Park Unit 99 Acadia NP Day 3

We started our morning with a carriage ride on the Carriage Roads in Acadia. We left from Wildwood Stables with two guides and another family in our carriage. The tour was designed to highlight the bridges built by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in the 1920s through 1930s. We stopped at three different bridges along the way and was able to get out an explore one of them. The trails were lovely and for the first half of the tour we were alone on the trails.

After our two hour ride, we went to Astercou Inn for lunch. The tour guide recommended this as having the best popovers so we had to compare them to the ones we had yesterday! We ate on the back deck, overlooking a charming harbor with lots of sailboats.

After lunch, we drove back to Bar Harbor to catch our 2:00 Oli Trolley tour. This was really a small bus outfitted to look like a trolley and Bob, our tour guide was very good. We learned a lot of new facts and he had good stories to tell. Our first stop was Thunder Hole, a granite crevice along the shore that makes a noise like thunder when the water fills in and leaves. There were large granite rocks along the jagged shore. We also made a quick run the gift shop to get the park stamp.

We continued to Jordan Pond, where we had lunch yesterday, but today we went down by the lake and took a look at another one of the Rockefeller bridges. It was interesting to imagine the time period and the wealthy landowners using this beautiful area for their vacation pursuits.

Our final stop on the tour was at the top of Cadillac mountain. We learned a bit more about the area and geography and got our park stamp while we were at the top. The views coming up and down the mountain were stunning.

When we got back to Bar Harbor, we quickly got a park stamp at the Village Green, then we drove to Southwest Harbor on the west side of the island that we had not been to yet. We ate at one of the cute restaurants in town and then drove to the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. By now it was almost sunset so Jason found a spot called Pretty Marsh on the west coast of Acadia for us to watch the sunset.

We climbed down to the beach and with a dozen other people, we silently watched the magnificent colors change as the sun set. It was the best that a national park can offer. Reverence, beauty, peace, community. A perfect ending to our day.