sounds as the tide comes in, but it really just sounded like mild waves for us!

Thankfully the kids loved climbing around on the rocks there so it was still a worthwhile trip.

Dave was constantly going just past my comfort zone of where I wanted him to be.

Look at these handsome fellas!
















This picture gives a little perspective to the kind of climbing we were doing all over.




























Since we had already been traveling several days by this point, we went into Bar Harbor to do some laundry later that evening. While that was washing/drying we had dinner at Side Street Cafe. After dinner we walked the Shore Path along the ocean and the kids of course climbed on lots of rocks.






Kids pushing over Balance Rock.












Bar Harbor.