Schoodic Peninsula

On Friday Mom and I did chores while Dad went out to ride the Around the Mountain Carriage Road. We started with laundry, I supervised the washers and dryers while Mom was making some phone calls. After lunch we headed into Ellsworth for some errands.  It was almost dinner by the time we got back. Dad had ridden not only Around the Mountain but also around Eagle Lake and up Paradise Hill! 

Saturday we drove over to another part of Acadia, Schoodic Peninsula.  It's the only part of Acadia attached to the mainland and you can see Mt. Desert Island (MDI) from Schoodic so it was a different perspective.  It took about an hour to drive out there, we could have taken the ferry from Bar Harbor but it was $25 a person so driving seemed more economical.  

Our first stop was Winter Harbor where we found a few neat stores and a cafe for lunch.  Mom finally got the Lobster Roll she'd been wanting and we got blueberry pie (with vanilla ice cream) and Whoopie Pie for desert so we had the whole Maine Experience! 

After lunch we drove into the park to check it out.  They just added a campground and a Visitor Center over there and it was really nice! Got our passports stamped! The scenic drive over there is only 6 miles and it was similar, but different from the MDI shoreline.  Schoodic has more coves and islands and it isn't as sheer of a cliff so there are lots of places to walk out on the rocks.  We stopped at Schoodic Point and Dad and I walked around - we got almost to the edge of the water!  MDI was hazy, but you could see Champlain Mt and Cadillac. 

We continued around the point to Blueberry Hill where we parked, left Mom with her book, a chair and nice view and hiked up to Schoodic Head. Schoodic Head is the highest point on the peninsula - 450 ft! Of course we had to climb all 450 ft! It was steep and rocky, but generally a pretty easy climb.  The views were nice, but the trees got in the way a bit. I could see all the Porcupine Islands that are in front of Bar Harbor! 

We hiked back on the Anvil Trail and got to see the view from another rocky outcropping! From here I couldn't see the Porcupine Islands, but I could see Sand Beach!  The hike down was rock and steep but similar to the hike up, not too hard.  

After the hike we finished driving the loop and headed back to Ellsworth for dinner at The Governor's - it really reminded me of Eat-n-Park in PA.  It was a local chain and it was pretty good!  Dad and I did make one last trip to Udder Heaven!