Destination: Acadia National Park

Acadia National Park // Bar Harbor, Maine // Wanderlust Travel

Deep blue waves crashing into rocky cliffs. The smell of ancient pine trees deeply rooted into a land seeped with wild freedom. A creaking boardwalk encircling the famous Jordan Pond. I welcome you to Acadia National Park, Maine.

Every year, we choose a new little piece of the world to explore. One of the first things that landed on our agenda as we planned a bucket-list trip to Prince Edward Island was this breath-taking piece of rocky coastal wilderness called Acadia National Park.

Joel made a strong case for Zion and Capitol Reef after I made this statement, but I think Acadia might be my favorite national park so far. Maybe it’s because I’ve dreamed about visiting these rocky sea cliffs my whole life, or maybe because it was the first official stop of the trip. Whatever the reason, definitely swing through if you’re driving up through Maine!

From Cadillac Mountain and Jordan Pond to endless miles of the famous carriage roads (thanks, John D Rockefeller, Jr!), every twist and turn was a delightful surprise as we followed the Park Loop Road.

Here’s a little peek into our day at Acadia National Park!

Cadillac Mountain

We were greeted with this breath-taking view from Cadillac Mountain.

I wanted to spread out an old quilt and lay in the sunshine with a book. Possibly forever. Looooved this place!

And this guy. :)

Acadia Shoreline

As we wound our way around the park, we discovered this great little sandy beach!

We loved climbing along the rocky shore and watching the deep, changing colors of the ocean. Sometimes it was a dark, steel gray. Sometimes it was turquoise. But always absolutely beautiful.

This is one of my favorite spots in the whole park! I also love the fact that a random little sailboat sailed into the picture.

Thunder Hole! There’s a cave right below this spot, and the waves make huge thundering sounds when the conditions are right. The conditions were so right for us that no one was even allowed on the little walkway. It made for a good picture, but Joel was disappointed he couldn’t get closer!

This guy loves to walk as far out as he can, whether it’s to the edge of a canyon or the edge of the sea. I, on the other hand, have a very healthy respect for rogue waves and gravity, so I cheered from a distance…

We stumbled into a rock climbing class. Joel would have loved to join!

I loved every little harbor village we found on this trip!

After lots of waves crashing against the rocky shore, we headed inland to check out the forest parks.

Jordan Pond

We had just a couple more hours before we had to get on the road to Canada, so we headed off to Jordan Pond on our way out of the park. The Jordan Pond House restaurant is really famous for their popovers. Next time we’ll have to leave time to stop in to try one!

There was a boardwalk around the shores of Jordan Pond, and we chose exploring over popovers.

And when you find pretty light, you stop for a selfie!

On our way out, we found the most adorable cottage across the street! I’m pretty sure I would like to live there. It was like my Jane Austen dreams coming true!

We said goodbye to the beautiful Acadia and drove onward to Canada!

*hugs*

Amber

{P.S. Don’t miss out on Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, or our time with Anne of Green Gables! They’re all on the blog, just waiting for you to explore.}