The squad is sharing the best things to do in Acadia National Park both inside the park and outside the park in close by Bar Harbor, Maine.

We spent two days exploring the national park and Bar Harbor, Maine. In this episode we’re going to tell you exactly what to do in Acadia National Park and convince you to visit during fall because it is absolutely gorgeous during this time of year. The scenic overlooks are not to miss, the hikes in the park surrounded by fall foliage and jaw dropping coastal cliff views make this park worth the visit. If you’re thinking of planning a fall foliage trip, now is the time to start thinking about it and Acadia National Park takes the crown for one of the most beautiful places to see those fall colors!

Best Hikes in Acadia National Park

Bee Hive Trail Loop a 1.5 mile hike that can optionally end with another mile hike up iron runs.

Precipice Trail is another one of the most popular hikes in the park that includes the iron runs.

Bowl Trail is an alternative option to doing the iron runs

Cadillac Mountain for Sunrise – yes it is worth getting up early for it!

Don’t forget the scenic drive around the park to see Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, Otter Cliff, Otter Point Overlook, Otter Cove Overlook, and the 3.1 mile loops that is Jordan Pond.

Where is Acadia National Park?

Acadia is in Maine, the far northeast corner of the United States. It sits along the northeast coast and offers some of the most gorgeous fall foliage colors come September and October. It is close proximity to Canada’s Newfoundland region and would also make a great jumping off point to venture into Quebec.

Where to stay in Acadia National Park?

We stayed just outside of the park in an Airbnb in Bar Harbor, Maine. Bar Harbor is only a 15 minute drive into the park and we highly recommend staying in town. There are many cute bed and breakfast places to stay near Acadia National Park that add to the ambiance of the trip.

Where should you fly into to visit Acadia?

The closest airport to Acadia National Park is Hancock County Airport which is about 10 miles from Acadia National Park, but this airport is very small. Many national airlines fly into the Bangor International Airport which is about one hour from the park and would likely be your best bet. We flew into Boston International Airport, rented a car and drove the very scenic fall dry up to Acadia, which would take around four hours without stops, but trust us, you will be stopping to enjoy the fall foliage. You can also visit Flume Gorge in New Hampshire on this drive and take your time.

Things to Do in Acadia National Park – Episode Transcript

1 (58s):
Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad Podcast. Today we’re taking you to Acadia National Park in Maine. I’m really excited to talk about this trip. We actually went for my birthday, which is in October and we went in 2022 and that actually happens to land during crime fall Foliage, and our trip completely did not disappoint and I’m so excited to share everything about our trip to Acadia and Bar Harbor Maine with you guys.

3 (1m 26s):
Yeah, I’m really excited to dive into this episode with you guys and talk about Acadia. I feel like for the longest time we’ve been talking about going to Acadia National Park and I know we went for Britney’s birthday Kim. You didn’t come with us. I’m sorry it was not a Squad trip, but we’ve always heard such good things about Acadia, one of the gyms of the East Coast National Parks and everything people say about Acadia is absolutely true and to some extent can we kind of model this trip after your fall, Foliage trip to New England that you did, where you landed in Boston, drove up to New Hampshire cuz we also did the fall color changes in Flume Gorge in New Hampshire and worked our way up to Maine.

3 (2m 8s):
You did not continue on to Maine in yours, but this trip was kind of inspired and we added on that national park and I’m really excited to dive into it here. But you inspired us on this one Ken. So even though you weren’t with us physically, you were in spirit.

2 (2m 22s):
Good. I should always be in spirit with you guys when you’re traveling. So Acadia is, from what I understand, an amazing national park, especially during the fall Foliage season. Just absolutely gorgeous. But I think a blocker for me and maybe some other people is that it’s so far northeast, like the uppermost northeast you could go that it seems hard to get to and even driving from Boston, it’s quite a few hours up on this trek. So I have that kind of built up in my head, but I think this episode’s going to change my mind about it, inspire me to go. So I’ve been to this area in October myself, so I have an idea of what it looks like, but for everybody that hasn’t, can you just visually describe the scenery in Acadia National Park when you visited in October?

1 (3m 11s):
Yeah, so when we visited in October, the mornings were a little overcast. There was a little bit of fog and mist in the air. There’s a ton of trees and forests as you’re driving down some of the main roads in Acadia and you feel like you’re almost tunneled in with the road being like your center point. But on the sides there’s just beautiful vibrant fall colors. You see the greens, the orange yellows, the reds, and then as this fog starts to lift during the day those colors become more and more vibrant. And then as you do some of the hiking and Acadia, you get to see that from a bird’s eye perspective and you just completely surrounded in this gorgeous fall Foliage and it’s just so beautiful and serene to see Maines also on the coast.

1 (3m 57s):
And so you get to see some of the sea cliffs paired with that forest and that fall color well. So it’s just really gorgeous.

3 (4m 5s):
Yeah, and I was going to say, you know it’s almost a beautiful airiness in the morning when it has that fog layer, but as the sun comes out as noted, it becomes more beautiful and vibrant, those colors. But Acadia, as she said, is along the coast on the Atlantic Ocean. It’s actually on an island, but do not worry, this island you can reach via car, they have a little bridge for you to get on, but If, you look at a map, it’s actually an island. And so here’s this one little island with all this surrounding of water, the Atlantic ocean bays and harbors with this fall Foliage color, at least at the time in which we went of course during summer it’s gonna be a nice green and you’ll still get that ocean vibe.

3 (4m 47s):
But during that fall, poage time, pristine, beautiful and really our first time in New England or anywhere in particular experiencing those colors because as always, you know here on the west coast, which is the mountains and everything that we’re used to, our forests are evergreens for the most part. So we don’t see those color changes like you guys do on the East coast and absolutely breathtaking.

2 (5m 10s):
So we like to start every episode with the tips and I know you have some good ones for us for Acadia. So what would you recommend for someone visiting for the first time?

1 (5m 20s):
Well of course as always download the offline maps for sure. There are some parts where you’re not gonna get service in the park, so you’re gonna want to have the maps already downloaded so you can navigate to different places within the national park. Of course also this national park, some of the hikes and things that you might wanna see are before you actually get to the the entrance station. And so you do have to have a pass for those spots still. And so you would want to purchase them either online in advance or at the kiosk at the visitor center Halls visitor center. And one of the most popular trails in Acadia National Park is the precipice trail and this is one of the trails where it’s outside of where the entrance fee station is.

1 (6m 7s):
So that’s a really good example of a hike or a trail that you might wanna go on and need to have your visitor pass already purchased and displayed in your vehicle.

3 (6m 18s):
Yeah, because these trails, more particularly the precipice trail, it starts outside of the national park, the Trailhead of course, rest assured that final summit where it’s gonna get you falls within it, but it is before the pay station. So you need that voucher or basically your entrance park fee receipt noted on your dashboard in the parking lot outside of the national park. So you do want to do that again, purchase it in advance or at that visitor

1 (6m 46s):
Center.

2 (6m 47s):
Interesting that they would charge you for something that’s outside of the park.

1 (6m 50s):
Well I mean it’s technically within the park boundaries, but I think because of the limited space on the island and the way that the roads are, it’s just that’s where they could set up the entrance fee because there’s kind of like several roads that merge into one where the entrance fee station is. And so I think that’s why. But also we’ve also talked a lot about the America, the beautiful pass and so you know that’s $80 for a rolling year If, you do have that pass, just display it in your dashboard as well and then you don’t have to worry about booking online or going to the visitor center in advance. You just put your national park pass in the window and you’re good to go.

3 (7m 26s):
Another tip, regardless of if you’re having to park for a trail that’s outside of the National Park or at least starts outside the national park or you are inside, parking is very, very limited. So you want to get there bright and early in the morning, otherwise you’re gonna be fighting for those limited available spots. Parking is so limited that they actually do in fact allow you to sometimes double park or park on the side of the road in certain areas that you would think is just normally drive on and you couldn’t park, but you don’t wanna rely on that either. And part of the national park once you’re inside is a one way so If you don’t even get to your spot. You may be parking way down the road outta one way and having to walk back to where you wanna go

1 (8m 11s):
Or circling back through. And it could take quite a while depending on how much traffic is in the national park. I’m sure in peak seasons there’s a lot more. I read a lot about that. So it could take you longer to get to the trail head you’re going to if you’re not willing to walk that far distance and you’re looking for a closer parking spot, but the roads become one way and you have to circle back around. Also, another really popular famous thing to do is to watch the sunrise on Cadillac Mountain, but in order to do that you do have to book reservations in advance from recreation.gov. You can’t drive up the mountain itself without reservations even during broad daylight. So whether you want the Sunrise experience or you just wanna visit during the day, you have to have reservations to drive up Cadillac Mountain.

1 (8m 57s):
It is a $6 fee. Tickets go on sale on recreation.gov in advance. 30% of the tickets are released 90 days in advance and then the remaining 70% are released at 10:00 AM Eastern time two days beforehand. So even If, you don’t get it, you still have another opportunity right before to see If. you can score some of those amazing tickets to get up to Cadillac Mountain.

3 (9m 22s):
Also another tip, park Loop Road and Cadillac Mountain close in the winter and parts of early spring. So be sure to track updates on the National Park website on when these things are going to close. That way you know how to plan your trip quarterly If you are going during those times.

1 (9m 38s):
Another tip of course is where should you stay? The closest town to Acadia National Park is going to be Bar Harbor. It’s the gateway to Acadia National Park and to just be mindful if you’re going in off season, which does start in October actually, which is kind of surprising to me because October still has a lot of those peak colors. A lot of the restaurants and businesses start to close down for the season. So you just wanna be sure in advance, like If, you’re going in late October, probably most things are going to be closed in earlier October, not so much but you’ll start to see some of those shutdowns. While we were there, I think we were there mid-October, we started to hear other restaurants and businesses say that it’s their last day, they’re closing down for the season.

1 (10m 27s):
We did pass a few restaurants on our way driving that were already closed and would have signs up in their window saying see you next season. So this area really does shut down for winter and so just be prepared. Keep that in mind if you’re planning a trip during that time.

2 (10m 44s):
Oh I’m sure super snowy in the winter. So if, if October and the fall Foliage is shoulder season, peak season I’m assuming is summer for sure, maybe even a little bit of spring. What’s the draw for summer peak season?

1 (10m 60s):
I think they just have really good weather that they do have a beach and Acadia so you can go out and explore the beach maybe actually even though it’s gonna be cold, be able to get into the water some and it’s gonna be really green. There’s gonna be a lot of really great hiking as well. There’s some lakes and that draws people in as well. So there are other things to see, although we were going specifically for fall Foliage and that’s the shoulder season, although I, I would think that that’s like probably one of the best times to go

3 (11m 27s):
I would say too, of course, I mean to see it with the color change is beautiful. But to your point of your question, beyond that Kim, I feel like summer anywhere is always gonna be busy. People just have time off from work, it’s their vacation so it’s a little bit more crowded maybe people don’t like the colder weather even though it’s not freezing or snowing quite yet in October. So I think a lot of that plays into it and I, I would love to go back if I was there in that time of summer, although I can’t even imagine the traffic because our little off season there was pretty crowded in there already as it was fighting the roads and traffic and finding parking. But yeah.

2 (12m 4s):
All right, so we’re through with the tips. Let’s go full in. Where did you guys fly into and what did you guys do first?

1 (12m 11s):
So I think Jamal mentioned that we did fly into Boston and we did drive up through New Hampshire. We’re not gonna focus on the New Hampshire portion because it’s really a copycat of what you did in New Hampshire. And we did release an episode on that. We went to Flume Gorge and we saw some of the fall Foliage there. We did do a hike in New Hampshire as well further up. But from Boston to Acadia without Stops is a four and a half hour drive. However, there are other options cuz that is a long drive. You can fly into Portland Maine, which is a one of the bigger airports in Maine. That’s a three hour drive to Acadia National Park. So still a pretty far, or you can fly into Bangor International Airport, which is one hour away.

1 (12m 52s):
We actually did pass Bangor on our way to Acadia and they did have signs on the fence saying that they do have flights from Boston Daily. So that’s another option as well. If, you can get to Boston pretty easily but then just kind of take like a smaller plane to get to Bangor.

3 (13m 7s):
Yeah, so we ended up driving through all the way from Boston and again we did stop in New Hampshire but we didn’t stay the night or anything. It was just kind of a long drive that day with stops. So by the time we got into Bar Harbor, which again is the closest town to Acadia National Park, which by the way I love small quaint towns and bar Harbor is that town. Like just when I was there I was so excited. Like even though it’s geared toward tourism, no doubt you really get that authentic mom and pop feel, which I really, really appreciated. It wasn’t too commercially, even though there is stuff like that, no doubt, but not like on an obscene level. It really kept that small town feel given that a major national park is nearby.

3 (13m 51s):
So I really, really did appreciate that about Bar Harbor.

2 (13m 54s):
I think I know the answer to my own question, but is Bar Harbor on the coast and so is it like a very coastal fishing type town?

3 (14m 2s):
Yes, it definitely is.

2 (14m 3s):
I can picture it in my head now. I’m getting the vibe.

3 (14m 6s):
Yes. And so keeping with that coastal town theme, of course I know this isn’t for you, we love seafood and you can’t go to Maine without getting lobsters. So Brittany and I, before this trip, we kept talking to ourselves, we gotta get some lobster rules when we’re in Maine. Like even though it’s cliche, we’re like we gotta do it. So we found a particular restaurant that supposedly had some of the best lobster rolls while in bar Harbor and that was the thirsty whale tavr and we really enjoyed the lobster roll. Sometimes lobster rolls for me are hiddenness sometimes I’d much rather just have like a lobster tail drawing butter. But these ones were good. I wouldn’t say it was like the best lobster roll I ever had, but definitely not of the worst and I enjoyed it.

3 (14m 48s):
We also got a bowl of clam chowder and lobster bisque. Again keeping with that seafood theme,

1 (14m 54s):
Well it came with it, it was the sandwich plus a soup and you had the choice of clam chowder or lobster bisque. So I got one, Jamal got the other, we both got lobster rolls.

3 (15m 4s):
I will say the clam chowder was better, the lobster bis less a little bit to be desired at the thirsty whale maybe we went on an off day. But even If, you don’t wanna do the lobster rolls or seafood, great little local tavern for you to get like a burger or anything else, something like that that you would like.

1 (15m 19s):
And then after dinner it was pretty late so we just went and head and we headed to our Airbnb. Our Airbnb was super cute. We actually rented a room and it was inside a building that looks like a house or was a house, but it was turned into a massage day spa business. And so we had our own private little bedroom suite and it had a pretty large bathroom. So there was an area within the bathroom that had like a mini fridge, a microwave, they had some snacks and like just like little granola bars and some things like that. And because it was at a spa, we had robes for us after our showers to relax in and it was a prime location in the heart of downtown bar Harbor.

1 (16m 1s):
So I felt like it was a really good fine on Airbnb. And

2 (16m 5s):
That was just a room not the full place?

1 (16m 7s):
Correct. We entered through a back entrance and there were other suites like that but each one was themed differently and each one had a name as well, like each room was named. And so you would just kind of like follow the sign of the stairs and then go to your room and each room had a different like individual code to put on the door and so that’s how you would access it. We didn’t see anyone else while we were there, but I do know that they rent out more rooms than just the one.

3 (16m 33s):
Oh yeah. So again, the bottom level is a business and a day spa. The upper level has three if not four, fully furnished different themed rooms like Britney’s talking about. So again, we didn’t cross paths with anybody but we had a really nice one and I I, I really love the experience of that place because it was so quaint and it almost fit into town. So it was almost like an all-encompassing experience that just really enhanced the vibe.

2 (16m 59s):
Well that’s so cool. We’ll link this in the show notes in case any of you listening would like to check this place out for your

1 (17m 6s):
Trip. Yeah, I would highly recommend it. It was a great stay.

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1 (21m 3s):
But then we went to sleep on Saturday night, we woke up right and early on Sunday and of course we’re in Maine If, you guys didn’t know Maine is a big producer, the largest in the US of wild blueberries and so we actually had breakfast at Jordan’s and Jordan’s is a bar Harbor staple, it’s been in business since the seventies. It’s a like no frill mom and pop restaurant. We did end up getting a vegetable omelet and then of course their famous blueberry pancakes with real maple syrup and they were really good. Oh my god, that sounds so good. Yeah, it was so good. I will say like their coffee probably wasn’t the best, it’s just kind of like the diner drip coffee but it was just like a real mom and pop feel and like we could see the owner, the chef kind of cooking and they just have it down to a science.

1 (21m 55s):
Like their business model is just like very efficient. It was really cool to just kind of like watch the production line and like them throw orders at him and then him just like getting them all right and like serving them all up super quickly.

3 (22m 7s):
And I would just wanna reiterate the vibe clearly we’re tourists going in there for the national park and of course we’re not the only ones and there’s a lot of them but even when you walked in you can tell like that this is a local spot and locals come here too. And so again that vibe of caters to tourists because it is what it is, what it’s there, but it keeps its local charm and it really is still local. It just can’t be, you know, overstated how cool that is about Bay Harbor. And one of the things I really appreciated most about this trip beyond the nature, so after breakfast of course you know we’re going into the national park and doing some hiking so that omelet and blueberry pancakes was our fuel. So what did we do first Brittany, once we got into the national

1 (22m 49s):
Park? Well we originally wanted to hike first thing in the morning, but I was watching the weather so this is another tip too is watch the weather and see what the weather’s gonna be like during the day. And I saw that the weather forecast was that it was going to be overcast gloomy until about 10 to 11:00 AM And so I was like well if we summit at a peak and it’s cloudy, what am I really gonna see? So we decided to kind of scratch that idea. We headed over to a place called Sand Beach and it’s actually where we would’ve started the trail that we were gonna hike anyways. But it’s a gorgeous little beach that’s nestled between the mountains and the rocky shores. It’s right after the entrance space station and it was foggy when we got on the beach but it was really adding to like the ambiance, the environment and we just kind of scoped out that area for a little bit.

3 (23m 37s):
Yeah and I really liked the spot in the morning while it was still overcast. I mean If, you harken back Kim to when we were in the Pacific Northwest almost on the Atlantic northeast it kind of feels like that same vibe along the ocean and in some sort of way, but yet ironically different. I really can’t explain it well but it gave me those vibes but different almost like I knew I was on the east coast in some way and the fog had just really enhanced it and eventually later we made our rounds and came back to that spot when the sun was actually out and I was like, this beach looks completely different. Like it felt like a different beach. So I I would say like if you’re there, see it in the morning with the fog, if it is gonna be foggy and then check it out later because it’s a completely different dynamic and feel.

1 (24m 22s):
Then from there we headed over to a spot called Thunder Hole. And so it’s a popular stop on the park loop road and this is where it does become one. You are on a one way street at this point, but it’s this carved out little inlet along the shore and it reminds me of if anyone has been to Ensenada and gone to Labu fedora, it reminds me of that. It’s just a little less impressive than the labu fedora. It’s called Thunder Hole because it makes like this loud thunderous sound and you can hear it before you see it but it makes that sound when the waves are forced into like the narrow channel and the best time to hear and see it is like one to two hours before high tide and the waves will get up to like 40 feet in height at that point.

3 (25m 4s):
Yeah, so basically the water flows in through that narrow channel comes out almost like a water spout, like through a whales blow hole like up and out and makes that thunderous sound. So there are a few places in the world where it does that. Ensenada, we’re familiar with Labu Fedora, we’ve talked about it before. I forget which island, but I think there’s even a place in Hawaii that has something like this. And here we are now Atlantic Coast in Acadia National Park with the same thing. So cool to see as you’re going by. Did you

2 (25m 32s):
Guys happen to see it during high

1 (25m 34s):
Tide? No we didn’t see it during high tide. I don’t know what it was specifically. We saw it get up there but it definitely wasn’t 40 feet tall and I know it wasn’t high tide at that point.

3 (25m 44s):
Yeah we were watching it for maybe about 10 minutes and I think only one time in that 10 minutes it really had an impressive burst otherwise you could actually like hear it kind of like churning and building up and then it would do it. But it wasn’t as impressive as you would think of the sounds that were coming through. Like we kept saying like, oh we think we’re gonna see it, we think we’re gonna see it. And then it was kind of like a D. So only the one time did we catch it. So look at the tide pattern and see and again you’re on the one way at this point so If you miss it and you want to see it again later, eye tide, keep in mind you’re gonna have to drive the whole way around the park to do it. So that’s one of the things that goes into the planning of Acadia is just minding the one-way road

1 (26m 23s):
And we’re talking about them in order because it’s one way. So this is the order we went in to not miss anything. We went to a place called Otter Cliff. Otter Cliff is a 110 foot tall sea cliff that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. When we were here, it was still early enough in the morning where it was still really foggy but it made for really good beautiful pictures. I got this great picture sitting on the rocky cliff edge with a fog surrounding me, you can’t see the water below you. And then we did come back to the spot later when it was sunny and had really beautiful views of the Atlantic and we could actually see the coastline and then the fall colors. So it was nice to see the contrast in that but it was really cool to see and this is a good scenic spot for photos.

3 (27m 5s):
And when Brittany says she got a really good photo sitting on the rock cliff edge, I just wanna reiterate it, Brittany has way bigger kaj than me when it comes to taking photos and getting close to the edge. Like she gives me a heart attack sometimes, like this is literally right off the edge and she’s getting close. Sometimes we’ll sit down and dangle her feet, sometimes won’t sit down but have her back turned to the edge but be close to it and I always have to tell her be careful. So granted you, you don’t have to get in that precarious about situation here on Otter Cliff to get those great photos, but Brittany likes to do that and I want to just commend you for your bravery, Brittany, on those photos that you take.

1 (27m 41s):
Thank you. Thank you. I like to live on the edge a little bit. Sounds like you. It does

2 (27m 47s):
The better.

1 (27m 48s):
There’s another point along this drive called Otter Point overlook and it’s another beautiful overlook featuring of course the Atlantic Ocean and the rugged, rugged cliffs and coastline. You can kind of walk around this area and just like peruse and check it out. It’s really nice. It was really beautiful. And then we went to, there’s a lot of places in Acadia called like Otter Cove, Otter Point, Otter Cliff. So then we went to Otter Cove, we were actually going to skip this overlook and I’m really glad we decided not to. I think as we like started to approach it, we’re like, oh no, there’s fomo. If we pass it we’re gonna have to circle back around the whole time, you know, around again, we don’t wanna miss anything and I’m really glad we did stop here. But at this point the fog layer started to lift and we could see across this little cove area and there were a ton of trees on the other side displaying their beautiful fall of colors.

1 (28m 39s):
It was a really beautiful backdrop. We enjoyed hanging out here for a few minutes and just taking in the scenery, taking some photos. So I would recommend stopping at Otter Cove overlook as well.

3 (28m 49s):
You know what Otter Cove overlook reminded me of Kim. It reminded me to some degree of when we were in Grand Teton National Park and we were leaving and do you remember in the morning we were at like Schwab Berg or landing and it just kind of had like that little pond and we got the scenic look of the mountains. I will not say it’s at that grand of a scale, but it’s one of those kind of like little spots when you’re there you have the water to look at, that’s kind of like a little inlet coming in from the ocean. But then on the other side you have the mountain itself. But of course we had the fall color changed this time so it had that little vibe to be where it was like this peaceful serene area. So if any of you guys are familiar with grand heat on National Park and Schwab Berger Landing, it gave me those type of vibes.

3 (29m 31s):
That

1 (29m 31s):
Sounds

2 (29m 31s):
Beautiful and it also, the way I’m picturing it in my head, it’s like you’re seeing it and there’s no one around, were there any crowds there at that moment?

1 (29m 39s):
There was only one other car there and they did end up leaving. So we did have the spot available to just us for a good amount of time before we moved on ourselves.

2 (29m 50s):
Very nice. That just adds to it I think.

1 (29m 53s):
Yeah, I, I think, well other people were heading to trailheads. I was like well I don’t wanna waste that on not being able to see like a, a very nice view from the top of the summit. So we decided to continue along the road and I don’t think we’ve mentioned it before but the road, the scenic road in Acadia National Park is 27 miles long. So just keep that in mind at some point. Again it does become a two-way road and you can kind of cut back through but you’re driving not super fast. So it can take 40 minutes an hour to drive the whole loop depending on traffic and like where, what area you’re going to.

3 (30m 26s):
Yeah and I really appreciate the fact that it was overcast in the morning because again we were going to hike the beehive trail first, which we’ll talk about, you know later when we get to it. And that was actually where we went to First Sand Beach. You’re supposed to park there. But we, when we realized hey like we’re gonna hike and we’re gonna see nothing, it’s almost like when we were in Kauai and we did that one that was supposed to give us the views and then a poly coast and then we get to the edge and it’s all cloudy and we can’t even see a thing. So we definitely did not want, I

2 (30m 55s):
Do believe that hike, I still think about that. It was a hard hike too and I think we started early in the morning for this amazing view of the Nepali coast because we couldn’t actually hike the trail that had destroyed from mudslide. So we had built it up, we’d worked our way up there and nothing, you couldn’t see anything

3 (31m 16s):
And we didn’t want that for our hike that we were gonna do in Acadia. So I think a lot of people maybe were just like, well we’re still doing it in the morning, maybe it’ll clear out. Plus you wanna really do those in the morning cuz like I said, the parking will get very, very bad. But to that point though, it made it more beneficial on other areas of the park along the one way where we got to experience it on our own. So I would say, you know, plan accordingly on how you would like, but you could experience it on your own If, you bypass the hiking first and just try to troop the parking a little bit later. But from Honor Cove we worked our way to a cool spot called Jordan Pond. Not to be confused with the, the Jordan’s diner and place that we were talking about earlier. A different name for different reason.

3 (31m 58s):
But this area is really cool. You could do a 3.1 mile loop. It’s relatively flat. I think it only had like a 40 foot elevation gain around the entire lake itself. Beautiful clear colors there. We were actually going to do that and we started it and then we’re like, well is the view gonna be any different from this side to the other? And we’re just like, well we’ve already spent a good bit of time doing this, let’s get to our hike before it gets any later in the day. And we’re crowded. So we didn’t actually end up completing it but it would’ve been nice to go around

1 (32m 31s):
It. Yeah, we did walk around a portion of it and Jordan’s Pond is one of the most pristine, like it’s surrounded by the mountain so you have beautiful mountain scenery and the mountains were carved by glaciers and so like that’s what filled the lake. It was really pretty, really beautiful. Glad we stopped here. If I were to do this trip again, they have a restaurant in this area called the Jordan Pond house where you can actually get popovers and tea and I didn’t know that until like while we were on this trip and so we didn’t make reservations, which you should do when we passed it there was quite a wait for it so we didn’t get to do that. But I would totally go back to Kadia number one and bar Harbor and I would, you could definitely find me getting tea and popovers at this pond house.

1 (33m 15s):
Mm.

2 (33m 15s):
You know what sounds like a culinary vacation?

1 (33m 19s):
It is. It really is. On top of being able to hike around the lake If, you didn’t wanna do that. You can get on the water a canoe or kayak on the lake as well. There is a gift shop in this area too. So this area is kind of a busy area of the park and I definitely enjoyed it.

2 (33m 36s):
If, you were visiting again in October or one of the squat east takes this trip. How cold would it be If you decided to go kayaking or canoeing?

1 (33m 46s):
Well during the day once the sun came out I was hiking with just a tank top on and some pants so it got warm enough to feel comfortable on the water. It could be a little cooler so you might want like a light, a light windbreaker or a light jacket. But it definitely got sunny and when you’re in the middle of the sun and you’re soaking it on the, those rays you get warm pretty quickly.

3 (34m 10s):
You get warm. But when we were walking the path of the part that we did around it, you don’t remember catching that breeze off the water and it got a little bit chilly.

1 (34m 17s):
Yeah, but we were also more in the morning versus

3 (34m 21s):
Midday. That’s true. And it’s shaded. That trail is shaded too. So there’s that with it. But you know, I would say it’s definitely doable. Just take your layers that you can break off. But I wouldn’t say it’s absolutely freezing depending on what time of day it’s easily done. If you want to,

2 (34m 36s):
Do you think it’d be a good viewpoint to see the fall colors and surrounding trees and mountains and all that from the water?

1 (34m 42s):
You know that’s a really good perspective Kim and I do think so because the entire time you’re walking along the lake shore you’re walking through like the forest and so being on the lake and being surrounded by the mountains and the forest, that’s probably a really good vantage point to get some really good shots. So from Jordan’s Pond we did stop at the visitor center. Our goal here was of course to stop in and get a Christmas ornament. How they actually didn’t have any that we liked so we didn’t buy any. But we did see the kiosk here to purchase your national park entrance fee pass If, you needed to go to that kiosk and we ended up getting a Christmas ornament while we were shopping in downtown bar Harbor. And so that was kind of our stop just to check out the visitor center.

1 (35m 23s):
We love to check out visitor center, see what they offer while we’re on our trip. You know what,

2 (35m 27s):
We go to the visitor center every single time and usually they’re pretty much the same. Like we’re always like let’s see what they have but like it doesn’t change much.

3 (35m 36s):
You know though I feel like some visitor centers are a little bit different though. Like for the most part you are so correct with that assessment Kim, but I feel like sometimes there’s that one that’s just like ah this is actually a cool one. And we’ve been to a few of them. I wasn’t expecting the visitor center here to be grand, but for such a famous national park and well-known one, I was hoping their ornament game in the official store of the national park would be a little bit more on point and that it was not, especially in comparison to the ornament that we picked up in Bar Harbor, which I think is fire for Acadia that we have. So there’s that. So the visitor center here is a little bit lacking but If you wanna know more of the history of the park and actually nature aspects of it too.

3 (36m 18s):
Of course the visitor center is nice in that regard.

2 (36m 21s):
I do have one question about the national park. While you’re in it, is there anywhere that you could stop and get a bite to eat some national parks, have cafes and the visitor centers have food? Did this one have any of those options?

1 (36m 34s):
Well it did have the Jordan’s pond house which had the gift shop and then the restaurant. So there, there is that spot to eat within the park. But other than that I really didn’t see anything else that was food oriented within the park.

3 (36m 47s):
Yeah because so close just outside the park is bar Harbor so I think a lot of people really do that. That’s really the one main spot to get stuff is at Jordan Pond House

1 (36m 58s):
Bar Harbor by the way, you know sometimes we talk about staying outside of the parks and like working our way in Bar Harbor’s like really close. It’s like a 10 to 15 minute drive from the park so Oh nice. It’s not like we’re driving an hour to to like the park entrance and then you have to wait all of that time.

3 (37m 14s):
And I think to the point too, Kim of what you were saying earlier about If, you think it’s odd parking outside of the national park is because the city is right there so there really is only so limited undeveloped space left of where they could then have the entrance.

2 (37m 29s):
Very nice. All this food talk has just got me thinking about a future episode that we should do like ranking the food options in national parks.

1 (37m 38s):
Oh is King’s Canyon gonna be number one?

3 (37m 42s):
I was about to say it’s gonna be dead last dead laugh.

2 (37m 45s):
Yeah, we’ve had some good ones and we’ve had some bad ones. Looking at you King’s Canyon,

3 (37m 50s):
How are we? Yeah

1 (37m 51s):
So we headed on from the visitor center to the beehive trail loop, which was gonna be the hike that we did first thing in the morning. And this hike is really famous because it has a really short to steep incline but you’re hiking up these like iron rungs on the side of the cliff. So right up your alley Kim, I know you love adrenaline rushes, Adventure hanging on the edge that’ll get added. But this trail is super popular. We had a hard time finding parking at the beach parking lot. The trail itself isn’t very long, it’s only like a one and a half mile trail. It goes up like 500 feet in elevation gain and while you’re hiking up you get to a point where you can see the side of the the cliff and like where people start to climb up the iron rungs.

1 (38m 38s):
And there was actually quite a bit of a line and it’s not like you can bypass these people cuz you know when you’re hiking and you’re sharing a trail you can kind of go around people but when people are hiking up iron rungs, it’s not like you can be like step over, I’m going in, you know like you’re kind of in a in a line sequence and we were looking up on the side of the cliff and we could see all of the people there and I was like it just doesn’t seem like it’s worth the weight to just to experience that. So luckily I did some research in advance and I saw that on this same trail cuz the beehive loop, it’s a loop and you can only go up that way. You can’t go down the wrongs so you can, you have to go down like this backside, you can hike up that backside and get to the same summit area without doing the iron rungs and get to the same summit and viewpoint.

1 (39m 27s):
Okay now we’re talking and it’s actually less crowded. So while we were hiking up we came across some people and I asked them, did you guys do it? They’re like, no we did this other way because it just doesn’t look worth it. Like that looks like it’s gonna add an extra hour just to be able to do that for the novelty tee of saying like you hiked on these like I iron rungs and on the cliff, but you’re still gonna get the same view at the top, same mileage, same everything. You’re just not gonna get that one piece of it. Is the view worth going from the backside? Yeah, absolutely. You get to the same viewpoint. And so we did that, it was a lot less crowded, we got to the time top and no time. We actually got to pass a lake as well because we were coming from the back and where you can go down the trail is the lake a little bit off to the side, no one was coming to the viewpoint we were at.

1 (40m 17s):
So we had that viewpoint all alter ourselves and it was absolutely gorgeous and stunning.

3 (40m 22s):
Yeah and that trail is actually called the bull trail. So you can start the beehive trail and If, you don’t go up the one way with the rungs and you do it around the back way. It’s called the bull trail. And quite honestly, you know this is one of the main ones here of course, and again you want the novelty, it’s the coolness of your scaling the rocks with the ion rungs. But you know we’ve done Zion, that’s and drill and Russia all in and of itself. So we’re just like, even though this is a signature hike here, like we didn’t really wanna wait the hour backup that it really was to just do it when we could get it done quicker because we actually knew we wanted to drive the one way around the road again when we were done. This is

1 (41m 2s):
Britney over 30. No is there a 30? I mean I was just like, I don’t wanna wait. There was so much to do in bar Harbor too that we wanted to see and do and eat that. I was like why waste an extra hour when we can like go back into town and like grab a drink, grab a beer, grab something to eat. So we decided not to do the difficult adventurous part of the trail, but the more practical time-saving, efficient part of the trail and views were absolutely worth it. You are at a summit, you see all of the fall Foliage underneath you, the forest beneath you, and then you get a view of the Atlantic as well.

1 (41m 43s):
Of course we’re gonna post pictures for you guys to see. And then I would say the beehive trail and we mentioned the precipice trail. Those are probably two of the most popular trails in the park and they’re both popular because they both require the scaling of the iron rungs. But the reason why we were focusing more on the beehive trail than the precipice trail was actually because the beehive trail was shorter. I read that it had better views most of the way going up. So overall it’s like a better bang for your buck if you’re doing the research on which of these two trails you should do. Then after that Jamal and I did drive the drive the road again, we stopped at a lot of some of the same viewpoints and got to see it while things were sunny, bright, vibrant.

1 (42m 23s):
And then from there we headed into bar Harbor to get some good eats. And

2 (42m 29s):
Were you staying with the same Airbnb?

1 (42m 31s):
Yes, we stayed in the same Airbnb,

3 (42m 33s):
Went into Bar Harbor to get some good eats and some good drinks. You know, like we said earlier, that blueberry theme is strong in Maine and in Bar Harbor just as well. So we found a brewery that we wanted to go to to just get drinks and a little bit of food before we ate, like our serious meal. And guess what type of beer we had? Kim,

2 (42m 54s):
Blueberry, blonde,

3 (42m 55s):
Blueberry beer. I don’t remember if it was a blonde or not, but it was a blueberry beer and it was absolutely delicious.

1 (43m 2s):
And also, I just wanna point out, like we said, Maine has the largest, is the largest producer of blueberries in the world, specifically wild blueberries. They go crazy with their blueberries. I mean they have blueberry pancakes, blueberry soda, blueberry beer, blueberry pie, blueberry cheesecake. And we wanted to try it all. So we did. We did. Absolutely.

3 (43m 24s):
Absolutely. So we went to that brewery, it was called Atlantic Brewing. We did have that blueberry ale as we said. And then we went to West Street Cafe to try their lobster mac and cheese and blueberry pie. This place, west Street Cafe came up high, highly rated as good places to try those things and we’re like, we have to do it.

2 (43m 44s):
And how did it

1 (43m 45s):
Measure up? It was good. The lobster mat could have been a little bit better, but it, in terms of portion size, it was a small size. And of course anything with lobster in it is like a higher price tag. Blueberry pie was d absolutely delicious, would recommend getting it from there. And so I was happy with the experience. I mean there’s a ton of different cafes, restaurants to get blueberry pie from. Super

2 (44m 7s):
Hard-Hit question for you on the blueberry pie, did it come olive mode?

1 (44m 11s):
Yes it did.

3 (44m 12s):
It did come olive mode. And of course we got it olive mode. Why would we not get it? Olive mode. Oh man. You can’t have a warmed up like fruit pie like that, like apple, blueberry, whatever and not have that ice cream on top. Yeah,

2 (44m 25s):
Good point. Good point.

3 (44m 27s):
Yeah, so then we continued after we got our little fixing of some food to just kind of really enjoy bar Harbor during the day. Cuz again, the day before when we arrived it was at night, it was still cute and quaint, but we were like, we need to get to bed cause we’re gonna wake up early. So we did spend a lot of time exploring it. So this was really our time to do it. It’s such a beautiful walkable town again, filled with those restaurants, boutiques, gift shops, and keeping that local charm.

1 (44m 52s):
Yeah, and it’s a very walkable town, so wherever you can find parking is you can find parking park and then you just walk the town. Very easy to navigate, very easy to go around. It’s very cute. Quaint. And

2 (45m 3s):
About how big is the town? Like If, you wanted to walk it front to back. How long would you estimate you need?

3 (45m 9s):
I would say like to see what you want and need to see of the quaint area, that’s really important. I mean you can walk up and down it in 30 minutes without stopping. Probably even less than that. It’s not very big in that regards.

1 (45m 24s):
But if you’re gonna stop brow, going to gift shops, things like that, you probably want a good hour or two,

3 (45m 30s):
Maybe even longer, probably longer. I’m talking in just in terms of size. Like if you’re just walking from one side to the next, that’s all you really need of the more important stuff. But really everything is concentrated to like a grid pattern downtown, like within a couple blocks of the main area.

1 (45m 45s):
This is

2 (45m 45s):
Coming from the guy who was ragging on Nashville because it was just four blocks for Broadway.

3 (45m 50s):
Yeah, but that’s Nashville and everybody. And it by the way, Kim, it’s actually two blocks. Two blocks. And to have it be a big tourist attraction to just go see honky tonk and several bars on two blocks on, on two blocks of one street, I think it’s a little bit crazy. But that’s Nashville. We’re talking small quaint, you know, this is small town America. It’s beautiful and I love it.

1 (46m 10s):
While we were downtown, we decided to grab some pizza for dinner at Rosalie Pizza. It was really good. And for you guys, a Squad tip, whenever we order pizza on a trip for dinner, we always order like an extra large or a large and we always save the extras, put it in our fridge at like our hotel or Airbnb. And then typically we eat that for breakfast the following morning, especially if we’re on a time constraint. We’ve done that a lot on some of these like other trips. So that’s exactly what we did. Mushrooms and mushrooms, of course there’s mushrooms, Kim, I don’t even know what kind of question that is. If, you’re not with us. There’s gonna be mushrooms on the pizza from there. We also ordered a blueberry soda and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but it was actually surprisingly pretty good.

1 (46m 54s):
And I enjoyed the blueberry soda. I just wanted to try it, you know, since everything was blueberry themed in Maine.

3 (47m 0s):
Oh, well keeping with that blueberry theme pretty said it earlier. We wanted to try it all, everything blueberry that they had. I feel like when in Maine, you know, we went wild with the seafood and the lobster, so why not do it with, you know, their state fruit, which I guess is gonna be the blueberry, right? So there was this one place called the bar Harbor cheesecake company that we really wanted to try. We looked online, salt was really highly rated, really great cheesecake. So we’re like, all right, we’re gonna go get that, but we’re just gonna take it as a dessert and eat it back at the Airbnb. So we went in there, it’s a nice little shop. It almost kind of reminded me a little bit of extraordinary desserts here in San Diego. Kim, just that kind of like crappy vibe, right?

3 (47m 41s):
You know, and real specialty into what it is that they do. So of course, you know, they have all sorts of flavors, but they had several blueberry flavors, variations. So we asked her, well, which one do you think is actually the best? Who was working there? She gave her recommendation. We ended up getting the blueberry cheesecake with chocolate truffles. So pretty, pretty good. I think it had a little bit of hint of like red wine in there too, didn’t it? Or something like that. Like that, yeah. And so we’re like, all right, this is what we’re gonna go ahead and get. And you know, we got the individual like small, little single round size cheesecakes that they sell. And then I couldn’t even believe it when she rang it up and told me what the price was. You know, usually, you know this when we’re on vacation, we’re like F it, you know, we’re on vacation, whatever.

3 (48m 26s):
But had Brittany and I both known how much they were gonna charge for that cheesecake beforehand, we would’ve not gotten it. But I didn’t wanna be that person once they rung it up to be like, nevermind. But I couldn’t even believe it.

2 (48m 38s):
Oh well how much was it? It was like a

1 (48m 39s):
$20 cheesecake. I think it rang up at like 18 or $19 plus tip.

2 (48m 44s):
Was it like the whole cheesecake

1 (48m 46s):
Or

2 (48m 47s):
Just like

1 (48m 47s):
We need the whole cheesecake. But again, this cheesecake looks like four inches cuz it’s a single serving, like a round small cheesecake.

3 (48m 56s):
I would say four inches. Brit is generous. It was like a three by three round circular, like individual portions sized cheesecake for $20.

2 (49m 4s):
What a steal

3 (49m 7s):
From a craft shop like that. Maybe it is, you know, but wow. So just if you’re gonna be going there, know that your dessert is going to be a splurge If, you go to Bar Harbor Cheesecake Company.

1 (49m 17s):
Yeah, so we decided we were really full from eating all day long. So we decided to take that home. We went back to our Airbnb and we decided to watch some Netflix and Chill to go wind down the night and we ate half of it while we were in bed

2 (49m 32s):
For Netflix and chill. Did you guys bring the Amazon Fire Stick or did they have one there? They

1 (49m 37s):
Actually did have Amazon I think already connected, so I don’t think we did have to bring our fire stick,

3 (49m 43s):
But we brought it. But we did do it because the TV that they had in there was already set up with username and logins from the host for Netflix, Hulu, all that

2 (49m 53s):
Squad is we have the Amazon Fire stick on our Amazon storefront and you might have wondered like why? Why is this on there? This is not a travel product, but this is the perfect reason why and I love to do this. If you’re kind of tapped out for the night but you’re not ready to go to bed, you wanna watch one of your favorite shows, maybe it just aired and you don’t wanna disrupt your life so much from travel. This is a traveler’s best kept secret. Bring your own Amazon fire stick and enjoy your night. I know you guys also were getting up really early the next morning. So about what time did you go to bed?

1 (50m 30s):
We probably went to bed in the nine o’clock hour cuz we were gonna be waking up for sunrise the next day, the next morning which was Monday, which happened to also be, was that my birthday morning?

3 (50m 40s):
I think it was or it was the day after because before we did the sunrise in Maui for your birthday If, you remember at Holly Aala that was actually on your birthday. This I think was day after your birthday.

1 (50m 52s):
We ended up going to Cadillac Mountain for sunrise. Again, like I said, you do need reservations for sunrise or to even drive the road and you should get there an hour prior to sunrise when you’re at the top of a peak. We’ve talked about this in Ocala. It’s going to be cold, especially for sunrise. We were going in October of course, so be sure to pack accordingly. I was wearing a F fleece sweater and then I had a windbreaker on top of that and I also had a beanie on but it would be great If you also packed like a Turkish towel or some type of blanket to to sit on. We actually recently have released some merchandise with some picnic blankets.

1 (51m 32s):
Those are perfect to put on the ground. They are waterproof on the bottom. So set those down by a good spot to watch the sunrise so you don’t get wet If the ground’s a little moist from like the fog and the mist in the air and you’re just gonna sit there because when you get there an hour before sunrise, believe it or not, you start to see the sun. Even though it hasn’t gone above the horizon, you do, it does light up the sky still. So you wanna be there beforehand to see all of those beautiful vibrant colors and to get a spot to watch the sunrise.

3 (52m 1s):
I really enjoyed this aspect. You know a lot of times when we go to national parks I say like how can the sunrise be better than the last one we saw at this national park? And I thoroughly, you know, enjoyed this one here along the Atlantic coast watching it rise from the east. It was really, really beautiful. Really, really enjoyable. I loved it. I would highly recommend you do that if you’re going to Acadia is really try in advance to get those reservations on recreation.gov for the summit of Cadillac Mountain.

2 (52m 29s):
So you guys were there for sunrise and what time did the sunrise come up?

1 (52m 34s):
So our sunrise was at 6:50 AM Oh wow

2 (52m 37s):
That that’s one of the better sunrise times that you guys have done.

1 (52m 41s):
Yes because you know obviously in fall winter the sunrise is later. So that was actually really nice and it was gonna be at six 50 so we wanted to be there at five 50 and then of course you get up probably about an hour before that to get ready and then drive. So we were probably up at like 4 30, 4 45 that morning.

2 (53m 2s):
So when you got there about an hour before sunrise, were you one of the first people there or were there already a lot of crowds?

1 (53m 9s):
I wouldn’t say it was overcrowded but there was definitely a other people there and people already stake their spot out. People wanna be at like the very top of the summit to see the sunrise and so that area can get a little crowded. One tip that I did read was to hike down just a little bit and so that’s what we did. We were able to get find a spot that had no one in front of us so we had unobstructed sunrise views and that was really nice. So be sure to do that. And this is my bri Britney over 30 moment. I actually debated even wanting to do the sunrise even though we had it booked and paid for because the forecast said that it was gonna be overcast and cloudy and I was just like, are we going to even be able to see the sunrise Because like the draw is to be able to see the sunrise over the ocean and so when you’re on a mountaintop there’s gonna be that cloud layer, especially if it’s overcast.

1 (54m 6s):
Are you gonna even be able to see the ocean? So we did not see the ocean cuz it was cloudy but there was this beautiful cloud layer and we got to watch the sun rise above that from the mountain top and it was really beautiful. It was serene, it was great and I’m really glad that Jamal like really pushed for us to continue to go even though I was like, I don’t know, maybe we’ll just skip it.

3 (54m 28s):
Well you know we could have gotten lucky but it’s one of those things where even when we were at Holly Aala, you know and Maui doing that, it’s one of those things with the ocean there’s always a cloud layer. So I feel like you gotta get really lucky to actually see it rise up above the water and not be at a summit and see it over the cloud layer.

1 (54m 45s):
So that was the extent of what we did in Acadia National Park. We did, we packed in quite a lot in a very short amount of time. There’s a few things that I would like to go back and do. I would love to go to this area called the Ravens Nest for sunset. It’s supposed to be a little bit more remote, very scenic along the coast there’s like the small stone beach and it has like these dramatic views from this notch and cliff and rocky coastline. I looked up some pictures that looked really beautiful. It gave me a lot of like Oregon coast vibes in the scenic corridor. So I wanted to go there. Didn’t have time to do that. I would love to hike the precipice trail as well. Try the iron rungs.

1 (55m 26s):
It’s one of the most popular trails in the park. And then of course Maine’s known for the lighthouses. I’d love to go to the the bath Harbor had light station and see the lighthouse there. And then I, I mentioned this earlier in the episode, go to the Jordan Pond house and have popovers and tea. So I feel like I have my itinerary already set for the next trip when I go back maybe Kim you’ll join us on that and we’ll show you all of the highlights to Katie and National Park add the

2 (55m 51s):
Moving on the lake.

1 (55m 52s):
That would be great. See, beautiful vantage point we gotta go in fall cuz I feel like that’s my favorite season and it’ll be fantastic.

2 (55m 59s):
Well it sounds like you guys had a really great trip, wonderful birthday trip, perfect for you. You got your sunrise and I’m glad that you guys went and I’m glad that you guys went before me. So now I, I can just copy and paste this trip and you all listening can do the same.

1 (56m 14s):
Exactly. And so we left after Sunrise, we drove back to Boston cause that’s where we were flying out of. We also wanted to get there with enough time to spend half a day in Boston before we flew out the next morning. We had a really great time in Boston just quickly going along like the Freedom Trail, getting some really good eats in the city. We will have to visit Boston again and then do a Boston episode. I asked actually asked Jamal like do you think we have enough content to do Boston episode? He was like, no. But you know Jamal,

3 (56m 43s):
I feel like we are only there half a day. We need to make sure that we do more stuff. Like I’m not,

2 (56m 48s):
I’ve been to Boston.

3 (56m 49s):
Well that’s very, very true. So take that back. Maybe we do have enough content but at the same time I feel like even your time in Boston was a little bit limited as was ours. So if we’re gonna do a great American city like Boston and do an episode on it, I feel like we need to do it proper

2 (57m 4s):
Squatty sound off in the comments what you want us to report on from Boston and let Jamal know that you really want this Boston episode.

3 (57m 14s):
I’m just saying, you know when we did our Charleston episode, maybe we didn’t have enough time to be in there and a lot of people were not happy with our opinion in the Charleston one and I would hate to do that to Boston and get that type of feedback. So that’s where I’m coming from. But yes Squattings, please let us know for

2 (57m 31s):
Everyone that didn’t like the Charleston episode, don’t go listen to Maui.

1 (57m 38s):
I feel like there’s a lot of good content in Maui but Jamal did harp on it quite a bit cause he was just a little let down but there’s, there’s a lot of good

3 (57m 45s):
Content. No there’s great content in Maui. I just in terms of being my favorite Hawaiian island that it is not.

2 (57m 53s):
All right, well let’s move on to my favorite time of the week. We’ve got a couple questions of the week today.

1 (58m 6s):
First

2 (58m 6s):
Question coming in from an anonymous squatty is they’re curious what Bar Harbor has to offer outside of the park and the small town culinary experiences specifically they asked do they have any annual events or festivities that attract visitors? I know you guys mentioned a lot about blueberries. I’d be surprised if they didn’t have a wild blueberry festival.

3 (58m 27s):
Well you know what’s funny Kim is that other than my, what I’ve been harping on this entire episode of I just love that it’s local charm given that it’s in an area of major populace in terms of visitors coming because of Acadia. In terms of the actual festivals that I’m not too sure when we got this question, I actually did Google that and like on the Bar Harbors like official website, I’m seeing things of what they have in terms of festivals but nothing crazy. I’m seeing like a slow flow yoga festival thing that they have and other like little workshops that are thrown on by the community but nothing really big. So I did not see a blueberry festival, although if the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce happens to listen to this episode, maybe they should have a blueberry festival.

2 (59m 14s):
Hey we’ll be the inaugural sponsors and ambassadors for the Wild Blueberry festival.

1 (59m 21s):
Love it.

2 (59m 23s):
Okay, second question coming in, because this destination is so far northeast, can you get to Canada and how far would it take?

3 (59m 32s):
You can definitely get to Canada from here. You know you are along the coast of Maine. So If you take and look at the map of Maine. Acadia has maybe two thirds of the way up along the coast. So you have that last little third there before you get to Canada in terms of directions into Canada, basically the next biggest city would actually be like St. John and New Brunswick. And I don’t know if there’s really a lot to do in St. John, it’s along the coast. So in terms of you know, going to Canada and having something to do, not really too sure about

2 (1h 0m 8s):
That. So back in my time of doing some travel blogging for on the brand side for work, I do know that St. John has a lot to offer, actually very nature focused, very much more desolate If, you don’t wanna see the crowd. So If, you enjoyed what you all experienced in Acadia with less crowds. You could I guess continue up north to Canada and head there as well. And then also Squatty listening in from Canada and I know there’s a bunch of you, it could be an easy drive down into Acadia.

1 (1h 0m 43s):
Yeah, absolutely. I was actually just looking at a map right now too. And from Acadia National Park to Quebec City is probably about a five and a half hour drive. Definitely doable.

3 (1h 0m 53s):
Yeah, but Quebec’s not gonna put you in Canada on the coast. So in inland, but still a very big city within Canada, of course Quebec. So I wasn’t even thinking about that when you were saying it. I was thinking the closer portion of Canada along the the coast there, but I had no clue you knew that about St. John Kim in terms of it being a really popular spot in New Brunswick from work.

2 (1h 1m 13s):
Yeah, no, I don’t know if I would say Mo really popular, but in terms of having vast nature cliff sides, that eerie foggy feeling that, that you’ve all been describing during this episode, St. John is very good for that. And I can like picture it in my head right now.

3 (1h 1m 30s):
Well, we’re gonna have to check out St. John maybe when we go to Acadia camp.

2 (1h 1m 34s):
Tour Day Canada coming up. We’re

3 (1h 1m 36s):
Editor. I love

2 (1h 1m 37s):
It. All right, Squatty, we appreciate you tuning into our episode this week. Please keep the adventures going with us all week long. Make sure to follow us on Instagram YouTube and take TikTok at Travel Squad Podcast and send us in your questions of the week.

3 (1h 1m 50s):
If, you found the information of this episode to be useful or If you thought we were just plain funny. Please be sure to share it with a friend that would enjoy it too. And as always, guys, you know it. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and tune in every travel Tuesday for new episodes

1 (1h 2m 5s):
Day. Tuned for next week’s episode. We have some more amazing adventures and tips in store for you.

3 (1h 2m 10s):
Bye Squad.

1 (1h 2m 12s):
Bye.