Maine, Trenton - Saturday, June 20, 2015 - Acadia National Park

Our destination today was the Park Loop Road through the Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island.  Acadia’s Park Loop Road is a 27-mile loop that takes in much of the eastern half of Acadia past Sand Beach, Thunder Hole and Otter Cliffs.  Since this is a national park we were able to use our senior pass again to get in free.  The weather was a little cool but we had a wonderful day.  If we aren’t able to get out and see anything else while we are here, I’m happy.

 

 

Before we got too serious into sightseeing we stopped at Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound for lunch.  This restaurant has been operated by the same family since 1956.

If you choose a whole live lobster for lunch they will cook it for you on site.

The lobsters are cooked outside in sea water heated over wood fires.

We chose to split a lobster salad sandwich and a piece of blueberry pie.  Greg added a cup of clam chowder.  It was wonderful!!

You can choose to eat inside, but obviously everyone including us opted to eat outside.  I was so happy with the sandwich I forgot to take pictures of the outside part of the restaurant.

We encountered a lot of steps today starting with these at the park entrance building.

About half of the park loop road is one way.

Frenchman Bay is the focus of our trip today.  Frenchman Bay juts in from the Atlantic ocean about 20 miles.  The bay has ease of access, is never obstructed by ice and is one of the best retreats in a storm along the coast.

 

 

Egg Rock lighthouse at the entrance of the bay was built in 1875.

Sand Beach is the only sand beach in this otherwise rock-bound park.  Swimming at Sand Beach isn’t for everyone since the water seldom gets above 55 degrees.  Several kids were dipping their toes in the tide.  Most everyone else was just soaking up the sunshine or climbing on the rock cliffs.

Views of the bay from Sand Beach

Birches on the walk into Sand Beach

Thunder Hole is a narrow granite channel leading to a small cave which has been gouged out by the force of the ocean over eons of time.  When conditions are right the ocean water coming out of the cave will spray over the sightseeing area with spray 10-12 feet high.

Hearing the thunder here is all about timing – ours was off, a lot.  The best time to witness the boom and spray is 2 hours before high tide.  The cave traps air when it suddenly fills with water and creates a thunderous burst of ocean spray.  The first picture is of the cave with the water going out.  The second picture is the cave filling with water and the resulting “thunderous burst” of ocean spray.  Since the conditions weren’t right today all we got was a “puny gurgle”.

 

 

But we didn’t go away from Thunder Hole unhappy, how could you with all of the beautiful views.

Otter Cliffs was our next destination, this is the view along the trail.

 

The cliffs themselves are pink granite rising from the water.  I could see myself sitting out here all day.

 

 

 

We first heard about the popovers at the Jordon Pond House restaurant when we stopped at a visitor center coming into Maine.  Neither of us had ever had a popover so we decided to stop.  So did a lot of other people.  This is the only restaurant in the park and we think this is the first weekend they have been open this season.  This is the back view of the restaurant, the front was sheltered by so many trees it was impossible to get a picture of it.

We had a 35 minute wait so we went upstairs to the observation deck and looked out over the people enjoying lunch on the lawn.

And walking around on the front patio.

 

 

Our seating was inside.

 

 

Since we had already had lunch we opted for popovers and a beverage from the “Afternoon Tea” menu.  The popovers came with butter and Maine strawberry jam.  It was worth the wait.

This was the view from our table.

The mountains in the background are called the Bubble Mountains.