Day 1:

We awoke to a light rain and after enjoying a continental breakfast at the hotel, we zipped back down to Freeport to visit the LL Bean flagship store and other stores in Freeport for a couple of hours. The rain turned a little heavier as we drove up the coast via US Hwy 1, through Brunswick, Bath and to Rockland, where we stopped for lunch at Claws, where we had our first chance at some north Atlantic seafood (which would become a reoccurring theme). Before getting out of Rockland, we braved the rain shower outside to briefly hop out at the Rockland Breakwater Light. Afterwards, we continued our trek up US 1, going through multiple picturesque coastal Maine villages like Camden, Belfast and Searsport. Before getting into Ellsworth, we crossed the Penobscot River on the Penobscot Narrows Bridge. About 40 minutes later, we were greeted as we arrived at our home for the next 4 days, Lamoine State Park. We set up camp and had a BBQ meal for dinner that night in camp.

Day 2:

We started our day with a breakfast of pancakes, sausage and bacon before heading over into Acadia National Park. The entire group hiked the relatively flat 3.1-mile Jordan Pond Loop trail. Our more adventurous decided to summit South Bubble and visit Bubble Rock. We all later reconvened at the Jordan Pond House. We then attempted to make it to Thunder Hole to catch the action, but we learned we missed the prime view/listening time, so we quickly pivoted to visiting the Bass Harbor Head Light Station. Dinner that night was a fiesta of chicken and steak fajitas back at camp.

Day 3:

Breakfast sandwiches of sausage, eggs and cheese on English muffins greeted the group for our camp breakfast, as we were trying to hit the road quickly today. Our excursion today was a bit further out than much of the other activities, we were heading to Quoddy Head State Park in Lubec, Maine. Quoddy Head State Park is home to the West Quoddy Head lighthouse and sits on the Easternmost Point in the United States. While there, we learned of the lighthouse's history and hiked some of the trails inside the state park. Some of our group got to meet one of the former lighthouse keepers, as he was there visiting with some of family. Others in our group spotted a whale off the coast. Many of us enjoyed our lunch with a perfectly clear view of the North Atlantic and some Canadian islands. Before leaving the area, we swung through the nearby village of Lubec to get a closer look at Canada. While we were unable to cross the border, we did get much closer, but this time to Campobello Island. This Canadian island is home to Roosevelt's former summer home and is now an International Park. We got a good look at the Mulholland Point Lighthouse (pictured) from our quick stop. We decided to head back to Lamoine for an early dinner as we had reservations for Cadillac Mountain and the sunset. Tonight's dinner in camp was a full-blown lobster meal, complete with corn, potatoes, melted butter, and of course, whole lobsters. Once all the tools and supplies needed for the meal, we distributed the lobsters and Dr. Hung gave a group lesson on how to open a lobster and pull out the meat. For most of our group, this was their first experience with lobster. Needless to say, there was carnage, for the most part, the claws were the biggest hit and the tails were also tasty.

After dinner, we prepped for our sunset from atop Cadillac Mountain in Acadia. There is a hiking trail that gains over 1000' and over half of our group decided they wanted to make this hike and meet the rest of us at the top. The sunset was spectacularly breathtaking.

Day 4:

This day began much like Day 3 ended, atop Cadillac Mountain. It was also our final full day in Maine. A small portion of our group wanted to catch the sunrise from atop the mountain. So, they loaded up at 4am to make the drive to the top and be ready for the sunrise. Those that didn't go, stayed in camp to prepare the French toast and sausage breakfast for the full group. Once everyone got their fill of breakfast, we all headed out on this foggy morning to hike Beehive inside Acadia NP. Beehive isn't a long hike in distance, but due to its technical nature, it's a slow go, especially if there's a lot of traffic, which was the case for us on this day. A view covering most of Mount Desert Island's eastern coast greeted us when we reached the summit. The primary route up is one way, so you come down a much easier and quicker route. Once at the bottom, we headed just down the street, back to Thunder Hole as prime viewing (or better yet, listening) time was quickly approaching. Most of our adults chose to eat lunch sitting on the rocks around Thunder Hole as the breezes coming off the North Atlantic were much cooler than from even on the summit of Beehive. It was so nice, many actually caught some shut eye. What was more impressive than Thunder Hole, was visibly watching the fog roll in off the ocean.

At this point, we had still yet to visit Acadia's primary visitor center, Hulls Cove, so that was our next stop as we were ultimately headed to Bar Harbor to check out the local scene for a few hours. Dinner in camp was smash burgers with all the trimmings. After dinner, a small group wanted to go walk across the land bridge from Bar Harbor to Bar Island. On this night, we got an incredible shot of the waning twilight.