Acadia National Park

When Adrienne and I first moved to New Hampshire in 1998, on our first holiday weekend we go up at 2:00 am on a Saturday and made a B-line for Acadia National Park.

We loved it here.  We managed one more visit back in 1999 with Patrick was a newborn, but have not made is back since.  We talked for years about taking the kids here, but the opportunity never came up. Needing a "break" from single parenting, I thought I'd use a Hotel.com free night I had and take the kids up over the Memorial Day Weekend.  

Unfortunately, the first two days had rain in the forecast.  Lots of rain.  We came prepared to hike in the rain - with the exception of waterproof shoes.  We had to abandon our hike on the first day as the trail became a swamp.

So we made our way to Sand Beach.  The waves were crashing pretty good.  It made for a romanic scene - with 5 kids and no wife.

I used this time to take some photos of the kids with my new camera lens

And a shot with me in it too, just to prove I was there.

Got a nice shot of Patrick waking on what looked to be a scene from War of the Worlds (Just sneeze on them and they will all die).

Ronin felt the need to throw sand at anyone he could.  I dodged my share of fist-fulls.  He did manage a  good amount in his pants too

After a long cold day of driving and hiking and playing in the sand, we went back to the hotel with a bag of Taco Bell and swam in the the indoor pool.  The kids and I were pretty spent and slept well.

The next day we made our way to Schoodic Point.  It cleared enough to get a view of the vistas.  Beautiful!  Char has to be our diva of course.  Ronin tried to pose too, but I am not sure what look he was going for - it looks like someone just told him and off-color joke he didn't get.

Schoodic Point was amazing.  The waves were 10-15 feet high and crashing into the rocks around us.  I also learned WAY to late in life that if you pay a bit more money for a nice jacket, you really WILL stay dry.

Patrick was showing why he earned his photography merit badge.  Olivia complains about her face in this picture, but I say, hey, you made the face, you live with the photo.

That night we found this nice little Lobster Pound and BBQ with live blues music.  It was a small enough place that the band grilled us as soon as we walked in.  The singer pegged us a Mormons pretty quick as he asked about our food storage. Another question was with 5 kids going solo was I brave or just crazy.  I starting barking like a dog then wet myself.  I think that answered his question.

In the middle of dinner, the waiter brought out a live lobster for the kids to hold.  Charlotte named him Fred and asked him how he felt that her daddy had just eaten is friend (who was apparently named Bill).  The waiter said he had to go into the kitchen to crack up at her.

The next day sun was finally do out, so I got the kids up at 4:00 in the morning, packed our bags and checked out so that we could catch the sunrise from Cadillac mountain at 5:00 am (this was the time I was glad Adrienne WAS NOT here).  Though tired and very cold, the kids did really well and enjoyed the scene.  We made it to the top just after the sun popped up, but it was still worth the drive.  This is Patrick's photo taken while driving to the top.

After sunrise some of us slept in the car while other watched a DVD.  With enough sleep (or at least some sleep) we spent our last day hiking around the park.  For as much hiking as we did, the kids did little complaining.  We got some amazing views.

Locke and I at the top of the Beehive.

Still after the end of a long day, the kids and their dad were pretty tuckered out.

All in all, a great weekend.  Though it was a successful trip, there definitely was a edgier side to the trip, but I will save that for my next post.

A fun trip, great memories, and a check off the bucket list for the kids.