Acadia National Park

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Acadia National Park was one of the first National Parks I really explored and I quickly fell in love. We didn’t have a ton of time but went right before the first big snow of the year so it was perfect timing for Fall colors.

We decided to drive up the night prior, explore for two days and then come back the following morning. Since we went during “off season” a HUGE majority of Bar Harbor was closed and there were two restaurants open and we ate at the one every night and loved off of lobster mac and cheese the whole time because it was amazing. But on the day we left, we spent the weekend morning in the town and more was open. Definitely worth a stop in town for sure. But we stayed at the ONE motel open and I won’t mention it because it was the price of a hotel, but equivalent to camping.

The weather was a little much too windy but we had recently made a stop and upgraded our North Face’s and were ready to just embrace it. We decided to hit the park early each morning. The set-up of ANP is simple. It’s one big loop! So we decided to see as much as we can and do the loop both days and once at night (a tradition that we now do at every park). Cadillac Mountain is NOT one to be missed and is an amazing view that is ADA accessible. We also did this at night and it was eerie, moonlit, and very cool/creepy.

Another favorite spot of ours was Sand Beach. The sand was a beautiful color as was the ocean. Despite the colder weather, this was definitely worth the stop to frolic around! This is supposedly a great swimming spot during warmer months and was told to us by a guy pulling small snail creatures out of the water so it has to be true.

All in all the park is beautful and really worth the stop! We do feel like a hike would’ve been worth it, but I was recovering from a knee injury at the time. We did go to “both” sides of the beach and did think the lighthouse side was worth it solely for the marshes we drove throuh to get there!