Acadia part 2 and Canada - Keels go to Canada day 13

 I'm not a morning person but I was determined to view the sunrise while in Bar Harbor. I set my alarm for 5:50, about 15 minutes before sunrise. However I woke up around 5:30 to a beautiful pink light coming in the room, I walked on the balcony and saw that I wanted to go out immediately. So I made my coffee, got dressed and headed out to the dock.

 

 

 I was able to view the sunrise through my phone. Once it peeked over the mountain over there it was too bright to look at but easy to view through the phone. I certainly don't regret waking up early for the sunrise. If I can make it back I want to go to Cadillac Mountain for sunrise. That will have to take place without kids though, or at least with older kids... however if we make this trip with the kids in a few years they will be bigger and we will need a bus.

 I walked down to the rocks on the beach, slippery but neat.

 

 Today we went back to Acadia to enjoy some more of the park. You just can't beat the views here. I would love to come back and backpack here just so I can take in all the park has to offer.

 This is the Precipice Trail, basically a trail that runs up the mountain. It contains handrails and ladders up the mountain. Paul wanted to go do that trail by himself but I told him no, not without me and we were not taking the kids!

 The only sand beach in Acadia. The kids loved walking around this area. Back behind those trees was a small lagoon area that the kids enjoyed. The water was COLD so no one actually got in.

  

My man. 💖

 

Our next stop was Thunder Hole. This was the highlight of Acadia for the kids. They loved it! This video only shows a small bit of our Thunder Hole experience. Not in the video is about 10 seconds later when dad yelled "Oh No! We gotta get out of there its going to be a big one!" Then him getting stuck and all of us getting soaked. It was a blast. This next video is the extra time the kids spent down there, mom and dad were not interested in any more cold water soaking.

 

 More pictures of the beautiful sights.

 

 

 

 

 

 Paul said he took this picture because of the hot babe sitting there.

 

 

And we completed this Jr Ranger program! Now on to Canada! Before leaving Maine we ate lunch at a Burger King, which had to be the worse Burger King I have ever been to. Not only did they tell me the coupon I had didn't really mean what it said on it, I also heard one of them ask another where the Vodka was. Not the best experience but a memorable one.

 At the Canadian border.

 Paul almost had a heart attack when he saw gas prices.

 We stayed in Saint John that night, Paul wanted a picture of this sign.

We saw deer in a neighborhood, just walking around along the street. So crazy! It was a great end to a fun but full day.

Acadia National Park part 1 - Keels go to Canada Day 12

One of my new favorite places in the United States. I LOVE Acadia National Park. This park was actually created by the donations of land by people. It used to be basically a playground for the wealthy and they wanted to see to it that it was preserved. John D Rockefeller Jr. actually was the one major key players in the formation of the carriage roads through this park. We only saw a small part of this massive park. They have over 120 miles of trails in addition to the carriage roads.

After picking up our Jr Ranger books, Cadillac Mountain was our first sightseeing stop. It is the highest point along the North American Seaboard.

Paul had to do a time lapse video of walking around the popular viewing area at Cadillac Mountain.

 This section was the actual top of Cadillac Mountain, it just doesn't have as large of a view as the other part, so most people didn't go to this part.

 

 

 It was quite windy up there, but beautiful and we were so happy to get to wear jackets!

 

 

 

 

 This boy is so goofy.

 

 We really needed a selfie stick. Abigail also HATED looking at the sun for pictures. Chloe just refused to look.

 

 

It was quite a view. They also had a gift shop there, which had the best Blue Berry soda ever! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

 Eagle Lake.... in Maine.

 Still windy. Poor Sarah.

 

 

 We took a trail to South Bubble Rock. It wasn't a long trail, but it was up. Nice climb. Amazing Views. Tired mom and dad. Four kids, one of them under 2 is no joke walking trails but we still enjoyed it!

 

 

 

 And here is Bubble Rock. Its not quite as scary as it looks.

 

 See, there is some ground under the rock there, its not just a cliff.

 

 Sarah says she LOVES the views but hates the walking. Her favorite things on the trip are seeing the views/monuments, but her least favorite things are getting to the stuff to see. At least shes honest. Hopefully she will learn that the hard work pays off in the end.

 

 

 We stayed at the Holiday Inn Resort at Bar Harbor that night. Paul went in with PR to check in, I sat in the van with the rest of the kids. While standing in line, Paul had to back up to let someone walk through with a luggage cart, as he did that, a customer finished up and it was now Pauls turn to check in. Well, a man stepped in front of Paul and butted in line. Paul ignored it as someone else was almost done. He over heard the man ask for a complimentary upgrade to an ocean view room. The receptionist informed him that there was not one available for tonight but to check back tomorrow to see if he could purchase an upgrade, to which he said he didn't want to pay for an upgrade. As Paul was signing for our room he noticed that it said "Ocean View" on it, which we did not pay for because it was a significant amount more. He mentioned that we did not reserve an ocean view room to which the reply was to the effect of it was complementary and they just like to take care of their IHG reward members. It does pay to be nice & be a rewards club member.

 We ate dinner at a restaurant called Cafe This Way.

 

I enjoyed the Blueberry pie with ice cream and coffee! A great end to the night!