Acadia National Park, Maine: Day Three

Activities: Shopping at Bar Harbor, Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse, Ship Harbor Trail
Date: September 20, 2022

When we woke it was still raining. We were all pretty tired so we tried to be quite and let those of us still sleeping sleep in as much as possible. I was glad to get to have a slow morning and drink some coffee, make some eggs for breakfast (kids had cereal), and just relax a bit.

When we finally did decide to make a power move, it was to Bar Harbor for some downtown shopping. Carol had given us the tip that Wednesday is the only day that cruise ships aren’t docking in Bar Harbor, so it’s a good time to beat the crowds. We ducked in and out of several shops before I had my fill of shopping and decided to sit down at the Irish Pub and have a Guinness while the family finished up shopping.

We weren’t sure where the day was going to take us when we left the cabin that morning, so we packed our own lunch and ate it in the Jeep while the rain continued to come down around us. We had PB & J sandwiches with Ruffles potato chips. I’m not sure I’ve had that particular “meal” in quite a while but it was really good. There is something about the way those Ruffles complemented the peanut butter and jelly.

Our next idea to entertain ourselves was to visit a nearby lighthouse. Bass Harbor Head wasn’t too far so we cruised over there. The first view we got of it wasn’t all that impressive. We walked around to see the living quarters and the light tower. The tower wasn’t all that tall and it just felt like we were standing in someone’s driveway. But there is a different path around back that we took and that is where things got interesting. The view of the lighthouse on the rocky bluff was breathtaking. There is a contrast in the rock colors from where the tide hits some rocks but not others and the house and light tower are perched right on the edge of the cliff. There was a buoy with a bell off in the distance that was slowly bonging back and forth in the waves that added to the ambiance. We climbed around on the rocks below taking pictures and enjoying the tide pools that were carved out in them. We saw several animals in them including small crabs, and snails.

Our next stop was CJ’s Big Dipper back in Bar Harbor for some ice cream. I don’t think 2 hours went by on this trip without our kids asking if they could get ice cream. We caved in this instance and got them a couple of cones. Mattix got a Tornado (lots of different candies mixed in) and Charlie got a cookie dough cone. I had a cone with chocolate and peanuts mixed in. Jill decided to to go coneless on this visit to the ice cream parlor.

By this time the rain had stopped and since the weather was better we decided to take a hike along Ship Harbor. It’s figure 8 hike that takes you along the rocky coast and we again explored along the rocks and checked out the tide pools, but there were no crabs in these that we could find. We did, however, find an abandoned lobster trap and various other treasures that had washed up on shore.

We started our way back to the vehicle, again seeing many dogs hiking with their owners, like we did on most trails. But to our surprise, at one point, we saw a couple walking a bangle cat. It looked pretty nervous, but wasn’t completely freaking out like I would have expected. The cat was on a harness and leash when we walked by, but the owners did have a backpack with a large bubble window so it could hop in and feel safe if walking on the leash was too much.

We were right near Aunt Carol and Uncle Jerry’s campsite, so we popped in to say hi and check out their quarters. We chatted for quite a while and Mattix thought it was pretty cool that he got to play with their supper before they cooked it. They were having lobster and he was enamored by the large crustacean, holding it up to check out all of it’s wild features. I had always thought cooking a lobster sounded pretty intimidating, but Jerry explained to us how he was going to do it and it made it seem pretty doable. We decided that we also wanted to try it later in our trip.

We headed back to our cabin and cooked one of our favorite meals, spaghetti carbonara. I’m not sure why we call it that because we use egg noodles, but the bacon, and mushrooms and parmesan all make it so delicious. Then we all sat down to watch Dog with Channing Tatum before going to bed. It was another adventurous day, so we didn’t make it through the whole movie.