Continuing up the coast to visit Acadia National Park we arranged to stay in a very pleasant campground outside of Ellsworth, ME. The weather continued to be wonderful with warm, sunny days and cool nights. We were eager to see the sights of Acadia and were not disappointed. The seascapes here are spectacular and should not be missed if you ever get the chance to be up this way. We, once again, gained free access to the national park via my Old Guy pass, purchased for the princely sum of $50 back when I gained 'old guy' status. It allows free entrance to all national parks for the entire vehicle...what a deal!
We first checked out the town of Bar Harbor and found that, in spite of being a tourist town, we found it quite charming as things had quieted down [I imagine] from the frenzy of full-on tourist season and we were able to stroll around town and enjoy the sights. I had been wanting to sample a lobster-roll which is a 'must try' Maine treat. However, I couldn't quite bring myself plunk down $25 for anything that is served on a hot dog bun so I will have to save that experience for my next life when, perhaps, I won't be so damn cheap.
While in Bar Harbor we saw a sign for a cruise on an authentic 80-ft wooden sailing schooner, so we decided to return the next day and check it out. It was a great trip...we raised sail and cruised around Frenchman Bay for a couple hours and they even let Kasha join us. She was a big hit with the crew and, much to our delight, managed to not pee on the deck or eat any small children.
The next couple of days were spent exploring the sights of Acadia and doing some hikes and bike rides on a nearby rails-to-trails path. The local bike path section is called the Sunrise Trail and is a portion of the larger East Coast Greenway. I had never heard of this trail but found that it traverses the entire east coast of the US [more or less as it is not a continuous path and has some gaps]. The section we were exploring was beautiful with the changing of the leaves and treating us to some beautiful marshy areas and woodlands. Our only disappointment being that we still have not seen a moose and were told that they do not frequent this area. Wahh!
You can't be in Maine without eating lobster so we arranged to the have the tavern at the campground cook us up a couple for dinner and we had a Maine feast at our campground table with some local corn and potatoes cooked on our grill. Delicious!
It was now time to start heading south so we packed up and took off for central Vermont, finding a place to stay near the town of Wells, a good jumping off point for exploring the area. We were able to find a very nice campground which had free mini-golf and shuffleboard which we took advantage of. The big tourist draw for the area, especially in fall, is the town of Woodstock. It's the quintessential New England town with lots of beautiful old buildings, charming squares and [of course] a million places to buy a tee-shirt and maple syrup. On the plus side, we were able find free parking, so we strolled around for a while and had some maple-syrup flavored ice cream [actually, quite good] and left town to find lunch that would cost us less than a nightly hotel stay in NYC.
We spent the rest of our time here doing Vermonty things like going to the Vermont Country Store, a locally famous attraction. This store [and there are several scattered about the state] sells an eclectic blend of home goods, toys, camping supplies and touristy stuff. It has a deli section, a wine section, a cheese section and [of course] maple syrup section. We had a great time wandering around and even bought some 'stuff' [we were running low].
Later, we were able to get in a hike in at Bromley Mt, a local ski area where we wandered around the top of the mountain and were rewarded with some great views and beautiful fall colors. The ski terrain here looked like it would be good skiing but I recall skiing England during my former life as a New Jerseyite and what I remember is lots of ice and supercold temperatures. It did not make me homesick for the good-old-days.
Kelly and I love the entire New England area, especially in autumn, with their folksy old towns, all with the required white spired church and cute downtowns, but it was time to start heading south as nights were getting chilly and many campgrounds were closing up for the season. We were planning on spending the next weekend with our daughter Hannah, who planned to drive up to meet us in the Catskills from her home in Brooklyn, NY, so we started looking for suitable campgrounds in southern New York state. This led to a major change in our plans which you can read about in our next installment.
