Acadia National Park and Mt Desert Island

June 18 - 22, 2012

We spent a wonderfully relaxing week in Maine. Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park are located on Mt Desert Island. It's pronounced like the sweet you have after dinner, not the place where cactus grows, but its pronunciation ought to be Day-zairt since its from the french word, desert.

Our weather has been good, but weird. The first five days saw highs that never got out of the sixties, but the last two days were in the eighties. We never saw seventies! But the cooler temperatures made it lovely for hiking, which we have done almost every day.

This is our third visit to the area, so we have done most of the big touristy "must do's" before. This left us free to try some new things. We enjoyed several hikes that we hadn't tried before. Bar Harbor and Acadia are very dog friendly, so SiSi was welcome almost everywhere.



We drove to the top of Cadillac Mt. Maybe someday I'll be in good enough shape to hike it!


This is a view of "sand beach," unique since most of Maine's "beaches" are rocky.

On Wednesday, we took the mail boat to a little island called Islesford, aka Little Cranberry Island. The Island has only about 100 permanent residents, but that number increases in the summer with the arrival of the seasonal residents who keep "cottages" on the island. This was our hottest day, so it was a good day for a boat ride, but not such a great day for a hike, which was about all there was to do on the island.

This hike was very boggy, so we had to walk on boards.


Rick and SiSi on a more typical Maine "beach."


We had lunch twice at a restaurant in Acadia called Jordan Pond House. Dogs were welcome at their seats on the lawn, and they provided SiSi with a bowl of water. Jordan Pond House is famous for its afternoon tea and popovers. It was chilly on our first visit, so we enjoyed the popovers with some delicious seafood chowder.



At a nearby table we saw a father with his two daughters. When they were seated, the 5 year old was already sulking and crying. She had wanted to sit inside where it was warmer. Dad was threatening to spank her, and the situation was escalating. I just knew that SiSi could help! Rick told me to mind my own business, but I couldn't help myself. I told our waitress that the kids were welcome to come over and visit with SiSi, and she passed the message to them. The kids came over, and SiSi worked her magic.


I had to include this picture. When we opened the trunk to the Hyundai, SiSi jumped right in and made herself comfortable!