On July 3, we packed up the camper and headed up to Maine. My Grandparents have a house in South Harpswell that I’ve been going to since I was a baby and my boys have been going since they were babies, as well.

We dropped the camper off at a storage facility in Freeport then headed to my grandparents’ house to spend a few days with my family. We celebrated Independence Day by running in LLBean’s 4th of July 10K and Family Fun Run followed by a lobster lunch and playing on the beach with my family. We went for a hike the next day and prepared for the next part of our vacation. I realize this part of our vacation is not camping related, but I can’t resist sharing a few pictures…

Chris and I loaded up the camper on Wednesday night, while my grandparents watched the boys, and we were off to Acadia National Park on Thursday morning!

Acadia National Park is located on the coast of Maine near the city of Bar Harbor. It is the oldest national park in the U.S. east of the Mississippi. Acadia is well known for its rocky coast, woodlands, and mountains. Most of its acreage is on Mount Desert Island but also consists of much of the Isle au Haut, sections of Baker Island, and a portion of the Schoodic Peninsula on the mainland.

For our first few days in Acadia, we stayed at Schoodic Woods Campground, which is located on the Schoodic Peninsula in Winter Harbor, Maine. Schoodic Woods Campground was opened in 2015 making it the newest campground in Acadia National Park. Among all its campsites are 33 RV sites that are equipped with electric and water hookups. The campground has several amenities including 4.7 miles of hiking trails, 8.3 miles of biking paths, an amphitheater with regular events, and a beautiful ranger station.

We arrived at Schoodic Woods Campground around 2pm and got the camper all set up…

… and then went exploring! We went for a bike ride around the campground and ended up at Frazer Point, a nice picnic area in the park. Chris took Ben and Jack on the 40 foot pier down to the floating dock while Carter and I stayed on the grassy area.

Our first full day in Acadia was a bit of a gloomy day, so we decided it would be the best day to go for a long drive to take in all the sights via Park Loop Road. Park Loop Road is a 27 mile road that connects Acadia National Park’s lakes, mountains, forest, and rocky coast. There are many pull-offs along with special parking areas along the way so you can pull over to enjoy the scenic views.

Our first pull-off was Little Hunter’s Beach, a cobblestone beach composed of rounded rocks which sound like marbles rolling when the surf comes in. We all had fun climbing rocks and enjoying the views.

We continued on Park Loop Road and took the summit road up to the top of Cadillac Mountain. Cadillac Mountain is the tallest Mountain on Mount Desert Island as well as the highest point along the North Atlantic Seaboard.

Our last stop on Park Loop Road was Sand Beach. Sand Beach is the only swimming beach on Mount Desert Island, making it a favorite point of interest for many travelers. The beach is composed of unique sand of shell fragments caused by thousands of years of pounding surf. It started raining on us while we were in the beach, but that didn’t stop us from playing around and writing our names in the sand.

We headed back to the campsite, had some dinner and tucked the boys in to get some rest before another fun day in Acadia!