Acadia - Jordan, Lobster, & Woodlawn

Our schedule for Thursday changed frequently throughout the week. We knew it was out last day in Maine, but we weren't sure exactly when we were going to leave or what we were going to do. Part of the problem was that the weatherman said it was going to rain all week. Turns out it only rained on Tuesday and only then for about 5 minutes. So while we were constantly being told it was going to rain, for all intents and purposes it never did. But in the event of rain, there were a couple of museums we wanted to visit. The biggest was the Mount Desert Oceanarium. If we had bothered reading the website though, we would have known that it didn't open until Memorial Day. So that was out -- maybe next time. Another place I would have liked to see was the Sieur de Monts Spring & Wild Garden.

We went back and forth on how long we were going to stay and what we were going to do. The biggest driver in our decision was the 15 hour drive from Bar Harbor, Maine to Port Clinton Ohio. How much of that were we going to do today, and what were we going to put off until tomorrow. Wednesday night we finally decided our itinerary for our last day in the great Down East.

We started the day at Hull's Cove Visitor Center, the same place we started two days ago. On Tuesday, the rangers gave the kids a booklet about the park. If they fill it out, then they get a junior range badge. All three had done the work and got to be sworn in as official junior rangers of Acadia National Park. There are so many neat hikes on Mt Desert Island, but we only had time for two on our visit. I wanted to go see Bubble Rock. I would have liked to hike some of the more strenuous trails like The Beehive, although I doubt Stacy would have allowed that one. But we decided to take the loop around Jordan Pond.

Jordan Pond is in the valley of two mountains, Bubble North & Bubble South. The peaceful and beautiful trail is about 3.5 miles long, that gently takes you around the pond. The trail is flat the entire way and always within just a few feet of the lake. On the east side of the lake, you will be on a dirt path that is so smooth you might confuse it for a paved road. The west side is a lot more rocky, and the last 1/2 mile or more is on a raised log path.

Since this was such an easy walk, I let the kids have the camera and they enjoyed taking pictures of each other. Both Matthew & Elisabeth took some pretty good pictures on that hike. We finished the trail at about lunch time. While on the path, we found a rock with a plaque of dedicated to Joseph Allen, "Lover of rocks and high places". He apparently was the man originally responsible for making the Jordan Pond Path way back in the early 1920s. The only place I could find any information about him was in the book Acadia Trails Treatment Plan: Cultural Landscape Report for the Historic Hiking Trail System of Acadia National Park.

When we get older, Stacy and I are going to stop and eat at all the great restaurants we see on our travels. However, this was going to be our only meal that we ate at a restaurant in Maine (the Burger King on the way up doesn't count). Perhaps next time we will stop at the Jordan Pond House, a restaurant in the Park famous for their tea, jams, & popovers. It boasts relaxing outdoor seating with gorgeous views of Jordan Pond. A word of warning though, if you go after Memorial Day make sure you get reservations well in advance or you will wait a long time. Instead we went to the West Street Cafe in Bar Harbor. I got the Downeast Special which was a whole lobster, a cup of chowder, some vegetables, and the blueberry pie. This was the first time I have had a whole lobster, and while it was a lot of work, it was really good. When you go, don't forget dessert. That blueberry was just about the best I have ever had.

But now it was time to leave Mt. Desert Island. We walked to the car (there was no parking near the restaurant) and drove to Ellsworth Maine to see the Woodlawn Museum. The museum is a 187 acre estate with trails, a croquet field, a garden, with the main feature being the Black House. The house was built in 1824 and is a treasure of 19th century architecture. It was occupied by the Black family until upon the death of George Nixon Black it was bequeathed to the Hancock County as a museum. It was updated throughout the years and even had an early indoor toilet.

The museum tour was self-guided with a feature that is becoming more and more common. Everybody got a remote. When you enter a room, there would be a sign saying "press #x", you would press that on the remote and it would tell you about the room. It is an efficient way to convey information, but I find that it is inconvenient because everybody is at different stages of the presentation and overall data retention is fairly low. The kids also got 10-15 pictures of things to find that were hidden throughout the house. They enjoyed that and only missed a couple of the pictures.

After we took the tour, we asked the head of the museum to help us with the couple pictures we missed. He did that and then talked about a couple items around the house. He showed us an original printing of the Lewis & Clark Report. He showed us a huge tapestry of David in the Temple. He wasn't entirely sure which story it represented, but it had the priests, the Ark of the Covenant, and what appeared to be King David. Finally he showed us Nixon Black's Bible. While showing us the Bible, he revealed his lack of knowledge when he referred to the book of "palms". It is sad when somebody shows so little knowledge of God's Word. We gave him a tract and said that we would love to see him in heaven someday. His response was truly unique, "Well maybe now you will". I pray that we will have that meeting.

It was about 3:00pm when we left the Woodlawn Museum. We spent the night at a Holiday Inn Express in Ludlow, MA, which left us with a mere 10 hour drive to Ohio for our visit with Stacy's grandparents.