Maine Day 3

 June 6 was our 20th anniversary and we spent the whole day in Acadia National Park.

This is the Beehive.  We hiked to the top and Kyle was amazed that he did it.  You have to climb up rungs and stairs up the rocks and it's pretty exposed.  Kyle is afraid of heights so it was pretty impressive that he did it.

When the tide was low we were able to cross the sandbar onto Bar Island.  We crossed a little early so we had to go through some water, but it made it more fun.

This was from the top of the Beehive.

We started out the day taking a stroll along Compass Bay.  It is the site of the Dorr summer "cottage" but it is now just a couple stone steps and some bricks from the patio.  It was a really pretty hike through the woods and along the coast.

Then we headed up Cadillac Mountain.  You have to have a reservation to drive to the top and we had our reservation at 9:30.  Once you drive to the top you can walk around the top and visit the gift shop.  It is beautiful with amazing views.

We then drove along the park loop road.  We were hoping to be able to stop and sand beach and the beehive, but it was super crowded so we came back in the afternoon and the crowds had thinned out.

We were able to stop at thunder hole.  First we went out on the rocks and hung out by the water for a little.

We were able to see thunder hole, but the tide wasn't right so it wasn't that spectacular.  We did return in the afternoon and it was better, but I forgot to take a picture.

We then finished the loop and went to the Acadia Nature Center and Gardens.  The nature center was closed, but the gardens were open.  They were very pretty with lots of cool plants.

There were some pretty cool birdhouses as well.

After the garden we went into Bar Harbor and decided to cross to Bar Island.  It was really cool.  I have always wanted to cross a bar that was only dry in low tide.  We crossed before the tide was fully out but by the time we returned the sand bar was out and crowds of people were crossing.  We were glad we went when we had to go through water because there were very few people on the island.

After we went to lunch and then hiked the beehive.  We were glad we waited to hike it in the afternoon because there weren't very many people.  It is the most popular hike in the park so it is normally packed, but we only saw a couple of groups so that was really nice.  Here we are at the top.

Kyle on Sand Beach after the Beehive hike.  We were incredibly hot after the hike so the 50 degree water felt amazing.

Here is Kyle at the top of the Beehive.

After the beach we went to a different part of the park to hike Beech Mountain.  This part of the park is not very popular and there were only 2 other cars in the parking lot.  The hike was short, but had amazing views. This was on the way up and looking over Echo Lake.

At the top of the mountain is a fire tower.  We climbed to the first platform (the rest was closed) and were rewarded with a great view.

The fire tower at the top of the mountain.

On our way down from the Beehive I rolled my ankle and it swelled up a little.  Since we had more hiking to do I stuck my feet in the ocean and iced it in the cold water.  It felt really good on my ankle and I was able to continue to hike.

All over Mount Desert Island there were fields on lupine.  It was so pretty.

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On all the hikes there are painted blue lines to mark the trails.  A lot of the trails are over rocks so they need something to mark the trail.  Kyle and I really liked the blue lines and really helped keep us on the right trail.

After hiking Beech Mountain we drove into the town of Southwest Harbor for dinner.  There were only 2 restaurants open, a pizza place a small "cafe." We went to the cafe and it was a lot nicer than we originally thought.  We felt a little under dressed in our stinky hiking clothes, but the food was amazing.  We had a really great anniversary.  

I don't know why the pictures are out of order, but they are all there so that's what matters.