This year for the 4th of July we took an extended weekend and took a family vacation roadtrip to Bar Harbor, Maine. We left early on the 3rd of July and drove from home to Providence, Rhode Island where we explored the town and spent the night. We drove through seven states- five of which the girls had never been two and one that was new to me. We had a fun evening in Providence. We walked around town, saw a sunken ship in a park, checked out the river, saw the first baptist (?) church in the United States and had a delicious dinner of burgers and fries- and an after dinner game of tag at a park.
Virginia and Paige at the top of the sunken ship.
Sliding down the ship.
Windblown on a bridge over the river.
Virginia and Paige hanging out with the cow in front of the restaurant where we had dinner.
After going back to the hotel and getting a good night's sleep, we got up early to head for Bar Harbor. We drove up through another 3 states (all new to the girls, 2 new to me) and into Bar Harbor, Maine. On the way we stopped at McDonalds for lunch and Paige and Virginia insisted on getting pictures with Ronald.
Paige and Ronald McDonald
Virginia with Ronald McDonald
We got to Bar Harbor in the mid afternoon and walked around town a bit. We went down to the Harbor where they were just starting to have some live music. We sat and watched the first band for a little while as we also watched the fog roll in over the islands in the harbor. It was pretty crazy to basically watch the island disappear and then reappear.
Bar Harbor
The view of Bar Island from the shores of the harbor.
Paige taking a picture of us as the fog rolls into the harbor.
And where did the islands go?
Ben, Paige and I hanging out by the harbor- taken by Virginia.
After watching the band for a few songs we decided to do some more exploring. We started with going down on the boat launch to check out the water. I don't know why Virginia was wearing shorts and a t-shirt (and refused to bring a jacket out with her) because it was chilly out there. We walked down to the water and checked out the little beach on the harbor before taking a path along the water's edge to head back into down to our hotel.
Virginia and Paige on the boat ramp.
Paige on the little beach on the harbor.
Paige and Virginia on the beach.
You can see the fog hiding the islands in the background.
Virginia and Paige trying to steer the dock.
My pretty little Virginia on the shoreline.
My three favorite people!
The evening of July 4th hurricane/tropical storm Arthur decided to make an appearance in Bar Harbor, but that didn't stop us from going out to see the fireworks. After our walk along the shoreline we went back to our hotel and put on warmer clothes, then we went to dinner at a restaurant that was just a couple of doors down from our hotel. Once we had full bellies we went back to the hotel, got umbrellas and rain jackets and bundled up to go watch the fireworks. Paige and Virginia had never seen fireworks in person so they were pretty excited about it. We had to hang out for awhile before the fireworks started, but there was live music and lots of people around so we managed to stay entertained. We even set up a nice little "tent" for Paige and Virginia with our big umbrellas. Shortly before the fireworks started the occasional showers turned into a steady downpour, so they set the fireworks off earlier than planned. Virginia loved the fireworks, but Paige was a little frightened by the loudness of the fireworks- and they were especially loud in the harbor- so I had to hold Paige for part of them to comfort her. She did, though, enjoy watching them once I got her to watch. After the fireworks we headed back to our hotel and were very happy that Ben booked us a place right down town to stay.
Paige and Virginia awaiting the fireworks.
We had a fun, although somewhat wet, first day in Bar Harbor. We looked forward to exploring more of the area over the next couple of days.
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