Acadia-trails

 For our last full day of vacation the weather forecast tad on the damp side, so we got up & headed out to make the most of our time.

We drove down to Thunder Hole to check out the view & (hopefully) hear the roar.

The views with the lingering fog on the water were amazing.

Thunder Hole got its name from the sound the ocean makes as waves break in a narrow area of rocks.  The tide was pretty low but coming back in so the "thunder" was on the quieter side, but the crowds were lower too.  Was pretty cool to just stand & watch the water.

Then we headed to Gorham mountain trail for Kieran's next clue.  We found the clue & enjoyed the hike, 

then headed back to the Oceanside trail for more of the views.

Surprisingly I was ok on this hike-even with the exposed drops to the side.

By the time we finished it was lunchtime, so we grabbed some delicious sandwiches at a cafe in Bar Harbor.  Our guide from yesterday & an old friend of mine had both suggested it and it was delicious.  We did a quick stroll around some of the shops in Bar Harbor (along with tons of other tourists), then headed back into park.  Sadly we realized we would not be able to complete Kieran's geo-cache quest due to a trail & its parking area being completely closed off due to nesting birds.

We drove down to the town of Northeast Harbor to check it out while deciding what to do next.  Such a cute little town-gave me Cabot Cove vibes from Murder She Wrote.

We headed to Jordan Pond & surprisingly snagged a parking spot.  The boys indulged me-after all the hikes to tops of mountains, ledges, etc. we finally got a hike along the water.

Much more my speed.

Thankfully the crowds thinned as we moved away from the restaurant & parking area and we got to enjoy walking the boardwalk trail.

The boardwalk took us around half of the pond, then trail does a shoreline, rocky scramble before opening up to this view:

Both of The Bubbles we hiked the day before.

We saw a beaver dam, and another Bald Eagle.

Fantastic hike.

After that we swung by Sand beach, then headed back to Bar Harbor for dinner.

Keenan found a restaurant on the harbor and it was perfect.

We sat outside, watched other kayak groups paddle around the busy harbor, sightseeing boats come and go, and enjoyed some delicious seafood.

Excellent way to end and excellent vacation