Day 1
New Jersey – Mt Desert Island, Maine
Reached early morning to our cabins located at HTR campground, 15 minutes from the entrance to the national park. Rested up and left for Bar Harbor, a small town on the island with great food and activities. We went up to Bass Harbor Lighthouse to see the sunset which was pretty disappointing (Don’t trust social media on this), overall this Lighthouse does not have much to offer.
Day 2
Acadia National Park
We wanted to see the first sunrise in America on Cadillac Mountain. To drive up to the overlook, you need a special ticket per vehicle from Recreation.gov called “Cadillac Summit Road – Sunrise.” 70% of these tickets are open 90 days before the day you want to visit and the other 30% open up a day before at 10am. As I visited during the Memorial Day weekend, I could not get these tickets, due to high rush. We went to the overlook with Cadillac Mountain shuttle service, They charged us 20$/person for a two-way journey. We had to reach the summit at around 4am as the sunrise was at 4:55am. It is very windy and cold on this summit year round, so make sure to get your cozy warm clothes for experience.
We had breakfast after the sunrise experience & rented Fat Tire e-bikes from https://mainestatekayak.com, they have the best e-bikes on the island. They offer bikes for full & half day, you can choose your adventure. We biked about 30 miles inside the park and it was a bliss driving on carriage road trail.
Day 3
Acadia National Park
We decided to have a lazy day as the past two days were pretty hectic. We woke up and went for breakfast at Jennie’s Great Maine Breakfast in bar harbor. Next, we visited Thunder Hole, I read this overlook is best experienced at high tide particularly, so we visited during high tide in the afternoon, but the water did not build up enough for the complete effect. I am guessing the pictures on internet only come true on certain days. So don’t kill yourself to visit this spot at the particular high tide time. Check the tide timing here.
Next, we did the scenic loop drive around the park. This is a loop road so you have to drive around, I would recommend stopping at Sandy Beach which is the first stop before thunder hole. Next, we got down at Otter Cliff, the entire loop is driving around the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, so its beautiful. Lastly, we stopped at Asticou Azalea Garden, which is a little beautiful green haven. You can also visit Thuya garden, this was closed on the day I visited.
We ended the day with coffee from Choco-Latte Cafe in Bar Harbor, they have great coffee along with snacks.
Arushi Sharma 