Acadia National Park

I suppose when you live where other people pay to vacation, almost everywhere else becomes a so-so destination. We had heard a lot about Acadia National Park in Maine. We made reservations at Patten Pond RV Resort in Ellsworth, ME, which is about 45 minutes from Acadia, and left Monday for our week long adventure. With much anticipation, we headed out from the resort on Tuesday for Acadia. Saying that it turned out to be a disappointment would be an understatement.

Many of the trails and scenic areas were closed due to "storm damage". What storm I do not know. There really was only one spectacular view we could have stopped at if we could have found a place to park. The rest of our sight seeing tour consisted of driving through a tree lined road or crawling through heavy traffic. I'll put pictures that I found online of what we were supposed to see, and compare them with the sights within 45 minutes of where we live. You be the judge if this was worth 4 1/2 to our campground and another 45 minutes to the national park itself.

Acadia fall foliage

View from Table Rock, Dixville, NH (15 min from my house)

Acadia

1st Connecticut Lake (about 45 minutes from my house)

Fly fishing, Connecticut River, 1st Connecticut Lake

Well, you get the idea. Instead of hauling our camper 4 1/2 hours to a campground, then driving another 45 minutes to Acadia, we can enjoy the same, or even better, scenic views and nature treks right in our own backyard. But one thing Acadia does have that we don't have where we live, is this:

In our trips to the Connecticut Lakes, or hiking Table Rock, or enjoying waterfalls close to home, we might encounter a few people, but nothing like the crowds we saw in Acadia. We took a drive through Bar Harbor, ME, and we've seen fewer people in NYC! There was no parking anywhere in the city and there were crowds of people everywhere. From what I saw, Portsmouth, NH, has more to offer in the way of historic charm, great places to eat and things to see and do. I actually can't speak about the food in Bar Harbor because we wouldn't have been able to get into a restaurant, even if we could have found parking anywhere within walking distance. 

We did get to visit our good friend Marlene and her husband Jon. They used to live in Errol (about 1/2 hour from us) and moved to Eastport, ME, (another 2 hours north of the RV park we're staying at) 4 years ago. It was a wonderful day to see old friends and take a tour of Eastport. Located on Moose Island, it is the least populous city in ME and the easternmost city in the US. There are some friends that no matter how much time has elapsed it seems like no time has gone by since you last saw each other. This was certainly the case with Marlene. It was wonderful to catch up on the goings on is our lives over the past 4 years, and we were able to pick up right where we left off.

Marlene and Ruby

Granddaughter Rosie at Rosie's Hot Dogs in Eastport, ME

Another high point of our trip was meeting new friends Elysia, Jeff and their daughter Athena. Elysia and Jeff sold everything to hit the road full-time in their RV. They document their adventures on their YouTube channel Down 2RV at  https://www.youtube.com/user/acmanjeff. Check them out and enjoy their adventures.

New friends Elysia, Jeff and Athena

As for us, I don't think we'll be taking any more trips this summer unless it's short drives from our house. We are truly blessed to live where we do and plan on enjoying those blessings more fully.

Beaver Brook Falls, Colebrook, NH