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Day 5 – Acadia National Park

Warning…This post has a lot of photos and a couple videos… It was a fun day! We took our time starting out this morning, but then started to drive around the loop of Acadia.

We stopped at a pullout to take a look at the crashing waves and climb around on the rocks. We just had to snap some photos including one that Jeff posed for his track girls. It was near low tide so we could see some tide pools. The sound of the waves crashing to shore was exciting to this family from Green Bay. The bedrock had white quartz in it. Very cool!

After stopping at the visitor’s center and going on a little souvenir buying frenzy (I did not end up getting this hat, but love Carson’s photobomb), we drove to Cadillac Mountain, and stopped in that gift shop before hiking around the mountain top.

We sound the geographic and triangulation markets at the summit and enjoyed the beautiful view. Lots of rocks to climb around on too. The Bate’s Cairns along the trails are very old and are protected. The pointy stone at the top of cairn shows the direction of the trail. It was all so breathtakingly beautiful.

On the other side of the parking lot there is a trail that leads down to some amazing views and patches of blueberries, which just happens to be Spencer’s favorite food. A nice little snack during our hike.

Next up was Jordan Pond to have lunch. Unfortunately we drove around in both parking lots and the roads around it that allowed parking but couldn’t find even one spot. So we decided to skip it. We thought 2 pm would be late enough to miss the lunch rush but I guess not. Oh well, next time we pass come, we will go here right away when it opens.

We were stating to get hangry as we pulled into Bar Harbor for lunch. It was very crowded (like Fish Creek on a summer weekend). They had a Gilmore Girls type village square and many old historic houses that we passed as we drove around looking for a parking space. Finally we found on and went to the first seafood restaurant we found. Delicious clam chowder for the adults, and mussels for Jeff. The boys had fish and chips but they each tried mussels for the first time and loved them! I also tried their blueberry mohito. Yummy!

After heading back to the campground to relax for a bit, we headed to a place nearby called Beal’s for our lobster dinner. Spencer chose to have mussels because he want too sure about eating a lobster that was alive when we picked it out, but Carson wanted lobster along with both of us. We named the lobsters, Tim, Fred and Gone. They were tasty!

Our last stop for the day was the Bass Harbor lighthouse. It was low tide so there were a lot of rocks for all of us to “parkour” around on as Jeff and I took photos (most of mine with with the real camera). Jeff took a particularly awesome one that he edited to look like a painting! It was only a matter of time until one of us took a digger and Carson was the winner. He slid on some seaweed and scraped up his heel. He was a trooper though. Jeff bandaged him up and we went back on the (paved) trail for a bit before heading back to the campsite to enjoy a nice campfire.

Tomorrow we get to visit some friends and head towards Boston!

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Day 4- Drive from Montreal to Bass Harbor Campground, Maine

Another driving day. Packing up went very smoothly. Jeff and I work like a well-oiled machine when it comes to setup and takedown of the camper.

Then we tried to get out of Montreal. And tried. And tried. Everything was under construction. And in French. We had to go on a detour that wasn’t well marked, apparently lost the detour route and got detoured from that road. We found our way back to the original detour, and then the detour was detoured. Seriously.

We added about 45 minutes on to our original timeline just getting out of the city. On the bright side, we got to see the non-tourist parts of the city too!

Finally we were on the way and drove through some beautiful areas with lots of trees and vistas. Just after I took the second picture below, we noticed a cute little Fox was in the road. Can you spot it?

We went through customs in Maine and continued on our way. We even got our passports stamped!

Maine looks a lot like Northern Wisconsin until you get close to the ocean where you can start to smell the salt water and see the sailboats in the harbors.

We are all checked in to the campsite now. Jeff walked down the road about 1/2 mike to a lighthouse and was able to catch the sunset. Gorgeous!

Tomorrow we are ready to explore Acadia National Park and knock a couple of things off this bucket list that is posted in the campground.

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Day 3- Montreal

I’m just going to start off saying that we love Canada. The people are so friendly and helpful and it is beautiful.

We started off by taking the subway into Montreal. Everything is only in French. A nice man helped us buy tickets properly and we walked right into the subway just before it left. Coolest subway ever! It was super clean and all the cars were connected and open on the inside. It looked like an infinity mirror when you looked down the train.

We first went to Notre-Dame Basilica and it was so beautiful! The pictures don’t do it justice! So ornate and huge. I loved all the stained glass and the ceiling details. The pulpit stairs are pretty unique too.

Here are a couple photos I took with my phone. I took a ton more with my regular camera but you will have to wait for the photo book to see those. 😀

After walking through the church, we headed towards the historic district

We peeked into a few souvenir shops. I had to laugh at this shirt, because it is true! But it’s only because I “google” everything, LOL

We stopped and tried some poutine, which was delicious! Poutine is made of French fries topped with cheese curds and brown gravy. So yummy!

We kept walking and stumbled onto Montreal’s version of Navy Pier. We played a fun game at the entrance, then walked around and looked at everything. There were a ton of food trucks in one area and we guessed that there was some sort of fest going on. We were right! Most of the trucks were selling Mac n Cheese. We found a sign that said MacFest was going on. It wasn’t crowded while we were there but got busier throughout the day.

We also did some of the touristy things including riding the big Ferris wheel and the boys (including Jeff) did the remote control sailboats.

As we meandered back to the subway station, we stopped so I could take flower photos in an historic garden (photos on regular camera) and so Carson could walk around and cool off in a fountain. The kids were tired of walking around in the hot sun, so actually learning all about the history of Montreal will have to wait for another trip. Oh well, we have a lot of other history-learning opportunities on this trip!

After taking the subway back to our truck in the suburbs, we walked around a mall, and then headed back to the campground just in time to beat a big thunderstorm. We did see this Lamborghini in the parking lot of the mall. Parked as far as possible from other cars of course.

Tomorrow, we head back to the states. We are going to be camping just outside of Acadia National Park.

I have to admit that I am really looking forward to having cell service again. I hardly ever use my phone for actual phone calls but I love having the internet at my disposal to “search up” (as the boys call it) anything and everything I and the rest of the family want to know.

Until tomorrow!