Author: Joyce

Bar Harbor

img_1670-family_shareOne place we knew we all wanted to visit was Bar Harbor. We had been told that when the tide was low, you could walk across a sand bar to an island and explore the island. You had to be sure to be back before the tide came in or you would be stranded!

The bar was a lot of fun to explore.  Allan had Megan taste the water (“Yuck! Salty!”) We found lots of sea weed, a few different kinds of crabs and the best discovery was made by Audrey… a seastar!

The island was pretty also.  We took the path to the other side and looked down into the harbor.  It was a nice walk with some rocks to climb over and lots of people for Megan to say “hi” to.  She  and Adrian were a little concerned about getting back to the mainland on time, and we had fun teasing them about spending the night on the island.

The next day on the way home from the park, we stopped at Bar Harbor again, this time to show the kids what it normally looked like.

Acadia National Park

View while driving to the park

img_1548_shareWe spent most of our time in Maine exploring Acadia National Park.  It was a wonderful park and we would have loved to be able to spend more time there. There were so many neat places to see and explore.  We chose some of our favorites and the kids are already asking to go back one day.

The first day we visited the visitors center and talked with rangers, who were extremely friendly, and planned part of our visit.  We decided to drive up Cadillac Mountain and explore there.  We knew that Acadia is a very popular park, but we did not expect it to be so busy since school had started in many places.

After exploring Cadillac Mountain, we headed back toward the campground.  There were a few stops we wanted to make along the way, but we needed most of the afternoon to enjoy them.

Traveling to Maine-Day 4

From New Hampshire, we drove the rest of the way into Maine. We were surprised by how many “watch out for Moose” signs we saw.  Unfortunately, as hard as we looked, we never spotted one.

Just inside of Maine, we stopped at a welcome center with extremely helpful attendants. They found more ideas that looked interesting than we could do in a month! Once we got on Mount Desert Island, we stopped to pick up a National Park pass and Junior Ranger books for the children to work on.

While we drove, Allan mentioned that the campground we were staying at had made a mistake and called to see if we minded having a cabin for one night. We did not tell anyone and they enjoyed the surprise.

We were very glad to stop and know we did not have to move very far for a few days!

Pine Haven Scenery

Mushrooms

We were at Pine Haven long enough that we all enjoyed relaxing. The kids played in the water and I took some pictures. It was great to be out of the car and exploring!

If you click on a picture, you can see the pictures as a slide show.

 

Traveling to Maine-Day 3

From New York, we traveled through Vermont and into New Hampshire.  Allan had planned a shorter drive, because he found a great place for us to stay.

Pine Haven Campground in NH was very quiet!  We were at the end of the lane, with only one other tent, so we had a lot of space to play.  We grilled sausage, corn and other veggies we picked up from the farmers’ markets on our trip.  Then we enjoyed s’mores and lots of roasted marshmallows.

img_1216-campground_shareNo one really wanted to leave the next morning.  Allan started washing clothes while we got breakfast started and then cleaned up the area.  The kids enjoyed playing on the see saws and then got Allan to play a few rounds of Octaball before we piled into the car around 9:30 for the last leg of our trip to Maine.

If you click on a picture, you can see it as a slide show.

Traveling to Maine-Day 2

On Saturday we drove through Pennsylvania and New York. It was a long drive, but we enjoyed  getting treats at the small farmer’s markets at the rest stops and along the road.

Andrea was really excited to see that peaches were in season, so we stopped at a few places hoping to buy some.  Unfortunately, we did not find ripe ones that would travel well until we reached Vermont. We did find some maple cotton candy that was a lot of fun to eat.IMG_0981.First Gas lighthouse_share

We stopped for gas in Portland Harbor, NY. We discovered the first lighthouse in the United States to operate using natural gas used hollow logs as pipes to get the gas where it needed to be. We enjoyed a very quick picnic nearby because the bees were fond of our lunch!

img_1004-koa_shareWe stayed at a  KOA in Herkimer, New York.  It was extremely crowded! Our two tents sat side by side with a trailer on one side and a group of people and a few tents on the other.  The nice thing about the campground was there was a river that the kids could play in.  We could have rented tubes and tubed down the river, which is what most people seemed to enjoy.

Since we had a long travel day, we went out for dinner.  Allan had picked a place that looked good, but was closed early.  So we drove around town looking for another place.  We discovered Crazy Otto’s Empire Diner.  It was fun place to eat and everyone was very friendly.

We went to bed soon after getting back from dinner and were up and ready to start traveling again before most people at the camp ground were getting up for the day.

 

Traveling to Maine

Best Way to Travel_shareWe started for Maine as soon as Allan got home from work on Friday.  We had the car packed and ready to go early. Everyone spent most of the afternoon running and playing.

We drove three hours to Ohio.  It was a good way to start our long drive!  Megan took off some of the pillowcases, declared she was cold and played dress up for most of the trip.

Our first campsite was very nice. The kids enjoyed Timber Ridgeplaying in the pool and we were the only tents in the tent area. We also discovered “fairy lights” and had fun trying to figure out what they were and where they originated. Mark discovered a forest of them at the end of the tenting area and we enjoyed playing in them for awhile.