Driving into Maine gave us a “Finally” moment… This journey took us across the top of the “Good-Ole” USA and over 4,400 miles when we drove into our furthest eastern stop, Arcadia National Park. I’ve got to admit, it’s been a great adventure and a wonderful opportunity to see and visit family and friends along the way.
We’d been carrying close to full tanks (black and gray) gaining in volume from Longport, NY to finally finding a “dump” location just outside of Bangor, Maine. When we pulled into Maine and stopped by one of the entry Information Centers we found that a large truck stop a mile up the road had all the facilities we needed and “if” we re-fueled the facilities would even be FREE. We had stopped by a campground once on the way and they wanted to charge us $20. Hell, the last place that we used only charged us $5 when we weren’t parked there for the night. Feeling much lighter and without that “worry” heavy on our back’s we continued east to Ellsworth and another Elks. When we pulled into the driveway of the Elks we found 12 more RV’s enjoying the hospitality offered by this club. I guess all the excitement bringing in the many travelers to this area is three fold; Acadia National Park (second most visited National Park), the state of Maine and all its natural beauty, and of course the LOBSTER…
Yes LOBSTER… We (I) have been looking forward to the Maine LOBSTER for a long time and now that we’re (I’m) here we’re going to ENJOY the heck out of each and every (most of) meals we’ll have here (and we’re planning to be here for A LONG TIME !!!). We’re also here to see and enjoy the people of Maine and the wonderful sights of all this pure nature area. The day after setting up at the Elks, we headed the 5 miles further east into the Acadia NP for a full day of exploration. There is a 27 mile loop road through the park that we decided to take for our first outing. The park is located on a large island that is attached by a short bridge to the mainland. The island, Mt. Desert Island, is shaped like a large Lobster claw with several lakes and hundreds of inlets along the shoreline. One thing we’ve learned about the Maine shoreline, there will be hundreds of inlets, some short and some very long, and hundreds of islands to explore or view from afar. On our first drive around the park we stopped to explore the huge granite rock formations making up most of the shoreline.
You can only imagine them when the Atlantic Ocean heavily crashes during those winter storms as they push onto the coast. High up (1,500 feet) we reach the summit or the highest point on the eastern sea coast, Cadillac Mountain. We really enjoyed our look out over the Atlantic and the many islands below.
Other ways of exploring Acadia NP besides riding in your own car, is by horse drawn carriage or the “free bus” that you can hop off and on at will. One of the few buildings in the park is this old carriage house.
As beautiful as it is, it’s not being used anymore. By the time we finished our first drive around the park we were ready for something to eat, and to find that place we had to drive out to Bar Harbor.
Bar Harbor is located just outside of the park entrance so getting there was easy enough but finding a parking place for the car was much harder. Fortunately we arrived at a location to park just as someone was leaving. The time and place just weren’t right for our first “Lobster” so we opted for a bowl of “chawda” and lobster bisque…it’s got to be good if it’s called “chawda” doesn’t it???
Oh by the way, they have two of the most amazing “Goofy Golf” courses I’ve ever seen here on the island. That’s one of the holes pictured at the top…