Acadia Diaries: Day 3, In Which We Go Biking...and Do Some Other Stuff

Day 3: BIKING DAY! (Which turned out to be biking MORNING!)

First--what to do with Kevin, who is wonderful, but who has not yet learned to ride a bicycle...

My dad suggested something like this:

Only $209 on ebay!

But we opted to find Kevin an alternative experience for the day. Arranging doggy daycare at the last minute on Mount Desert Island is not recommended. Options are limited and slots fill up quickly.

Fortunately, we found Steve.

Steve, of Steve's Dog Walking and Pet Sitting, is located in Lamoine, about 30 minutes by car from our campground on MDI (Lamoine is off the island).

Kevin got to spend his day hanging out with Steve, and a toy poodle named Duke. We could not have been happier and will definitely call on Steve again when next we need to make alternate plans for Kevin while visiting Acadia. Should you need similar assistance, we highly recommend Steve.

The Biking Adventure

Pre-Biking Breakfast Location: Jordan's Restaurant for pancakes, etc.

Photos by Jon Inman

Biking Route: Carriage trail around Eagle Lake, distance 6.7 miles

Photo by Jon Inman

Ups: Eagle Lake is gorgeous, everyone's bike functioned admirably, and we all made it with no spills.

Downs: Well, this was Abby's first real ride outside of a pretty flat bike trail near home, and...the uphill part was long. So the biggest down was an up. Oh, and mosquitos. Which it turns out like Abby better than me, poor kid.

But we made it.

Aaaand....we were done biking for the day before noon. Jon and I hope to return to Acadia and spend a day or two riding--but that was too much to ask of the kiddo.

So it was lunch time and we were back at the campsite...with no pooch. It seemed rude to do something Kevin would like to do without Kevin, so we hemmed and hawed and finally decided: swimming!

The Afternoon Swim Adventure

We headed to Echo Lake for a refreshing swim.

And we got the benefit of a really cool wildlife experience. The area roped off behind Abby in the photo above was to keep people away from a loon's nest. But there it was, on full display:

After our swim, we couldn't stand another minute without Kevin, so we went to retrieve our retriever.

Kevin had a great day with Steve, and to celebrate his return to us, we took him to Lamoine Beach for a swim and some fetch.

Photo by Abby!

Another full day led to this:

Sleepy kid

Abby transitioned from car to camper in Zombie mode, and fell right to sleep. Kevin did much the same:

Sleepy dog (photo by Jon Inman)

Good thing we went to bed early because that night brought the biggest BUMMER of the whole trip. Late in the night it began to rain. No, it began to pour. No, I'm pretty sure we suffered through a deluge. The camper kept us nice and dry, but the sound of heavy rain on Zelda the Pop-Up is something else. It sounds like acorns are falling on the roof en masse. Only the acorns are made of lead. And have demonic personalities.

And poor Zelda suffered a loss. A very loud woosh and bang followed by our scrambling for flashlights revealed that the Pop-up's awning had come crashing down after the metal support along the front buckled and folded in half.

This scared the bejeezus out of me. I thought Abby's entire side had collapsed, so when I realized she was fine, I thought, "Phew! The Awning! No worries." Of course Jon heard the crash and assumed it was the awning, and when he saw the front bar bent in half, he felt pretty miserable about the whole thing. Perspective, right?

Anyway, the next morning we managed to straighten out the bar enough to roll up the awning and pack it away. But it will have to be completely replaced.

Still, no one got hurt, and we were far better off than all the folks around us in tents.

After the wild night, we scrapped our early morning plans to catch the sunrise on Cadillac Mountain (we would have had to leave the campsite around 4:30 AM!)

Nope. Been there. Done that. Might do it again another time. But not this time.

Photo by Jon Inman