Acadia National Park

Rated "absolutely beautiful" by Tom LeFevre. Ha.

Located in Bar Harbor, ME, you really need a couple weeks to really explore Acadia National Park. We dove into the visitor's center and got the lay of the land. Oh yeah, you pay $20 to get into the park for 7 days. I was relieved on the 5th day when they actually asked to see our entrance pass. I thought Tom was going to have kittens when no one asked for it the first few times we continued on our journey through the park. But yes, eventually they did ask for proof that we paid to enter (thank goodness) because I never would have heard the end of it.

We climbed (as in climbed I mean we drove and walked over to the path) Cadillac Mountain. You get great views of the park. I also tried to explain the whole glacier thing to Kaitlyn and Andrew but I'm not sure they really get it. Here are some pics of the view:

We also decided to get up at 5:00 a.m. in the morning to see the sunrise from atop the mountain. Yes, it was beautiful but man was it cold and windy! As you can see, Andrew was there but under protest and under cover:

Andrew and his pretty pink blanket on top of Cadillac Mountain.

Once the sun came up it was beautiful:

Sunrise on Cadillac Mountain

One more picture and we can go home!

Moose Watch Update: Turkeys 3, Moose 0, Porcupines -1

We did not see any moose while we were in Maine unless you count the various carvings and stuffed animals for sale. Either they were hiding in the woods mocking me as we wandered by or perhaps there are no moose in Maine. Could it be a ploy of some ingenious travel & tourism marketing executive? Think Loche Ness Monster only with moose...  Hmmm.

We did see another wild turkey and unfortunately a dead porcupine on the side of the road.  I almost asked Tom to stop and take a picture of it for the blog but then I thought better of it. :-)

Bar Harbor, ME

We spent the last five days in Bar Harbor, ME (or what the locals call it, "Ba Ha Baa"). If you have ever wanted to go to Maine - do it! What a beautiful place! Especially if you like hiking, kayaking, nature and lobster!

Tom caught this kayak and the beautiful sunset from the view at our campsite!

There were so many great things about Bar Harbor but here are just a few of the things we liked the best:

The Mount Desert Oceanarium Lobster Museum & Hatchery

Ok, when we pulled up the place didn't look like much but man were we surprised when it turned out to be everyone's favorite stop of the week. This place raises baby lobsters and then releases them back into the ocean. It was really neat to see thousands of baby lobsters swirling around in these huge beaker-like columns of ocean water. Here's a pic of one of the momma lobsters:

Laura and a visiting mommy lobster. Thousands of her babies are floating in those tubes in the background.

The Oceanarium also gave a presentation about lobster fishing, the life of a lobster and they had a touch tank with some local sea creatures. Did you know a mother lobster carries her eggs for 22 months before she hatches them? And, when we eat a 1 1/4 lb. lobster, it's probably around 6 years old!

What made this place so special were the people - you could tell they love what they do and loved sharing the information. Thanks, David, Audrey and Laura!

The Great Maine Lumberjack Show

This was another pleasant surprise. It looked a little hokey but we thought the kids would enjoy it so what the heck, right? It turned out to be really cool!  There were 4 lumberjacks and lumberjills competing in chopping, sawing, axe throwing, timber climbing and log rolling. This show was created by a woman called Timber Tina (who incidentally was on Survivor - Panama). She has been competing since she was 7! Kaitlyn even got up on stage to see what sawing was all about:

Lazy Man's Lobster

Did I mention the lobster? Yum. However, in Bar Harbor, I discovered the best way to order it at a restaurant. It's call the Lazy Man's Lobster. The chef does all the hard work by cracking the shell and removing all of the meat and then her puts it into a serving dish filled with lemon butter. Could their be anything better? No more wasting time trying to extricate the lobster delicacy from his shell fortress for me! (And I don't have to see any of that green stuff either...yuck!)

Another highlight is Acadia National Park but that deserves its own post...more to come later.