Our family travels took us on a road trip through the northeastern United States. We started in Acadia National Park and drove down the coast, stopping in the cities of Boston and Providence. We quickly found out that Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor with kids was a really easy and fantastic destination. There are so many different things to see and do that the whole family will enjoy.
We flew into Bangor and drove the hour to our house, which was situated about ten minutes from Bar Harbor. After unpacking and resting, we drove to the tip of Mt. Desert Island and visited the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. The lighthouse was built in 1858 and is nestled on a sea cliff. There are many little rocky paths that we could take in order to not only see the lighthouse, but view the sea and cliffside from different vantage points.
Afterward, we went to dinner at Beal’s lobster pier where we enjoyed some Maine lobsters. Even J decided that lobster was the only thing she wanted to eat the whole trip.
A Day of Fun
The next morning everyone got up early so we headed to the famous Jordan’s restaurant to have some authentic Maine blueberries cooked in some delicious pancakes. Being a family of early risers has its benefits… when we left the restaurant at 8:30 the place was already packed!
We had scheduled a kid-friendly boat ride called Diver Ed’s Dive-In Theater. We were welcomed aboard by Diver Ed, his wife, and Nori (their Newfoundland). The adventure began after a short cruise to a dive location where the kids got to push Diver Ed off the back of the boat in order to explore the water beneath us. With a live video feed (and his helper “mini Ed”) we saw all kinds of creatures that Diver Ed brought up for us to see and touch. The kids loved touching and holding the sea animals. Afterwards, all of the sea creatures were put safely back into their habitats and we cruised back to shore.
Bar Harbor Path
Later that day, after some lunch and rest time, we went to walk the Bar Harbor path to Bar Island. This is an interesting walk as the path is only accessible for about three hours during low tide. Once you cross the sand bar you can continue on a path to the top of Bar Island for some pleasant views. The total trip is about two miles out and back. We made sure to do this bit first so that we had plenty of time to get back before low tide ended. After the walk we were able to play in the refreshing water a little bit while admiring the small tide pools left exposed from the tide. This was one of our favorite activities of the whole trip.
For reference, this is what it looks like when it’s not during low tide…
The end of low tide coincided with dinner so we walked into Bar Harbor to grab some great local food. We walked around the town a bit, going in and out of shops. This was a great start to our week long trip to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor with kids!