Acadia National Park, Maine

Although it isn't our specific goal to visit every National Park in this country, we enjoy going to as many as possible, and when we find ourselves within striking distance, we do take full advantage of the opportunity. Such was the case during our short stay in Maine. We set aside one day to visit the Acadia National Park, and we were so impressed that we decided we would love to come back at some point for a longer stay. One day certainly wasn't enough to enjoy everything this park has to offer. Covering more than 47,000 acres the park includes stunning views and terrains as diverse as mountains, ocean shoreline, woodlands, and lakes. Over 50 miles of gravel carriage roads originally built by John D. Rockefeller, who donated much of the land to the park, crisscross the park for hiking, biking, horseback riding, and even horse-drawn carriages - just about everything except motor vehicles. It was raining off and on the day we were there, mostly just a light mist, but it broke up often enough to allow us to get out and enjoy the spectacular surroundings. Our biggest regret was that the summit of Cadillac Mountain was shrouded in clouds, obscuring the view, where on an exceptionally clear day it is possible to see over 100 miles to Nova Scotia to the east and Mount Katahdin (Maine's highest mountain) to the north. For the early risers, coming to Cadillac Mountain to see the first visible sunrise in the nation each day (fall and winter only) is also quite popular. What a treasure we have in our National Parks!