Day 11 Mile 1805.1 Acadia National Park

For anyone who doesn’t already know, Sue is the newest long distance, cross-country driver in the family.  On the way to Niagara Falls, she drove across three states, including  a marathon crossing of the entire state of Pennsylvania.  A grand total of at least 150 miles.  Look at the map, and I 90 does a neat little maneuver along the southern edge of Lake Erie.  Speaking of which, a plethora of vineyards  line the lakeshore for miles and miles, with fields of grapes as large as some Iowa cornfields.  Apparently, if you can see the lake from the field, the land will grow good wine grapes.  We bought a bottle of a dry white in Geneva on the Lake, and with a grilled Haddock filet, it was very nice.

Niagara Falls was roaring as usual, but early in September the crowds are gone, so we rode the Maid of the Mist, hiked up to the Hurricane Deck at the Cave of the Winds, and gawked at the falls from every angle, all without waiting in line.  Luckily, we talked to the guy at the 4 Mile Creek State Park Campground store, who suggested we drive part of the way to the falls, park for free at the Whirlpool State Park, and ride our bikes the rest of the way.  It worked like a dream.  The last couple of miles were on two lanes of a state parkway which had been closed to traffic, so the cars were on one side of the median, and bikers and hikers were on the other- in a perfect world this would be the norm. 

Biking to Niagara Falls State Park.  

The next day we crossed to the Canadian side in the rain and drove to Niagara on the Lake, a very nice tourist town on Lake Ontario.  Alas, the rain kept us from shopping, but we drove around, bought some peaches from a local orchard, and ended up at the Andrew Peller winery.  Took the tour, had a tasting and bought a bottle of Chardonnay, which should go well with a Maine lobster in the next night or so. 

Andrew Peller Winery.   

Then back to the Canadian parkway and another pretty bike ride to get to the falls. We enjoyed the much better view of the falls from north side of the Niagara River.  It is a beautiful sight, but five or six hours of watching it is probably enough.  We did not go back in the evening for the lights and fireworks. We did look across the lake from the campground at the skyline of Toronto. Very impressive.

Four Mile Creek State Park Campground 10 miles north of Niagara Falls.   

We took two days from Niagara to Maine and are in a very nice campground (Hadley Point Campground) on the shuttle bus route into Acadia National Park.  Last night was in York Beach, Maine.

York Beach Maine next to Wildlife Park.   

We celebrated with dinner in a restaurant on the shore dining on clam chowder and lobster rolls. Delicious. The campground owner told Sue as she checked in that she shouldn’t be alarmed if she heard the lion roaring.  There is a wild game park adjacent to the campground, and apparently, the lion gets very impatient if he doesn’t get fed on time.  It rained last night, and we had the windows closed, so no roars to be heard.

Top of Cadillac Mountain Mountain at Sunset.  

Drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park this evening and walked the trail at the summit as the sun was setting - a magnificent view in all directions. Next are three days of biking and hiking in the park. Maybe a little shopping or at least a beer in Bar Harbor.

A final random thought for the day.  Instead of deer crossing signs, Maine has moose crossing signs.  Thank goodness we didn’t see one up close on I 95.