Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine

Welcome to Bar Harbor, Maine, the home of all 47,000 acres of Acadia National Park. The park is the only national park in the Northeast and therefore extremely popular. We made the mistake of arriving here during a 4-day holiday weekend. There were so many tourists, even in the pouring rain, that it looked like Disneyland in high season.  The rain stopped the next day, but strong winds arrived. They were a mixed blessing; although it was chilly, they made the views of the harbor crystal clear. The park has two ways of travel: a road loop for motorized vehicles or carriage roads for hikers, bikes, horseback riders and horse drawn carriages.  We do have some pictures of the quaint carriage roads, but we opted to take the auto loop to stay warm, along with hundreds of other cars and buses.  We spent all day in the park; then we ate a lobster dinner at Bar Harbor’s popular restaurant Gayln’s.  Bar Harbor is a gorgeous place, especially in fall, but the crowd of tourists are a challenge.