Tales From the Minivan

Friday afternoon, we loaded up the van and headed for the United States. Most of you know that we’re fairly close to the state of Maine, a little over an hour to the border, then less than 3 to Bangor, Me.  Andrew, Mackenzie and I listened to some great tunes on the drive down whilst the boys slept.  Normally were listening to Podcasts or Talk Radio so this was a nice change!  We sang and laughed and had an enjoyable drive even though the majority of the very dark Route 9 had torrential downpours.  It took a little longer due to the weather conditions but we arrived in Bangor just after dark.  I was a little worried as we didn’t have reservations booked which in the past has worked out to our advantage, not this time!

It seems that every hotel/motel room in the city of Bangor was booked!  Oops!  We headed to the closest hotel’s parking lot  and stole a wireless connection and finally found a room at the Best Western in Bar Harbor.  We were at the point of desperation and the price didn’t matter with 3 sleeping boys in the back of the minivan, we wanted to find something soon.  So I booked it over the phone I wanted to actually speak to someone before driving the 45 miles to get there.We transferred everyone into the room, and managed to get the boys back to sleep in a few minutes.

Saturday morning we woke to overcast skies, and when I checked the weather network it was saying a high of 66F.  Oops again!  I only packed clothing for warm weather!  Well someone needs to fire that meteorologist!  It was hot, humid and sunny all day!   Here’s a few highlights from our stop into the seaside town of Bar Harbor.  We had some breakfast at a little pub, and one of the customers offered to take a pic of all of us.  He was quite smitten with Finn and his constant waves and gummy grins.  His and Ciaran’s fiery red hair was a constant hit amongst the tourists in Maine.  I guess it must not be as common as it is at home:

Breakfast at a little pub in Bar Harbor, we had this great front window booth:

After breakfast we stopped to check out a few of the unique shops, I got a new Red Sox hat.  I was told it was “the one to have” for ladies this summer.  It’s a stone colour like a lot of my shorts and the ‘B” on it is chocolate brown.  I already have way too many Red Sox hats (yes 7 now), but can’t stop buying them!  Every time I see a unique one I want it!

After browsing the shops we stopped for a well deserved icecream at CJ’s Big Dipper on Main St.  I was surprised to hear that there wasn’t a Ben & Jerry’s, after Cow’s, Ben & Jerry’s definitely comes seconf in my books.  CJ’s was great and on the way there we spotted another icecream shop and of course the kids wanted me t get their photo in from of the giant Lobster indulging in the cool treat as well.

We forgot the Drip Stiks!  I can’t wait until the case I ordered comes in!  I orfdered it at the end of June, but it seems that FedEx has lost it!  The company apologized and sent me another one.  They said if the other one does arrive to consider myself lucky and to keep it!  Once it gets here I plan on keeping a few in my van.  It definitely would have prevented the icecream crisis that ensued quickly after ordering Ciaran’s Dinosaur Crunch.  Here is is quite happy with it.

Then the heat and humidity set in and without a Drip Stik, the dinosaur crunch quickly started dripping beyond even my tongue could control and Ciaran got mad and wouldn’t take it back, so off he went to the side of the sidewalk and pouted.  Liam knew his limits without a Drip Stik, he got his in a dish!  LOL

Next we were off to Acadia National Park. I’ve been to Bar Harbor many times in the past but never to Mt Desert Island’s highlight of ANP!  It was breathtakingly beautiful and I’d love to spend more time there in the future.

We spent the afternoon first with a drive to the summit of Mt Cadillac, it’s a  road where you can drive to the top.  We walked around the summit, and stopped for a drink and the kids played in the gift shop for a few minutes.

Here’s a few more photos from the Summit:

The view overlooking the town of Bar Harbor

Next we decided to do a little hike to Bubble Rock. I wish we had remembered to bring our handheld GPS with us, as there this a huge Geo-cache Treasure hunt throughout the park.  As well none of us were really wearing the proper footwear for this.  With six people, you have to learn to pack lightly and bringing more than one pair of shoes for everyone just takes up too much room!  We really need a van with more cargo space, or at least one with roof racks so we can put one of those cargo thingies on the top!  I fell in love with the Honda Odyssey the other day and can’t get it out of my mind.  It’s so nice to not have a vehicle payment anymore, but the little extras of a newer vehicle are starting to stand out.

So our hike to Bubble Rock wasn’t too bad, it was all uphill, and Ciaran was non-stop!  I wore Finn in the Ergo, and he cooperated nicely.  It took about 15-20 minutes to reach the top and when we got there we couldn’t believe the sight! It’s this huge Boulder also know as a glacial erratic.  If you look closely at the granite in the mountain and the granite in Bubble Rock it’s two completely different types.  This boulder had been brought here during glacial melts from more than 40 miles away!  I got really nervous as Ciaran wanted to run, and this thing really was at the edge of this cliff, there’s absolutely no fencing! Here’s a few pics:

The Park Ranger teaching us about Leave no Trace

The boys coming back down

Ciaran only made it a few more steps, then needed to be carried, why didn’t I bring the other carrier?

Here’s a shot of Bubble Rock from further away in the park.  Until I saw this I couldn’t believe we hiked up that far!

It was a really fun day, and we will definitely be back!

This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 5:06 pm and is filed under Baby Wearing, Family Travels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.