Maine, Day Five

We spent all day on day five hiking in beautiful Acadia National Park! It was super foggy all morning, so the views weren't ideal when we first started out, but it cleared up throughout the day and we managed to stay nice and cool while hiking by knocking the raindrops off the trees that covered the paths. What a fun day!

We started out at Sand Beach, arrived before most of the crowds and enjoyed some quiet time with the waves.

We headed inland a bit and found the Beehive Hiking Trail, which was formidable. All of the hiking in Acadia is pretty extreme, but we did it all day anyway.

A view of Sand Beach from the top of the Beehive.

From there, we found more trails and more beautiful vistas.

This is the Beehive summit from the bottom.

A view of Echo Lake from the top of a trail.

The pretty Bass Harbor Headlight, which we found as sunset was approaching.

All along the Park Loop Road, there are places to stop, park and get out and walk around. We did that quite a few times, usually making our way down to the water.

Fun times in Acadia! Excited for day two!

Maine, Day Four

On Day Four, we spent the morning in Rockland, visiting the Farnsworth Museum, which houses a bunch of paintings and drawings by the Wyeth family (Andrew and NC), who spent their summers in Rockland. It was a lovely place.

We checked out of the Samoset and headed north some more, stopping first at the Marshall Point Lighthouse, which is also a museum. It was so lovely! It was featured in Forrest Gump and they had some cool stuff on display. On the way to Marshall Point, we drove through Thomaston, St. George, Tenants Harbor and Port Clyde. It was a moody, rainy day; just perfect for this type of sightseeing!

Pretty gatepost at Lands' End.

We had lunch at a local spot in Tenants Harbor, The Happy Clam, then ventured onward toward Bar Harbor.

We walked along the Shore Path, skipping rocks and admiring the vibrant mosses and seaweeds, not to mention the beautiful homes. Bar Harbor was very crowded, though you wouldn't know it from these pictures!

Chinese food for dinner and some ice cream in town and we hunkered down to watch the Olympics at our next resting spot, the Harborside Hotel.

Maine, Day Three

On day three, we headed a bit further up the coast to Camden, which is a beautiful old port city on Penobscot Bay. We had reserved a trip on a schooner called the Appledore. It was us and a bunch of old people, which meant that the young strapping Horn lads got to help with the riggings a bit. What a beautiful day for a boat ride!

The view of the port from the lawn outside the library.

We ate lunch on the dock after our time on the boat, then shopped a bit on the main street. From the port, we could see a mountaintop tower just above us, so we asked about it and headed up there to the  tower on Mount Battie. The view from the top was fantastic, and we were grateful we had driven and not attempted the hike.

We ended the day with some time back at the Samoset. The sunset was perfection.

Maine, Days One and Two

Oh my goodness, our time in Maine was so perfect! We left on a Sunday after Sacrament Meeting with the Parkers and headed north on I-95 until we hit Highway 1, which follows the coastline all the way up. The first town you come to, York, has an amazing lighthouse, the Nubble Light, at Cape Neddick, in Sohier Park. We had pretty much the ideal day for lighthouse viewing and stopped for a little lunch at Fox's Lobster House at the top of the hill. Then out onto the rocks we went!

Next up was a drive through of Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. What a beautiful town! This Wedding Cake House was in our guide book and pretty crazy. We were hoping someone will swoop in and do some repairs soon. It was looking a little weathered.

Our next stop was the Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, across from Fort Williams Park. The lighthouse was commissioned by George Washington in 1790. Super pretty and a nice place to walk along the cliffs and take in the sea air.

This is also where we discovered that people on Maine's rocky beaches like to build cairns. So we did, too!

We arrived at the Samoset Resort in Rockland in the late afternoon. I stayed there with my family back in the early 90s and have always wanted to go back. It has changed a bit (no bike rentals), but we still had a great time! We stayed there for three nights and explored the area a bit each day.

The first thing we did was to walk out from the resort grounds onto the breakwater, which is almost a mile long. There is an old lighthouse at the end, which made for a fun resting spot after the long walk over the granite blocks.

As we walked along the breakwater, we were watching this lobsterman checking his traps. He stopped and talked to us for a second, but we had a hard time understanding his thick accent! It was fun to see his process up close, though! Hard work!

Across the bay from the Samoset is the Owl's Head Lighthouse, which was one of my favorites. I'm a sucker for anything black and white! Owl's Head was such a pretty little tiny town. There are so many of those in Maine! Ah! South Thomaston was another favorite. 

The beach at Owl's Head State Park was so pretty, and completely empty, just like the town. It was full of cool rocks and had such a lovely view of western Penobscot Bay. Ah, take me back!

We had dinner that evening in Rockland, a town where our friend, Josh, grew up. Neal had his first whole lobster of the trip. So proud!