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September 2023 (Part 06)

Maine Trip - Wednesday, Sep 27: Bar Harbor and Sand Beach and Cadillac Mountain in Acadia NP

Andy finished his first session of his Masters program at the end of September and decided to move home from the beach, both as business at the restaurant he's working at was falling off with the summer over and the next session is supposed to be harder.  We took an opportunity with the week off he had between sessions to head to a National Park none of us had been to, choosing to go to Acadia NP in Maine.  We flew into Portland, ME and drove up the coast to our hotel in Bar Harbor, stopping at the LL Bean flagship store across from their headquarters in Freeport.  We got onto Mount Desert Island and into Bar Harbor later in the afternoon and decided to head to Sand Beach in Acadia then drive around part of the loop road. 

While the sunset was behind the mountains to the west, the moonrise was over open water and Frenchman Bay.

Some fun views of the incredibly rocky coastline as we drove around Park Loop Road.

We had an interesting dinner at Havana's, a restaurant a coworker recommended.  The food was excellent, but we had a real issue with the service, finally having to go back to the host station after no one had stopped at our table after 30 minutes.  They tried to make up for it, but we were pretty hungry and cold (as the only table available was outside) by then.  Oh well.

Our hotel was just outside of the downtown area of Bar Harbor, which provided a nice overview of Frenchman Bay as we woke up.  We also realized there was a large cruise ship in the harbor (and there would be one every day of the trip).

The next morning, we drove up Cadillac Mountain, which is the highest point on the eastern seaboard at 1530 ft (466m).  We weren't able to get a pass to go at sunrise, despite being on the reservation site when they were released, refreshing to try, and watching all passes disappear to bots within less than a minute.  Oh well.  It was a bit overcast and foggy early, so not sure we missed too much.  The mountain is crowned with a bald mass of Cadillac granite, which is slightly pink.  It did offer a great view.  The bald peaks of the area are the genesis of the name of Mount Desert Island as an early explorer thought the tops looked like there were a desert from a distance, never climbing them to find the truth.

There was a small path around the south side of the summit, with several signs telling about the geography and surrounding islands and summits.  The signs claimed the granite mass was formed in a magma chamber then the softer layers on top were eventually eroded away.