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Today is our Acadia Day. Acadia National Park is split in two parts, the Bar Harbor part and the part where we are staying. We took on the more touristy Bar Harbor spot today.

First off, the "Life is Good" mug fit well with the person who is always wearing their shirt.

The goal of the day is to make it to the visitor center to see what is at the park and get to the entry to Cadillac Mountain for our noon timed entry ($6).

After a 50-minute drive from our Airbnb in we made it to the park. Like a lot of the parks lately, it is tough to find parking. You basically circle around and around until someone leaves.

Here is the pavilion that leads the way to the Visitor Center. 

After 52-steps, you get to the actual visitor center. It is the only one in the park. Normally a center has a short film to learn more about the park. This park doesn't have that, but they do have the all important stamp.

On they way up Cadillac Mountain at noon, we spoke with this bicyclists. He said the bike ride was quite easy (for him).

Once you get to the top, there was plenty of parking. The timed entry helps with that. It is also probably much less busy during the middle part of the day. There were plenty of short hikes and a lot of signs. I liked being up here seeing this map of all the islands and then seeing them in person.

Another picture of the islands. Bar Harbor is on this side, where we stayed was on the complete other side of this cove.

you can see the Bar Harbor below. There was a cruise ship docked there

Here is our selfie at the top.

Here is my new tree of the trip. I believe this is a black spruce. See the black cone?

At the top, there were two National Park Service workers. They were engaging with interested tourists to help them learn more about the park. I'm wondering if they do this since the visitor center is small for the number of tourists they get.

They gave Kai a Junior Ranger book to get started on. Since he is still 7, it was easier for him to earn his badge.

And the only other picture that synced up is our photo in front of the Acadia National Park sign. To be honest, the park was founded in 1916, I would have thought they could have had a better sign. 

After we got this picture, there is a nice loop around the coast. Here is Sand Beach, but a lot of the other areas are very rocky and quite quiet and enjoyable.

Our last stop was at Jordan Pond House. This place is apparently legendary for it Pop Overs. We had watched a few videos, so we thought a trip would be incomplete unless we went here. They have a great spot on the lawn with umbrellas. After a 15-minute wait, we would be seated.

Of course most everyone wants to sit near the water, so we asked the waiter about how many steps he gets in a day. He casually said he's already at 23,000 steps today, which led to a discussion with a colleague who said he was at 29,000 steps. He was quite proud that no one beats him in steps.

One thing we did while there was to record a soundscape. Listen for the dishes crashing at the end.

On the way back, we drove through the crowds at Bar Harbor. Very busy, a lot of lobster restaurants and lobster-themed everything. It also had a nice grocery store.

At night I took a quick picture looking up at the stars. Our Airbnb is in a very dark spot.

you'll need to click on the picture to see it better