Day 24 - Our 17th Anniversary

Saturday, June 23, 2018
Posted from: Smuggler's Den Campground - Southwest Harbor, Maine
Miles driven: 39
Total miles: 3,255

Seventeen years. Good years. Most moments were ordinary, but many were wonderful, some heartbreaking, lots of laughter, and as much adventure as we can fit in.

Which brings us to this day. We woke up to an interesting surprise from the boys.

They had apparently got up after we were asleep and made the number 17 on the kitchen table using Caleb's socks and underwear. Nicely done. A wonderful anniversary gift indeed. 

Matt ran to the local coffee shop a couple miles away and picked up coffee and some treats.

We started out at the Echo Lake beach, which was only a mile from our campground. This is a small beach where the water is much warmer than the ocean. It would be a great place for a picnic if we had planned ahead.

We spent some time on the beach, but I had read that one of the three "ladder" trails could be accessed from here. We like to try new things, and we love to hike, so I thought we could try one of these trails. They are strenuous trails with warnings about no small children...define "small." Hmm.
This trail was only half a mile about straight up a cliff, so I figured we would just turn around if it got too tough.

They had small protected rafts where the loons (birds) could nest and have a better chance of survival.  Interesting concept. 

On the trail. Caleb is carrying his orange sand bucket. We would eventually stash this along the trail to pick up on the way back. This trail required hands free.

The first half of the trail was strenuous but nothing dangerous. It brought us up to this overlook. 

The altitude must have gotten to us. 

We saw a couple coming down the trail and asked what the trail was like beyond that point. It did not look friendly. They said it was tough but thought we could give it a try. So we kept going, and we found the ladders! 

Looking down on Caleb climbing the ladder.

The roots of these trees were amazing to look at.

Cameron making the climb

Ladders and boulders to climb

Don't bump your head!

The climb was worth it! The picture does not do the view justice. It was a beautiful view out towards the ocean. 

Us.

So this was funny. I saw this odd rock looking like it was just balancing there and told them to try to roll it. They all went to push and Matt just casually walked to the opposite side and held his finger against the rock. The kids had no idea why I was laughing. 

We took a longer more gradual trail back to the lake, but this path was a lot of climbing up and over waist high rocks.

The hill in the distance, which was actually a rocky cliff (the pic doesn’t really show it), was where we were just standing on our hike. 

We drove into Bar Harbor for a late lunch. It was 2:00 pm. We stopped at a place called Blaze. They had wood fired food including pizza. Let me clarify: They had some of the best pizza we’ve ever had. And the guy that owns it was there and he is a huge craft beer fanatic, so they had some harder to find local beers. Matt and I shared one that we really liked. 

This park is so spread out that we hadn’t yet taken the "sign" picture. Matt had taken off for the visitor center with the kids to get their Jr Ranger badges and left me in Bar Harbor to wander around. (A bit of alone time was a wonderful anniversary gift.) So they took a picture with the four of them. That works. 

I walked around Bar Harbor and purchased a couple versatile alpaca sweaters (it was a cool and misty day). 

Matt and the kids returned to town. The only store they wanted to check out was the book store. It had started raining, so we spent quite a bit of time in here. Cameron had finished his Ready Player One book. He could not put it down and said it is a lot better than the movie, which he really liked. They didn’t find one that was quite right. 

Matt and I exchanged anniversary cards in one of the stores, and put them back. It was romantic.

When it was finally time for dinner, we ate at a nice place across from the water called the West Street Cafe. It was reasonably priced for the area and really good. 

The best part was the blueberry pie that the area is known for. Yum! 

This picture is blurry for some reason, but Cam loved the local blueberry soda.

Tomorrow is a travel day and it was still a bit rainy, so we headed back to the campground and got the camper ready for travel. We will miss the Acadia area. This was a highlight of the trip.