Acadia Park Loop Road

We had planned to bike another day, but it was overcast and dreary. We just weren't in the mood. We went into Bar Harbor with the intentions of eating a seafood brunch at the Thirsty Whale. The librarians had turned us on to the Whale. It turns out that there were two large cruise ships anchored in Bar Harbor. When one cruise ship is in, it doubles the population of Bar Harbor. When two ships are in, you guessed it: quadrupled. We couldn't get a table at the Thirsty Whale; we couldn't even get in the restroom. We decided to drive the Park Loop Road instead. The good news is that cruise ship passengers don't have cars to drive on the Park Loop Road. The bad news is that the cruise lines charter buses to take then around the island. You couldn't cross the road without getting run over by tour bus. All of the most popular features, such as Thunder Hole were clogged up with tourists, so we spent a lot of time walking on the rocks near the water and poking into the tide pools. Dorcas was fascinated by what she called "skunk ducks". The skunk ducks were black and white, with a skunk-like pattern, and would flock in rafts just off the rocks. In short order, we figured out they were Eider ducks. After our Park Loop Road tour we ended up back at the Thirsty Whale for a late lunch/early dinner. This time the place was nearly empty, and we enjoyed lobster rolls, fish sandwiches and clam chowder. We came back to camp and enjoyed some of our free fire wood.