Acadia & kayaks

 

Monday morning we slept in a wee bit, then packed our car for the three hour drive up to Acadia.

We rolled into town, swung by the NP Visitor Center, then grabbed an over priced & meh lunch before heading into the park.  Kieran had seen the park had some geo-cache inside the park & he drove us to our 1st clue.  And this beautiful view:

After a bit of looking, Keenan found the clue and we set off to look for the next clue.

We hiked along a carriage road toward Jordan Pond while Kieran figured it's location & how we could reach it the next day, then we checked into our fantastic new digs (Bar Harbor Motel-it's great), and got settled before heading out to grab dinner on the shore.

Our meal was great, & the view was great:

The following morning we were up early to walk in to Bar Harbor.  We had to check in & get geared up for our kayak tour.

Our outfitter was taking us to "the quiet side" of the island for a point to point trip.

We stowed our gear, got settled, secured our spray skirts, & pushed off:

The weather was perfect & paddling was great.

We saw gulls, terns, cormorants.  

So many cormorants.

And a bald eagle.

And we paddled by harbor seals basking on rocks.

One swam over to give us a closer look.

We paddled over to a small beach for a snack/stretch break.  Or a snooze on a rock break.

And by the time the wind started to pick up, we had arrived at our pick up spot.

It was a lovely morning.

We grabbed a quick bite as we walked back to the hotel, changed clothes, and headed back to the park.  Kieran had figured where clue#2 was located-at the trail head for the Bubbles.

Clue found we hiked to both North & South Bubbles.

Neither hike is long, but they both are straight up and straight down.

The views from both are amazing though.

That's Jordan Pond in the distance.

I'm no fan of heights at all and the mother hen in me pops up quite easily when any of the rest of my family want to peer from the edges.

And they all do.

We finished the Bubbles and headed to Cadillac Mountain.

Due to the volume of traffic, the park limits traffic on the road to the summit and we had a 4:30 slot to drive up.

The clouds and wind had picked up through the afternoon and at the summit it was super windy.

We found clue #3 and the boys took off to explore more of the summit.

I was content to stay put and admire the view from my spot.

We grabbed dinner on our way back in town and as we left the restaurant, the skies opened up and the rain began.  What an excellent day.