Well it rained all night last night. We had read the weather
forecast and had packed up all of our stuff the night before so all we had left
was our tent. I had never packed up our tent in the flat out rain so this was a
first. Lyn got everything packed up inside and then I took everything to the
car and then took down the tent. When I rolled it up it was soaking wet. I
shoved it in the bag and threw it in the car. One way or another we were off to
Bar Harbor Maine. The plan was to stop along the way as it was about 8.5 hours
away. After about 45 minutes we made it to Confederation Bridge and decided to
stop for breakfast at Tim Hortons. It is a super popular chain up here and is
actually pretty good. It is somewhat of a cross between Starbucks and McDonalds
if that is possible. As we drove the rain kept coming down but it was really
easy driving and for the most part there was very little traffic. Sometimes we
would see a railroad track that would come right through the middle of the
highway. Not sure how this worked when you were flying along but we never saw
an actual train cross the highway. We drove and drove and could not seem to get
out of the rain so we kept on driving and finally we hit the US border. We
waited in line for about 10 minutes and then it was our turn. The guy that
talked to us was a cross between serious and funny. He asked all the usual
questions and then asked how I knew Lyn and then asked how long we have been
married and when her birthday was. Luckily I passed! We had one thing in the car
that concerned me. Lyn’s friend had given us a big bag of dried Taro leaves
so that she could use them to make my new favorite dish La-ing. There was
nothing illegal about bringing them across the border but they did look
suspicious. But luckily all of us in the car all passed inspection even with a
big batch of dried leaves in an unmarked plastic bag. There is something to say
for the feeling of coming back into your home country. It is kind of that same
feeling you get on the 4th of July. We felt proud to be back.
However Canada was full of friends and family and I can honestly say that it is
one of the friendliest places we have ever been. We are so thankful to all of
our friends, families and even complete strangers that made our trip the special
trip that it was. We will be back for sure. If you have ever thought about
going you should be making your plans right now!
Once we passed the border we had less than three hours to
make it to Bar Harbor so we decided to go for it. Besides it was still raining
and I did not want to set up camp in the rain. Bar Harbor is also the home of
Acadia National Park. We are hoping to camp there but without reservations you
have to get there early in the morning just to have a chance at a site. We went
to the visitor center and bought our park pass for $25. It is good for 7 days.
They told us the campgrounds were full so we headed out of the park to find a
commercial campground. We had seen three on the way in. One thing I love about camping in a
National Park is that you usually have more room on your site and between
sites. You also are usually more surrounded by trees. KOA’s are convenient but
usually you are on a small piece of grass with no trees between you and your
neighbor. Anyway we stopped at a place called Bar Harbor Campground. I went in
the office and as soon as I walked in my phone started to beep with messages.
Ahhhh good wifi that is surely a plus as we do not have data on our phones even
here in the states. The owner told us to take the map and go pick our own
campsite and then comeback and tell him which one. Lyn and I drove around and
loved everything we saw about this campground. The lots were big and heavily
wooded. It reminded me of camping when I was little. We picked a site and left
a cooler there to claim it. When I went back to register he told me that they
did not do credit cards or debit cards so I wrote him a check and we were on
our way. The rain had stopped and the sun came out so we set up camp and let
the tent dry out a bit. It was still only 4 in the afternoon so we went into
town to get some groceries and headed back to camp for dinner. As Lyn cooked
dinner lots of kids were out playing and several introduced themselves and
asked to pet Jasper. After dinner I built a fire and we enjoyed sitting around and
just relaxing. The temperature was going to get down to 59 tonight. In other
words about perfect! Tomorrow we will explore the town of Bar Harbor and see
what it has to offer.
Breakfast!
Back in moose country!
Welcome home!
Bar Harbor Campground
Drying the tent.
Dinner time!
Best showers yet but they are not free!
