Acadia National Park

The view of the ocean from Sandy Beach in Acadia National Park (with my new iPhone Panorama)

Situated on Mount Desert Island off the cost Maine, Acadia National Park is a relatively small National Park, yet it's visited by over two-and-a-half million people annually, so it's a good idea to see it in the off-season, as we are. For most of our stay at the Somes Sound View Campground (which a fellow camper had told us about down in the Outer Banks), we were one of the few people there. So sparsely populated was the campground that we got bumped up from our $25 a night site to one right on the edge of the water that normally runs for $60. Living large on Desert Island! The views of the Sound from our campsite made it one of our favorite tent sites and made up for some of rain (and a few very chilly nights).

The view of the water from our tent

The leaves are turning above Somes Sound

Our camping chairs enjoying the view without us

We discovered the limits of our sleeping bag's insulating properties on the second night here. The temperature dipped into the 30s and Erin and I spent the night shivering and clinging to each other for warmth. The next day we made a run to the L.L. Bean outlet store nearby and a local Goodwill to stock up on flannel jammies, heavy socks and long underwear and the next night I wore: two pair of socks, longies and flannel bottoms, three t-shirts, my fleece, my hooded outer jacket, scarf, knit hat and gloves and Erin did about the same. It might sound like overkill but we both slept ten hours that night and had a huge day of sightseeing around the island the next day.

Snug as a bug in a rug

A balmy, sunny October day on Sandy Beach

Erin meditating on the granite rocks

Moi on top of Cadillac Mountain

At 1,530 feet, Cadillac Mountain is the tallest point along the entire North Atlantic seaboard and the view is stunning

More pretty rocks tumbling down into the Atlantic

And, of course, I had to have a lobster dinner. It's practically the law along the Maine coast. $18 for a 1-1/2 pound lobster. And since Erin couldn't eat lobster herself -- she's allergic -- I felt it was my duty to describe it to her in painstaking detail.