June 18, 2010
Just about every visitor to Acadia National Park takes the Park Loop Road, a 27-mile loop that winds southward along the rocky coast, then turns inland and heads northward through the woods. We did the coastal part of the loop, stopping often at turnouts offering views of surf crashing against rocks at the base of pine-covered cliffs—the iconic
We scrambled over the rocks at Otter Point, the place where Samuel de Champlain is believed to have run aground in 1604 and met members of the Wabanaki tribe. It is Champlain who gave the island where the park lies the name l'Isles des Monts-deserts, now translated to
When we made the inland turn in the loop road, we stopped at a parking lot near Jordan Pond, changed into our biking clothes, and did our inland park sightseeing the way John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s guests did—by carriage road.
John D. and his wealthy friends who summered on the island set aside the land for
We followed a helpful ranger's advice, and started our adventure with a 3 mile loop around
We couldn't have had a better day for a ride, although the temperature did climb to ninety degrees by the time we were done, and some of the natives were complaining about the heat. We knew the perfect antidote for heat, especially after a caloire-burning bike ride--ice cream. So on our way to our next adventure at Jonesport, we stopped at a roadside ice cream stand and ordered cones. They were exceptionally good, and we learned why--they serve Gifford's Ice Cream, a Maine company which has been judged world's best ice cream three times at the World Dairy Expo.
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