The Active Family

My dad and Cousin Billy were chomping at the bit to go fishing, and they view fishing as an aaaallllll day event, so mom, DH and I decided to take the kids to Acadia National park for the day.

I have some serious memories at that park. Most of the memories of my childhood trips center around playing in the lake and going to Acadia. The park is roughly 30 minutes from the lake, so not a bad drive. There is so much to do there it is impossible to see everything in one day, or even one week! So a 30 minute drive for an activity filled day is easy to justify.

We settled on spending most of the morning/early afternoon at Sand Beach. History has it that since all sand beaches are such a rarity on NorthEast coastlines, the founders of Acadia were so impressed by all the sand. They came up with the aptly title…Sand Beach.

Original things weren’t they!

We packed up a picnic lunch, as well as all our beach gear and headed out. The night before we had been blessed by a random stranger in Walmart’s parking lot. (I know how that sounds) He had just spent his last day in Ellsworth, and offered us his Acadia parking pass that was still good through the end of the week. Normally the passes cost $20 per car, but he offered it to me! I felt bad just taking it, so I gave him $10. So I had my pass for the week, mom had to get one for her car, and we were rocking!

The beach was packed, we had to park all the way up on the main road and walk down. I had purchased a hiking carrier for our 2 year old, so my husband offered to carry him down. We probably should have practiced with him in it, as he completely freaked out and screamed his head off all the way down to the beach. We pulled up a piece of sand, and set up  camp.

The kids, of course, took off immediately for the waves. Knowing how strong those waves are, I was in hot pursuit. The waves were HUGE but the water was FREEZING! Literally, the sign posted stated it was 52 that morning. Livvy didn’t last long in the water, and Chris didn’t stay all that long either. I have to admit, I lost feeling in my feet quickly, and the waves were whipping tons of sand and tiny shells into our skin. It wasn’t the most pleasant sensation.

The kids settled for playing in the tidal pools, and building the requisite sand castles. We ate lunch, and enjoyed the sun. Shortly after 2 we decided to pack up and visit some sights along the Park Loop. We took the kids to see Thunder Hole, which was incredible. Over thousands of years the pounding surf has carved out a hole in the cliff side, and now every time a wave comes in, it pounds inside the hole and sounds just like thunder! The sounds are better when the tide comes in, and we were there at the tide going out. Still, the kids were enthralled, and my husband was impressed.

We were all getting a bit tired, so we decided to call it a day. I wasn’t in the mood to cook for everyone after being out all day, so I made the executive decision to eat out tonight.

We took the scenic route through Bar Harbor (read: mom took the wrong turn). I didn’t mind though,  Bar Harbor is a beautiful town, and one I would not mind staying in. It screams small New England coastal town. After our extended drive home, we waited for the menfolk to return from their excursion, and washed up for dinner.

Am I boring you? Writing this is showing me just how little we did this week…however, I think that is what made it a great vacation! I’m normally a commando vacationer, planning activity after activity and generally getting worn out. This time was different. Boring to read about, maybe. But the time actually relaxing was just wonderful.