Our Trip Blog

The Events of Monday, October 11, 2010

          Acadia National Park – That was what was on the agenda for today. We awoke to a glorious morning overlooking Frenchman Bay, completed our necessary morning tasks and were on our way. We have fallen into a bit of a rhythm when it comes to visiting our country’s national parks. We have learned that visitor centers are a wealth of information and there is always a ranger there eager to share where to hike, what to see and let us know about special programs. The visitor center is also where the kids pick up their dreaded Junior Ranger Programs. Our deal is this – they complete the Junior Ranger Program, gleaning all the educational benefit they can get from a particular park and I won’t make them turn it in and be forced to stand there and say the Junior Ranger pledge in front of a bunch of strangers. So it works out pretty well. We have also found that most visitor centers sport a theater with an introductory movie about the park playing on the hour and the half hour. Such was the case with Acadia National Park.

          Arriving at the visitor’s center we spoke with one ranger about camping and the recommended audio tour. You can purchase a CD at the gift shop that narrates the Park Loop Road. We purchased that and some postcards. Then Lindsey and Abby approached another ranger to pick up four Junior Ranger packets. To their credit, there was no eye rolling when the ranger carefully and patiently explained a packet that was pretty self explanatory to anyone who can read. They were also given a list of ranger programs to attend. Then it was off to the movie.

          These introductory park movies are typically close captioned and the one for Acadia was no exception. The first caption read “plaintive piano playing”. We chuckled at the wording. What exactly is plaintive music and what would that mean to someone who cannot hear music? Then the narration started and the narrator explained that some referred to this park as A-R-cadia NP; something that I’ve been guilty of, but assured us that there was no R. I endured some playful elbows in my ribs. Then the narrator said “dessert” when the caption read “Mount Desert Island”, another name for the park. I guffawed out loud, much to the amusement of my kids. (Actually it turns out he was correct as the name came from the French word for desert, pronounced something like dessert. Oops.) By now we all had a serious case of the giggles and the pew-like bench we were sharing was just shaking. Then the caption read “soaring orchestral music”. Well there was nothing particularly soaring about the music. In fact, it hadn’t changed from the quiet background “Musak” it had been throughout the film. Now we were working so hard to suppress our laughter that tears were running down my cheeks. Finally the film ended and thankfully the lights didn’t come on right away so that noisy bunch up front could steal out under cover of darkness.  

          During the film, when it was discussing hiking opportunities, it showed people climbing rung ladders and walking along cliff edges holding on to bars fastened to cliff faces. As we exited the theater, both Ben and Abby simultaneously said, “I want to do THAT hike.” So it was back to the rangers. We spoke to a third ranger who outlined several hikes for us to do. Ben also took this opportunity to ask the park ranger about how a young man like himself might become a park ranger. www.nps.gov was the reply. We left the visitor center with our minds spinning. There was so much to do‼ And today, Columbus Day, marked the end of the “season” and many programs and opportunities would be ending as well. So we asked ourselves the question: what to do today that might be closed tomorrow and how to fit it all in??

          We decided to start with the Nature Center, the Wild Gardens of Acadia, and the Abbe Museum as they would all be closed tomorrow. We had been warned that due to construction, the parking lot for these attractions was closed to RVs. We quickly found out that Acadia NP is NOT RV friendly. The Park Loop Road is a nice enough road, but it is one-way – an especially LONG one-way if you miss a turn as we did. However, all was not lost. We pulled over, got Harvey most of the way off the road and had lunch. Then we hiked back to the Nature Center. The Wild Gardens of Acadia walk was a little disappointing, as was the Nature Center, and when we found out the Abbe Museum cost money to tour a large gazebo, we decided to pass. Then it was off to a ranger-led hike to Otter Point. This turned out to be the highlight of our day.   

          We met up with Ranger Kim and followed him on a two mile hike along the coast while he explained the geology, history and fauna of the park. He was probably one of the best guides we have had, and it was an enjoyable and educational way to spend an afternoon. As we hiked, he mentioned tide pools and Abby shared that she had never explored a REAL tide pool, only the ones in aquariums we had visited. So she took it upon herself to find out when and where the best tide pools of Acadia National Park could be found. Something else to add to our to-do list‼ When we finally reached Otter Point (actually mistakenly named as there have never been otter in the area, only sea mink that are now extinct) and our hike ended, I found out what my kids REALLY wanted to do: TOUCH the Atlantic Ocean. Soon they were scrambling all over the rocks and fulfilling their desire. We hiked/climbed along the varied granite rocks lining the shore, then rejoined the path and returned to our RV. We decided to listen to the second half of the Park Loop Road audio tour and then leave the park for the day. The Park Loop ride was lovely. Imagine driving down tunnels of trees all ablaze with brilliant color. Breaks in the trees are accentuated by glorious overlooks and views of lakes and some of the largest ponds we have ever seen. Bet you didn’t know the difference between a pond and a lake. Ponds tend to be smaller and shallower….except for at Acadia NP where two of the ponds are the largest bodies of water on the island and one is the deepest as well. So much for definitions.

          Yesterday, as we drove towards the Maine coast, we passed lobster restaurant after lobster restaurant. And my hankering for lobster started to grow. So I started doing some price comparison. Sure that I had seen the cheapest lobster in the land near our campground, we sought to return there. Only as we approached, Caitlin read a review on the web that hinted that cheaper lobster came at a price – poor taste. I knew we had passed one restaurant with steaming pots of lobster outside the restaurant, so we drove on. Finally we found the place – Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound. Pulling into the parking lot, the lobster cook directed us to park Harvey right next to the six steaming pots of lobster. Fed by wood fires, these pots were held at a steady boil. At this particular restaurant you went to a side counter to order your lobster first. The price per pound was very reasonable, so Jim asked for six one-pound lobsters. Well, Maine lobster doesn’t come that small. So he ordered three large lobsters. The man pulled them from the tank and weighed them - $74.06 worth of live squirming lobster on the scale. We watched as they were placed in a bag and taken out to the pots. Then we ordered the rest of our meal ala carte. As we moved to our table, Caitlin looked at me with shell-shocked eyes. “What just happened?” she asked. “We ordered our dinner,” I replied. “But what happened to cheap lobster?” We had just learned that day that in the 1800s lobster was considered garbage food, for poor people. Caitlin was concerned that our lobster dinner was going to make us poor. However, she seemed relieved when I explained that we were still well within our food budget for the trip.

          First to arrive were two bowls: a bowl of clam chowder and a bowl of lobster stew. Six active spoons soon devoured the delicious hot liquids. Then the lobster arrived and the real fun began. With the exception of Lindsey who had been introduced to lobster on her Passport to Purity weekend, the kids had never eaten lobster. They quickly got the hang of cracking the shells and the lobster feeding frenzy had begun. There is just no neat way to eat lobster, especially on paper plates with plastic forks and soon both the table and our hands were covered in lobster bits. Jim had gone out to the RV for several items to compliment our meal, and now he returned with a bowl of soapy water. Once everyone cleaned up and our table had been wiped down, it was time for dessert. The six of us shared two warm blueberry pies ala mode and a piece of crumbly, cinnamon-y, scrumptious blueberry cake. It was a fun time of “take a bite and pass it along”, and soon everyone was satisfied with a delicious meal.