Kennedy Tea

Since we hadn't seen Danielle in awhile we thought we go check out her special event at work. Church doesn't start clear until 1pm so we had the whole morning...

Danielle and Park Ranger David

All three of us.

We mostly took a look at the special set up in the backyard and wished Danielle luck for her little speech. We tried touring the home but with David it just wasn't meat to be. After all the hassle with a drive to Brookline (no good way to get there!) we didn't stay too long. I was glad to finally have a peek inside the place after dropping Danielle by more than once.

It looked like they were going to get a great turnout. This event was inspired by the tea parties the Kennedy's threw for Boston's women, they were instrumental in getting JFK elected. Who knew?

Leaving Maine

We woke up to some Maine gray weather; fog and rainy. Packing everything up was no small ordeal, but Brad is usually the force behind it all so thankfully everything fit in the trunk again! We'd thought about checking out a festival on our way out but decided on a stop at Fort Knox (not the one your thinking of) and the Penebscot Narrows Observatory.

A view from the fort...

We wandered around the visitors center and I got caught in yet another museum reading moment. I found out that a relative of Henery Wadsworth Longfellow had something to do with the history of the fort so I was hooked. I got to see a few costumed actors and displays on the way up to the fort.

Will started another one of his screaming fits so it was out to the car for he and I. He didn't calm down after several attempts to offer him his cup and various snacks so he just screamed for awhile. I watched a pretend militia do drills around the parking lot. David and Brad enjoyed a short tour of the fort, for David it was all about being able to carry a flashlight around in the dark.

I don't remember the ride back being particularly eventful which is good. We were a little sad that we missed our ward's Pioneer Day activity but glad we left the bad weather behind in Maine.

Fjords, Tide Pools, and Lobster

In an effort to see everything the park had to offer we opted to drive to a small portion of Acadia that was very out of the way. We left the park still listening to our CD and loving the fact that it continued as we drove past a beautiful an amazing fjord. Don't know what the ones in Sweden are like, but this one was gorgeous. Too bad we were driving and didn't do it any snapshot justice.

David and Brad hiked over a bunch of rocks and took a quick peek at the little tide pool ecosystem...

Goodbye Acadia, hopefully, we'll be back.

Our last and much anticipated activity was eating fresh lobster at a real "lobstah" pound. I just can't help but Boston-izng some words, sorry. The boys donned their hats and we went for it! Like Duffy's we'd been driving by everyday, anticipating and saving the best for last.

Touching the lobster.

Lobster family.

Petting the Lobster.

And most importantly to David, a lobster friend.

David knew it was Jackson the moment the car pulled up. Our good friends the Curtis family just randomly happened to plan a trip to Acadia the during the same weekend. They were arriving as we were leaving and we were thrilled to meet up.

This cute boy sat and ate his dinner unlike two other cute boys I know. Melanie was a real trooper. Even though she is from Washington/Oregon she isn't much of a seafood person.

Brad, Andrew, and I had our crash course on lobster eating. It was good and fun, and messy, but I can't say it was Brad's most favorite dish. I liked it, but maybe it just comes from my Mom...

The Whole Gang!

Carriage Roads and Bridges

Our next destination was to the stables to see if we could ride a horse drawn carriage. For a whole series of reasons we didn't think to make reservations early so the rides were full for the day. We walked along a few of the paths and tried to spot as many bridges as we could.

"Forty-five miles of rustic carriage roads, the gift of philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. and family, weave around the mountains and valleys of Acadia National Park. Rockefeller financed 16 of 17 stone-faced bridges, each unique in design, to span streams, waterfalls, roads, and cliffsides. The bridges are steel-reinforced concrete, but the use of native stone for the facing gives them a natural appearance. Over time, the stone cutters grew very skilled and Rockefeller often requested them not to cut the facing too well lest the rustic look be lost."

From the Acadia NPS Website

I thought everything about this network of roads and bridges was SO interesting. They are only open to carriages, bikes, and of course walkers.

We enjoyed our little walk/hike on the carriage roads. The boys got to see a horse drawn carriage drive by too. We should have taken the jogging stroller, it would have been a lot easier to push them in. If we were thinking we would have brought our bikes and biked along the trails but poor Danielle needed my bike to get to work on Saturday and Sunday.

If you look closely you can see the date the year the bridge was completed, 1920. I liked spotting the different years on the different bridges.

I said goodbye to my robber baron bridges and we headed onto fit our last few destinations in before dinner.

Duffy's for Breakfast...

No we weren't eating Duffy's for breakfast (aka my family!) but rather we ate at Duffy's. We passed it every day on the way into Acadia and saved what we hoped was the best for last. It came highly recommended, but we would have been eating there because of the name anyway. We were a little worried about the "breakfast cook needed now" ad on the sign. But man, it was tasty. Nothing like a good breakfast out, perhaps my most favorite indulgence.

Brad and I thought this sign was funny.

My boys are Duffy too right?

We met a really nice small town lawyer there, I think he was meeting with someone for work. One of the guys that worked there was enjoying breakfast with his new little baby. As we left we were surrounded by a group of bikers that stopped in. Everyone was that small town type of friendly you only seem to find in said small towns.

Next it was into Acadia to see everything else that we hadn't stopped for yet. First it was the Wild Gardens of Acadia. I've never been a huge plant person. So while I didn't read every plant name I sure enjoyed watching David run around the paths in his lobster hat. He liked looking at a few other things like this frog.

Here is David giving William some loves...

And another shot of the two brothers!

One stop down, many more to go!

Pretty Views and the Beach

We knocked ourselves out and stopped at the Super Wal Mart several times since it was on the way into the park and the "super" version doesn't exist in Boston. We acquired this David coined "monster" hat. It was an instant hit with out little hat lover, he wore it whenever he could.

We stopped for a quick little walk and some some amazing scenery...

These two photos--above and below--are my favorites.

Here is Will throwing yet another one of his screaming fits!

And finally what we'd all been waiting for. The beach. We always seem to take WAY too much stuff. But if Dave and Will didn't have to eat or sleep I'm sure we could have spent even more time there than we did.

Don't know what it is about boys and dirt or sand. They liked to just lay down and dig it in. They were so happy. This kind of sand was more rough than the sand at our other beach trip. I liked it. It seemed to pack well and get into stuff less. If that is possible?

We spent a decent amount of time there but Brad decided he didn't want sand getting into his food so we packed up, hosed off, (both were complicated tasks!) and found a picnic area for sandwiches.

Bar Harbor

...or BAH HAB-AH as the keychains said and as Brad and I repeated in a Bahstan accent no less than 12 times apiece...

Bar Harbor gets its name from an impressive sand bar that surfaces during low tide. You can actually walk from Bar Harbor to Bar Island and back. The sand bar is HUGE and very visible from atop Cadillac Mountain. We didn't walk across by enjoyed the view from above.

I'd put my vacation plans in my facebook status and a friend from home who actually lived in Bar Harbor recommended this ice cream place. Thank you, facebook and Shelly. I think I had an "I don't know yet." It was amazing, it had a little of everything I like, cookie dough and peanut butter cup to start.

Will gets his ice cream cone all over.

David was a little cleaner but not much.

Brad had another very cleverly titled flavor with lots pack in but ended up liking mine better.

What will we ever do the day we stop carrying wipes as an essential?

Next it was browsing the shops. We had a good time looking at all of the things in this little woodworking one:

Tractor and trailer

Trains

Cars, and oh so much more!

I browsed an antique shop and saw two things I liked outside. I went in figuring I'd check the whole store before I decided if I should purchase anything and someone else brought one of "my" things in with her! She said "I already found something I liked outside." Dang. It didn't take me long to decide I'd better go and pick up the other item that had caught my eye.

Our first full day in Maine was really fun. We made the drive back to our cottage house and had another yummy dinner together.

Acadia National Park

We spent most of our time in Acadia National Park on this trip and we could have easily stayed a few more days! After learning some things at the visitors' center we decided to take the park loop road. We bought a CD that tells you about the sights as you drive by. It was AMAZING! It worked so well we wish we would have known to buy one at Valley Forge. We got some scenic views in and then were able to better decide what to come back to and spend time on later.

Acadia National Park is located on Mt. Desert Island. It is the first park that was created from donated lands.

Here are my boys, ready to start the day!

David actually eats some of his sandwich at our picnic lunch.

Will liked the cheese best.

Spot the beaver lodge in the far right corner.

A closer look...

This is a general representation of all the lovely views we saw out the car window.

On top of Cadillac mountain. I'm no photographer but it was spectacular!

Dave and Will had a fun time climbing on the rocks. They went in separate directions so it was one parent to one little boy most of the time. Pretty sure we still don't regret the backpack leash purchases.

After we got back to our cottage house we enjoyed a really lovely chicken and pasta dinner made by Brad. Once the kids were in bed we were even able to relax and have a little dip in the hot tub! We started watching Rocky in Philadelphia and continued the series here. We'd never seen it before and couldn't get enough! Possibly weird, but we had a good time watching it and re-living (or realizing?) the 70's and 80's.