Fundy (Bay of Fundy Area) and Acadia National Park (Sept 2019)

Fundy (Bay of Fundy Area) and Acadia National Park 

Trailhead view from Dickson Falls, Fundy National Park

Link to photos

Thursday Sept 26th

Boston - Bangor

For our big National Park trip this year we decided on Acadia National Park (and this time of year for the color changing of the LEAVES), but not just Acadia we were also going to venture further up the road into Canada to Fundy National Park named for the Bay of Fundy on which it is located.  We keep asking ourselves why do we drive so much on these trips… we’ll have to work on this.

The day started as a normal day, both of us got up early and actually did some work.  I answered a few emails from home and Rebe actually went into the office to tie up some loose ends before we caught our flight out at 2pm.  The flight was to Boston as that was about as far as we could get directly with Southwest, the direct flight, pricing, companion pass and timing was the reason for the Boston pick.  Not ideal but meh, what’s an extra 3 hours on the road.

We arrived in Boston to rain, while unexpected it wasn’t an issue as we were not hanging out in Boston for the night we were heading further north.  Before getting to our resting place we stopped at an REI to grab some more outdoors gear that we needed or didn’t have.  The rest of the night was spent driving to Bangor in the darkness.

Friday September 27th

Bangor - Saint John

After the late night on Thursday we slept in until 9 to rest up for our journey further north.  We decided on breakfast at a place called Bagel Central, it seemed like a hip joint in the heart of downtown Bangor and we were right.  Of course they served, bagels and they were amazing.  They had all sorts, cranberry, onion, blueberry even a bagel that was called everything (had to get it and it was amazing).  On my bagel I got cream cheese, egg and lox of course.  Can’t visit the northeast and not enjoy some good ol’ salmon.

Order counter at Bagel Central

Downtown Bangor

We got our food to go and ate it on the road, which I will admit was a bit messy but didn’t distract from the taste. The plan for the day was to move further north up to Saint John, New Brunswick but with a plan of seeing a few sights along the way.  First stop was the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, which is apart of the US National Park system but it does not really have a lot of trails (that we found on our quick pass through) but it was nice to look at it.

Lake within Moosehorn Refuge

The next stop was in St. George at the Granite Town Farm where they are famous for their blueberry farm and showing off their farm and knickknacks.  This sucked for us because blueberry picking happens in August so the place was a ghost town but there is a gorge in town that has an old mill along side that I snapped a few pics of.

Gorge of Saint George, New Brunswick

From the blueberry farm we headed further north to New River Beach Provincial Park, and to our surprise the park was CLOSED.  It was the great expanse of beach and was just prime for sitting and enjoying the water but no one was manning the post and the gates were locked.  We got there and there were already 4 cars there so we decided to walk around the gate to check out the area. It was so peaceful and serene.  Remember this beach and these pics, I'll mention them later in the story.

New River Beach

House on the beach

After the beach we headed over to Lepreau Falls, it was a little waterfall that was close by so we hopped out and snapped a couple of pics.

Lepreau Falls

We had had enough of nature sighting for the day and were ready to head into Saint John to enjoy our evening and our last touch of civilization before heading up to Fundy National Park where we would really disconnect for a few days.  We would stay at a old bed and breakfast in the heart of Saint John called the Mahogany Manor.

Mahogany Manor

Rebe lounging in the sitting room

Saint John City Market

The place (B&B) was over 100 years old and is a huge mansion with multiple rooms for guests.  After checking in we headed back into town to see town and to catch dinner at a place on the riverfront.  Saint John also has a historic market that has been running in some form of existence since 1785.  Also in Saint John there is a natural phenomenon where when the tide rises during the day it actually changes the direction of the river in town and it creates huge rapids in the river.  Being the geniuses we are we thought this would occur at high tide but apparently it happens about 3 hours after low tide so visiting at 9pm (high tide that day) resulted in us being the only people there and looking at a normal river.

Downtown Saint John

Brownstone doors from Saint John neighborhood

We fixed our broken hearts with some ice cream from Bella's Traditional Ice Cream and then called it a night in preparation for more travels tomorrow.

Saturday September 28th

St John - St Martin - Fundy National Park area

Cruise Boat seen front the front porch of the B&B

Woke up early at our wonderful 111 year old bed and breakfast and we were the first downstairs to be greeted by our bed and breakfast host.  She promptly served us fruit and made chit chat while we were eating, we were soon joined by other guests from Winnipeg, Netherlands and somewhere in France (they didn’t want to speak English).  The B&B made us eggs to order, along with an English muffin, potatoes and a few strips of bacon.  A good hearty start for the day.

Town at the Bay of Saint Martin

One of the boats at the dock

Joe (blue cap) our tour guide, former New Yorker
also note the water level at the covered bridge in the background

The plan for the day was to head over to the Saint Martin area to see the Sea Caves and to take a zodiac boat tour. For those of you who don’t know, the Bay of Fundy where we are has the greatest tidal changes on earth with some places seeing upwards of 50 feet of tidal changes throughout the day.  So we were lucky enough to catch the high tide tour at 10am this morning.  Side note, the tide changes about 2-3 feet per hour so you better pay attention if you put yourself in an area where you might get trapped by the tide.  We get to the harbor which is bustling with people from the cruise ships (we saw one right out our bedroom window in St. John).  We hopped on our boat on the 3rd to last day of their tour season and headed out into the famous Bay of Fundy to experience the majestic cliffs up close and personal.  All while our tour guide Joe, a former New Yorker, told us about the history of the area along with some cool geology facts on the cliffs.  The tour was kind of a personal tour as the other people on the tour were Joe’s son, daughter-in-law and grandkids which made us wonder if they wouldn’t have invited them would they have taken Rebe and I out alone?  Either way the tour was simply amazing.

Saint Martin Sea Caves - remember this one

We arrived back in to Saint Martin at noon and headed back into town for a local bite (Coastal Tides Restaurant) to eat, a joint where all the locals go and not many tourists (the only poutin we had on our trip and the gravy on top was homemade and amazing).  From there we headed over to the Fundy Scenic Trail, this is a road that New Brunswick is constructing from Saint Martin that will eventually connect to Fundy National Park.  From this trail there are many walking trails and an actual trail that can be walked the entire way with outshoots that lead to waterfalls and coastal beaches.  We drove the entire trail (it was cut short due to construction) and then back and stopped off at a few of the viewpoints and points of interest.

After finishing the trial, we headed back into Saint Martin for two reasons 1) it was the only way back to where we needed to go and 2) there was a small ice cream shop that needed to be tried.  Now when pulling back into town 5 hours after we had previously left town the scene was quite a bit different.  Check the photos below.

This was the view as we pulled back into the harbor from the zodiac boat tour

Note the teal boat on the left (it's from an earlier image) and the covered bridge on the right.

And this was the harbor 5 hours later

Harbor in the opposite direction

The the sea caves were also now accessible by foot, and all of this just completely blew my mind. We’d seen the pics, but to see it happen in person was just astonishing.

Sea Caves we had previously taken the boat out to see

After ice cream we headed up to Sussex to get some groceries for the next few days (read: Oreos) and to grab a bite to eat (sushi and beer of course).  Final stop was our cabin in the woods which google has labeled incorrectly so we had to rely on the instructions from our host which were spot on. Cute cabin 3 beds and SUPER cheap.

Sunday September 29th

First full day in FUNDY, let’s see what they got!  Every trip to a park should start with a visit to the ranger station to see what they recommend, unfortunately these rangers ain’t worth their salt… We got a handful of recommendations from the ranger and I’ll say he should have just kept a few of those to himself.

Dickson Falls

We started out at Dickson Falls, cute boardwalk path and very scenic with a good size waterfall on the loop definitely worth a visit. Just the piney smell that we got at the start of the trail made this trail worth remembering and recommending. Next stop was Coppermine trail, this was literally a walk through the woods, no views, no nothing… This is about where Rebe and I thought about going back to the ranger station and giving him a piece of our mind but we didn’t do it, definitely should have.

Next stop was Point Wolfe Beach, where the tide was reaching it’s peak and there was barely any room on the beach.  After that we walked over to the Shiphaven trail which had an overlook where you could view Point Wolfe Beach and we could already see the change in the tide level in the half hour since we were down there.  On the trail and throughout the park Fundy has setup these nice red chairs where you can just take in the view and relax for a second.  It was really nice and these particular chairs while on the trail, they didn't see a lot of foot traffic passing by.  It was really nice to be able to take a seat in the chairs and enjoy the view in silence for a while.  It is truly rare in a big park like this that you actually get some alone time. Shiphaven trail ended at the covered bridge, it has been reconstructed in 1992 to resemble the original bridge.

View on Shiphaven trail from the red chairs

Rebuilt covered bridge

After Shiphaven we headed over to Herring Cove Beach and hiked over to Matthews Head.  This was a pretty good UP and DOWN hike but we were rewarded this time with a decent view at the trail end and a pair of nice red chairs to eat our snack in.

Point just past Herring Cove Beach 

From there it was over to Caribou Plain area where there was a short boardwalk that went across a marsh area and a longer trail that went off into the woods, reached a bog in the back and then circled back down an old carriage lane.

Caribou Plain and some lens flare :)

By this time it was getting late so we decided to head home and make some dinner from the groceries we had grabbed the night before.

Then I got an itch to go see if the stars were out tonight since it hadn’t been cloudy all day. Lucky me.  This is about as good as the Milky Way gets about this time of year, any later in the year and you wouldn't even see the part at the horizon.

Red Chairs, Wolfe Lake and the Milky Way

Monday September 30th

As you might have noticed from the previous post from Saturday that the tides in this area are kind of a big deal.  High tide versus low tide might depend on whether you can actually get your boat to dock or if you can get your boat out of the bay.  With that said the plan for the day was to head over to Hopewell Rocks.  Hopewell rocks is a section of coast line that has numerous formations that have been weathered by the tides over the years leaving pinnacles standing alone along the shore.  My plan was to get up early, be there at sunrise which on this day coincided with low tide, the perfect time to walk out on the ocean floor to see the rocks.

We woke up at 545 in order to drive the hour over to the location and to be one of the first people on site to see the rocks.   The park didn’t actually open until 9 but they don’t block people from accessing the beach… just the parking lot so we had a bit of an extra walk ahead of us when we arrived.   I was in such hurry because I knew that if I could get there before the masses I would have a couple of awesome pictures especially in the sunrise glow.  Of course we got there and there was only one other car which meant we would have place all to ourselves.  Next step was actually finding the way down to the ocean floor, which in itself was a hike. The main building to the floor was at the opposite end of the beach so we had to walk an extra half mile to get down to the beach, either way we got there and before anyone else to experience the splendor that is Hopewell Rocks.

It looks like just a desert floor (maybe a bit muddy) but remember, this is the Bay of Fundy where the tide in this area of the bay will change upwards of 40 feet every 6 hours.  And if you look closely you can see the water lines in some of the pics, so the areas that I was taking the pictures would be underwater in less than 5-6 hours.  While we were down there, we were able to navigate the mud and make it all the way to the other end of the Hopewell Rocks where they actually have an emergency tower for the idiots who forget the tide is coming in and then they can ride the tide out in the tower for another 4-5 hours until the water recedes and then they can evacuate safely.

Safe Tower

After seeing the floor we hung out in the area to the other sites, such as Demoiselles Beach, this is a nice pebble-ly beach that is seldom visited due to the Rocks being the main attraction.  While we were over there, very few other visitors visited.

From Demoiselles Beach

Demoiselles Beach

After checking out the other beach we headed back to the Hopewell Rocks area to see just how far the tide had come in, and even in the amount of time it took us to walk to the other beach and back we could visibly see the difference.  Here’s a pic of the floor just before we left and one we we first arrived at sunrise.

At sunrise

4 hours later 

Having had enough of Hopewell and its wonders we headed back into Fundy National Park to tackle our hike for the day.  Since we got up early an afternoon nap along side Laverty Lake was due, so of course we did that for 30 mins. This was to be the Moosehead and Laverty Falls trails, the trail run into one another so this can be combined into a loop.  Both trails go down hill into the river valley and give access to 3 waterfalls with the Laverty Falls trail winding downhill through a stand of maple an birch tress which would have been even more amazing if we would have come to the area probably 3 weeks later when the trees were in full color change.  Sadly we had to witness partial changes and a bit of yellowish green.   There were a few trees that had decided it was time to put on a show, and the river and waterfalls were nice too.

Laverty Falls

After a long hike it was dinner time, so we headed over to the town of Alma for a pint of the local brew.  Of course the brewery didn’t serve food so we were left trying to order from the other restaurants in town.  But being outside of ‘peak’ season these jerks had closed on Monday and Tuesday so were were left eating from the less cools spots.  So, I got a lobster roll and Rebe got fish and chips.  I will say the lobster roll was some of the best lobster I had ever had now maybe this was the beer talking or maybe it actually was.  I’ll confirm back after I give the Maine lobster rolls a try.

Holy Whale Brewery, isn't that a great name and logo

Tuesday Oct 1st

Fundy to Acadia

Monday was a long day but a good one and we had one more hike left in us before we left for Maine.  We headed over back into the park to start our hike up to Third Vault Falls at 10am.  A little later than we had planned but when you’re not on a specific schedule you can do that.  Third Vault Falls is the largest waterfall in Fundy and the trail itself is not very difficult until you get closer to the waterfall itself, the trail then gets very steep and the park has even put in stairs to traverse some of the more difficult sections of terrain (I would hate to be the new guy who has to haul that wood down the trail).  We were the first people on the trail and of course we were the first to reach the waterfall, the waterfall is somehow tucked off around a corner when you descend into the canyon where the falls reach the river so if you were to come down the trail, reach the bottom and not go the extra 15 feet you might decided that this hike was a waste and turn around before ever seeing the falls.  Nonetheless, this trail was definitely worth the effort.

Left is the canyon and the stairway we came down, right is the other waterfall canyon

Third Vault Falls

On the way back to Maine we made a quick pit stop at New River Beach, this time while we were there it was going to be high tide (we didn’t realize it was low tide last time, but thinking back it was a bit obvious).  Here are the pics of high tide a New River Beach… seeing this makes going to the beach a bit difficult in having to plan what time of day you could actually GO to the beach.

New River Beach at high tide

New River Beach at a lower tide (not sure how low this was)

3 hours later we were back in our car and on the road making our way to Acadia.  We had a bit of funny money (Canadian Money) left over so we had to figure out what to do with it.  We needed some gas but gas is expensive (relatively $3.36/gal) in Canada so the most efficient use of the money would NOT be to buy a full tank of gas so we got enough gas to get us across the border.  We then used the rest of the funds to buy groceries for the next few days and a few bits of junk food too.

Our hotel in Bar Harbor, Maine

The drive into the area was uneventful and we pulled up to our hotel in the heart of Bar Harbor.  Bar Harbor is a tiny bustling town, named for the bar of land that connects the main island to another island that is accessible during low tides. We arrived, checked in and then walked down the street into town for a bite to eat at the Finback Ale House, then finished the night off with a bit of ice cream Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream who has some unique flavors before circling back to the hotel and calling it a night.

Wednesday October 2nd

ALL DAY Acadia

Our first full day in Acadia National Park, the 7th most visited park National Park in the US.  After getting oriented in Bar Harbor last night we were ready to attack this day in full force and see what the park had to offer.  We got up at 720 in order to make it over to the ranger station at 8am to ask them whatever it is Rebe asks the rangers, collect maps and formulate a game plan.  Bad news today because the rangers did not come in until 830am and that was way too long for me to wait because I KNOW this park is going to get crowded and we need to head on in to beat the masses.  I had made an executive decision to take us on the Loop Road which circles the eastern section of the park with a plan to hike or walk the Ocean Path trail.

We were not first to the Ocean Path Trail/Sand Beach parking lot but we were early enough that we did not have any issues finding parking. We parked, packed our gear and got on the trail.  The trail passed through the most scenic coastal areas of Acadia with scenes of the rugged coast, past Thunder Hole which is a cave has been worn by the waves and the incoming tide creates thunder with each passing, on to Boulder Beach and then to Otter Cliffs and Otter Point.  All just scenic points are worth stopping if in a car, but we were walking so it was much easier (and we didn’t have to fight for parking).

Once on the path, we settled in a little before Thunder Hole and sat and took in the sights and ate some of our stale popcorn we had popped the previous morning.  It was a good, since it was still early we had an area to ourselves to watch the waves crash against the island and to just relax before we continued on along the island.  We eventually made it to Otter Point, had another rest and then hi-tailed it back to Thunder Hole to catch it in full volume this time but with more visitors… but it seemed that the ‘thunder’ had been louder when had come through previously (it’s supposed to be loudest 2 hours before high tide but we were there 1.5 hours before so maybe we had missed the REAL show).

We got back to our car in time to make our Icelandic dish of PBJN, that’s right folks peanut butter, jelly and nutella.  We hid in our car as the parking vultures were out but surprisingly there were still a few spaces open in the lot.

PBJN

After lunch we made it further along the Loop Road, stopped and admired a few houses just off the National Park property and inquired to ourselves, “who owns these house and who do we need to talk to to get invited to the country club?”

Large houses just off the National Park

From there it was over to Jordan Pond or as it should be called Jordan Lake because it’s way to big to be called a pond for a ~3 miles hike around the lake.  From the pond we could see the “bubbles” (two roundish mountains along the pond and just a bunch of picturesque trees along the lake side.  There was also a bald eagle just chilling in the trees at the far side of the lake… first animal we had seen on the trip including Canada too, they have all these signs talking about moose crossings and deer crossing.  I think they just post those to get your hopes up.

The Bubbles (the two mountains) when looking across Jordan Pond

Path around the west side of the lake

If you look closely, there's bald eagle in the lower trees (look for the white spot)

After finishing our lap at the pond, it was getting close-ish to sunset and there is a lighthouse on the quiet side of the island that everyone flocks to to catch a sunset picture.  We thought we’d show up early-ish but we weren’t the only ones and the line was so long to get into the parking lot of the lighthouse that we decided to turn around and park on the main street and walk down to road to see this sunset.  Of course we get down there and the coast is littered with people waiting to watch the sunset and photographers who had been there since 4:45pm… Now I’m dedicated to my craft, willing to stay up late, wake up at 3am, get up at 4am for a sunrise but getting to a spot there 10000 other photographers have been just to take a shot that everyone else has is not my idea of ‘special.’  Any who, I waited 10 mins before setting up my tripod to take a few shots and even packed up early cause “it just ain’t that serious, I ain’t getting paid for this.”  And then there were all these prima donnas down there complaining that someone was “in their frame.”  Get over yourself, go find something original then.

Bass Harbor lighthouse

Me (the lumberjack) and the other folks all capturing the same shot

More people behind me

Dinner was at Thurston’s Lobster Pound, apparently world famous or at least famous on Mount Desert.  Good, yes.  Award winning, hardly.  If you find yourself on this side of the island, sure stop over but don’t make the trek expecting be blown away by some secret sauce they have.  It’s lobster…nothing else but still quite good.

Crab melt and Lobster Roll

Thursday October 3rd

Acadia Day 2

Whenever we visit a national park or city we do some digging on blogs to see what others have done, this gives us an idea of what is good, what is bad, what are must dos and what are obvious things we can skip.  Of course all the blog sites for Acadia say that seeing the sunrise from atop Cadillac Mountain is a must what we didn’t anticipate was how many other probably read the same blogs we did.  Now this being the beginning of low season I thought we would run into a few others atop the mountain but not the mess we would stumble upon this morning.

We were up at 5:30am with the intention on being up there 30 minutes early before the sun rises at 6:30am.  In hindsight this was an extreme underestimation of the number of people who would have this same idea.  Just like tons of people had the idea to visit the lighthouse at dark, even more people are trying to see the sunrise atop Cadillac Mountain.  As we head up the mountain, it is just Rebe and I following a lone Jeep up the mountain, we didn’t see any other cars that morning but as we get closer to the summit, we see a car parked off on the side of the mountain at a lower pull out (bad sign #1).  We go a little further and someone is already coming down the mountain (bad sign #2), this automatically sent us the abort signal and we turned around on the mountain and headed to the spot where we saw others all already pulled over.  From this spot we could see Bar Harbor and where the sun was going to rise, what else do you need?

Sunrise from the "top" of Cadillac Mountain

We had come to the mountain with 2 intentions, 1) to see the sunrise and 2) to explore the summit as they have a few small trails you can circle the summit on.  Sadly we were stuck on the side on road waiting on all the early risers to come down off the mountain before we could cut in and head up.  Of course we get up there and EVERYONE is gone.  So, if you ever come to Acadia and want to visit the top of Cadillac Mountain the absolute best time will be about an hour after sunrise.  Plenty of parking, no crowds just perfect.

Views from atop Cadillac Mountain

Views from atop Cadillac Mountain, the town is Bar Harbor (center left)

The rest of the day was going to be a bit less hectic as we ventured over to the Schoodic Peninsula, this is a section of the park that is not on the main island, is less visited and to me less picturesque. Not to say the place isn’t worth visiting, it’s a really nice place that is scenic and a good change of pace in comparison to the main areas of the park.  The peninsula has has rugged coastline like Mount Desert Island many hiking paths to explore and even the bus system that is run by the park operates over here so you can get dropped off and they will scoot you around the island with no issues.  Only issue its this area is 1 hour from the main part of the park so either by car or by boat it’s a haul to get over here.

Schoodic Peninsula

Schoodic Peninsula

We ventured over to Schoodic, took a nap at the Point.  Walked around the area, ventured over to the Blueberry Hill area to eat our lunch before heading back to Mount Desert Island. Still kinda of whipped for gettin up at 5:30am we debated our next move, should it be a bike tour, maybe a 2nd nap at the hotel or maybe a relaxing walk along some of the parks numerous carriage roads.  We stopped at the visitor’s center again, this time rangers were actually at their post and discussed what could we do.  The ranger we spoke to recommended a good carriage road to visit that was within distance of a few old bridges that were built in the 1920’s.

Schoodic Peninsula

Schoodic Peninsula

Interesting history of the park is that John D. Rockefeller (https://visitmaine.com/quarterly/acadia/rockefeller) had a hand in molding the park into what it is today, all throughout the core of the park are carriage roads that would allow fancy city folk to see the interior of the park and all its beauty and on these roads are 17 stone bridges that cross streams and gorges.  Today cars are still not allowed on these paths but you you can walk and bike on them and these are the ones we ventured on.  Here are some pics of the carriage road and a few of the bridges we found.

Typical Carriage Road

Hemlock Bridge

Waterfall Bridge

Hadlock Brook Bridge

We then stopped at another bridge in the Eagle Lake area.

Eagle Lake Bridge which is one of the few that actually supports cars

Eagle Lake

We got up early today, so it was time for an early dinner and this was at Side Street Cafe.  Unfortunately Rebe has gained a tasted for seafood so my plan of ordering seafood and keeping it all to myself has run its course.  We split Crab Dip, Lobster Mac and Cheese and a Scallop Special… food was so good we might come back again the next day.  Read on to see if we actually do.

Friday October 4th

A later start to the day since we were up so early the day before, we were dead tired after dinner and actually in bed at 9:30pm.  Not that the night life in Bar Harbor is booming…  The plan for the morning was to continue our search for John D. Rockefeller bridges and we headed back over to the Jordon Pond area to find the Cobblestone Bridge, the first bridge constructed in the park.  It was only a mile from the trailhead, downhill of course but a wonderful little walk to this ornate bridge.  It is the only bridge constructed using cobblestones, the rest were constructed with larger granite slabs from around the park (I’m assuming, there’s granite everywhere).

Cobblestone Bridge

After hiking back up the the trail head we still had a little time before our afternoon activity, we then headed outside of the park boundary to see two more bridges Stanley Brook Bridge which you can drive under (a lot of the bridges do not cross public roads but rather just cross streams deep in the park or other carriage roads.  We pulled off in the ONLY parking spot near it to take some pics and to walk down the carriage road to Jordon Pond Road Bridge which combined with the foliage was very picturesque.

Stanley Brook Bridge

Carriage tour on the carriage road

Jordan Pond Road Bridge

The afternoon was filled by a boat ride to tour the Acadian coast along with a visit to Somes Sound.  Basically a three hour out and back around the park but with a view of the coast from the water.  It was cool to see the park from the water, cool to hear how the park was basically donated to the government from the extremely rich.  And even more cool to hear our tour guide talk about all the giant houses and who currently owns them, who used to own them and where the Vanderbilt’s, Rockefeller’s and Astor’s used to live or still do.

Rockefeller house

Egg Rock Lighthouse, once voted ugliest lighthouse in Maine 

Seals bobbing around Egg Rock

The boat tour guide had mentioned the Great Head Trail to us on the boat tour, and this trail had been on my radar and since it was short and not to strenuous we decided we had enough time in the afternoon to tackle it before dinner and we’re glad we did.  This short trail goes out east of the Sand Beach out on to the Great Head peninsula which gives views of the Ocean Path coast that we had previously hiked and the Great Head coast on which we were on.  Also from this coast we could see the mountains of Acadia or The Bubbles and Cadillac Mountain, I even had a bit of sunlight peek through to make the hike pictures even more favorable.

Overlooking Sand Beach

Coast view from Great Head Trail

Coast view from Great Head Trail

With a bit a of daylight left, there was another carriage road bridge that was still accessible from a main road and that was the Duck Brooke Bridge which was constructed in 1929.  This bridge up close looks like it was constructed last week, it’s truly immaculate and there was a bit of color around the bridge to make it even more special.  This was also another area of the park with not a lot of parking but we were able to get close.  Also since it was not busy season and also late in the day we literally drove right up to the bridge and parked, probably in an area that this wasn’t allowed but since no one was around we could get away with it.

Duck Brook Bridge

Dinner time again, more seafood at Side Street again since it was so good the night before.

Saturday October 5th

Acadia to Boston

Moving day, yet again. The day was a late start because the last week had been really go-go-go so we decided to sleep in and take it easy in the morning.  Finished packing and got on the road with a few stops planned for the day.  First stop was the city of Augusta, for some reason I now have this itch to see all the state capitals and the capitol buildings along with my secret mission to visit all 50 states (currently the standing is 39 states and maybe 10 capitals).

Maine Capitol 

We then drove down to Portland to have lunch at a hip place called Duckfat.  Usually in Houston lunch time is always safe and there's hardly ever a line for lunch, but this place was a mad house.  Granted it was a tiny restaurant with maybe room for 25-30 at max and 3-4 tables outside.  We got there and were told it was an hour wait, we had already done our research on places to eat and we weren't really in the mood to search for another great meal so we decided to go for a walk along the harbor.  Apparently Portland is a cruise boat stop and there was a large vessel in town the day we were there too.

From Portland headed down into Boston, where we drove through the "big dig" tunnel and of course GPS doesn't work very well underground so we got a bit lost and had to back track across town but finally made it to our hotel in the heart of downtown.  Of course there's no cheap parking downtown so after dropping Rebe off I headed back out to find something less than $55 a day the hotel was charging.  Debated dropping the car off at the airport like we did in Croatia but this was just one day and the math didn't add up this time.

After a few minutes in the room the game plan for the rest of the day was set, we would do a city self guided walking tour of Boston which follows The Freedom Trail.  This is a path built by the city that visits a lot of the historical sites and is even marked with bricks so you never get lost.  The path visits:

1. Boston Common
2. Massachusetts State House
3. Park Street Church
4. Granary Burying Ground
5. King's Chapel and Burying Ground
6. Benjamin Franklin statue and former site of Boston Latin School
7. Old Corner Bookstore
8. Old South Meeting House
9. Old State House
10. Site of the Boston Massacre
11. Faneuil Hall
12. Paul Revere House
13. Old North Church
14. Copp's Hill Burying Ground
15. USS Constitution
16. Bunker Hill Monument

2. MA State House, adding to my total

5. King's Chapel, which was closed due to a concert so we didn't get to go inside

Old State House (double credit) and the Site of the Boston Massacre (behind the trees, lower left)

We visited the first 13 before the sun set and we found ourselves in Boston's North End or as it doesn't liked to be called "Little Italy."  It was easy to see why people would want to call this area Little Italy as it was littered with Italian restaurants and since we were over here we might as well try one out. Some were really upscale looking and of course Rebe and I were dressed in our finest hiking gear.  Luckily we did not get any crazy stares.  Anyways the food at Lucia Ristorante was amazing!

After dinner it was back to the room for sleep.

Sunday October 6th

For our last day, we visited the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum after eating breakfast at the cafe attached to the hotel. This Library was a good historical effort with respect to JFK's presidency and his short time in office, the other libraries we have visited (Bush 2nd and Johnson) were much larger libraries and covered a lot more because...well their presidencies were longer.  

Entrance to JFK Library

Another thing that Boston has is a lot of universities such as Harvard, MIT, Boston College, UMass-Boston, Tufts, Northeastern and many more.  The most famous of course being Harvard and since we had visited Princeton after a coaster trip earlier this year, we thought it would be cool visit Harvard.  Princeton's campus felt like a real college campus like it was all together in one area and had that college campus feel.  Harvard does not have that same feel, it just felt like an assortment of building spread throughout Cambridge with no continuity.  It is really hard to describe AND it wasn't even a 'nice' campus.  I guess when you have that much history and prestige it doesn't really matter. 

Statue of John Harvard

Some random building on the spread out campus

After walking around for bit we had a meal and then headed to the airport to catch our flight home.