Road Trip - Bar Harbor Part 2

While in Bar Harbor, or Baa-Haa-Baa as the natives say, we woke up early and drove to the top of Cadillac mountain (the tallest peak on the east coast) to see the sunrise. This is the first place the sun hits on the east coast. So we would have been the first to see the sun in the U.S. Unfortunately the clouds were pretty thick so we couldn't see anything.
Luckily though, we got a good laugh while a group of people doing yoga tried to keep their mats from blowing off the mountain. I love the picture of all four of us - we were laughing because the camera kept twisting on the tripod, so we had to keep sliding sideways to stay in the picture.

Exploring Acadia National Park

Thunder Hole

There is a place in the rocks where the water goes into a cave and it sounds like thunder. The rangers told us the best time to hear it was just after a storm. It sounded more like rumbling, but you can still watch the video.

Later that afternoon, the guys rented scooters for three hours to explore the national park some more. While they were gone, we took advantage of the time to go shopping without any guys complaining. We had fun finding all the best deals on our souveniers.

At low tide we went we back to some tidepools. These were a lot easier to travel across so even Candice and I saw all the cool things this time. We saw LOTS of snails and barnacles, mussels, and even some crabs.

That night we walked along the main street going into all the shops. We were surprised at how many of the stores stayed open past 7:00. We found a children's store with bubbles and Matt took advantage of the chance to blow some giant bubbles.

And that was the end of our time in the great Bar Harbor and Acadia. We all agreed that it would be fun to go back and spend a week just on the harbor. There's so much to do.

Road Trip - Bar Harbor

We stayed in Bar Harbor for the next two and a half days. We ate a Geddy's Pub. This place was so cool! It was FILLED with signs from everywhere in the U.S. They put little plastic fish in our drinks. Candice got a kid's meal which came served on a frisbee. How cool is that?!? Another cool thing was that the bathrooms were labeled "inboards" and "outboards". At first Candice and I weren't sure which one we were supposed to go in. When we opened the door and saw pink walls we knew we were in the right place.

We explored the harbor and found lots of kelp, snails, and barnacles.

We made plans to come back at low tide to see if we could find anymore little critters.

Here is our hotel. It sat right on the edge of the water. very cool.

At low tide later that afternoon, we walked along Bridge Road which was a sand bridge that went from the main land to an island. We hiked up to the top of the island and looked at the beautiful view. I don't have any good pictures because I only had my little camera. We went back at high tide and you wouldn't have even known the sand bridge was there. The picture on the left is at low tide, on the right is high tide. Such a difference. We couldn't get over how much the view changes as the tides come and go - so amazing.

We also went down to the tide pools and Matt and Jason were able to find some cool stuff like sea urchins and anemones. The girls were having a hard time on the slippery rocks so we just gave them the camera and sat and watched. It was so neat to see and hear the waves crashing against the rocks.

Jason found a place in the rocks where the water would empty from a hole. When the wave would come it filled the hole and spilled over. We were thoroughly amused. You can watch the video at the bottom.

Road Trip - Getting Cumfy in the Car

The next day we spent ten hours in the car, trying to keep ourselves entertained, as we drove through New York, New Hampshire and finally to Maine. Harry Potter on CD, word searches, iPod, and the many interesting things out the window all helped us maintain our sanity. And there is a picture of one of the many toll booths we went through. Thank goodness we had the EZ Pass. I don't think we would have had enough cash in the car to cover all the tolls.

That night we stayed in Ellsworth, Maine at the Eagle's Lodge. This place was fantastic - complete with burnt orange shag carpet. We were all glad we were only staying there one night.

Road Trip - Palmyra, New York

Our next stop was Palmyra, New York where we saw all the Church History sites. It was really neat to see the place where Joseph Smith lived and translated the Book of Mormon.

The Log Home

The Frame Home

The Cooper Shop where Joseph hid the plates in a log barrel in the rafters before the mobs came to search for them.

The Sacred Grove

Palmyra Temple

E.B. Grandin's Printing Press

The Hill Cumorah Pageant

Before the show it started raining really bad so Matt and I put the picnic blanket over us and offered some to Candice. Jason had left to get the umbrella out of the car so Candice didn't take much of the blanket (don't believe her if she tells you we wouldn't give her any - totally not true!) She got SOAKED! It stopped raining after about 15 minutes - just long enough to get everything good and wet. Luckily it didn't rain the rest of the night so the show was great. Some of the volunteers told us that it has never rained during the pageant.

We got there pretty early so we could have dinner from the Lion's and Rotary Club. As we were waiting for the show, many of the cast members came and talked to us. It was cool to see all their costumes up-close, some were very intricate. And all the costumes are designed to get wet, so the rain storm didn't even phase them. During the parts in the show that are visions or dreams, jets of water shoot up behind the actors. It was a really neat show. We loved the battle scenes and the destruction of Jeruselem with all the blasting fire and water. (The Manti Pageant needs to take notes)