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[quote=Anonymous]Hi!  OP here!  Thanks so much for all of the great advice! We had a great trip to Bar Harbor / Acadia!  I loved it!

While it's fresh in my mind, I'm posting here what we did in case it helps anyone else! (I'm sure there will be a million typos - sorry). I'm starring ** the things we particularly liked. Reminder - I went with my husband & 3 kids ages 8, 5, and 2.

We drove from Northern VA - really long drive is all I will say (LL bean flagship is a good rest stop). We rented a house in Bar Harbor which was good for our family, instead of 5 in one hotel room. I know it's nice not to cook on vacation but I was happy to do half and half and not have to take my kids to restaurants 3x a day :).

Our house rental was Sat to Sat. We left on a Friday, stayed overnight with friends in Boston, went to an MA beach with them Sat AM then got into Bar Harbor pretty late on Sat night. We stopped at a lobster pound on the way in and the kids liked seeing the live lobsters and crabs. 
Sun - relaxed / settled into the house; went to the Visitor's Center and got Jr Ranger packets for the kids (I think a lot of ppl arrive on Sat & the visitor center was swamped.  To illustrate - I saw someone in there I hadn't seen since college graduation 14 years ago, haha).  Then we checked out downtown Bar Harbor and went to the waterfront area with the rocky beach a bit. [nap / rest]. Parked on road near Sand Beach**; walked Ocean Path** to Thunderhole (you're supposed to get to Thunderhole 2 hrs before high tide and we got there a little after high tide but we still thought it was cool). Walked back to Sand Beach and hung out there for an hour. 
Monday - went to Jordan Pond and hiked 1 mile out and back there.  Ate at Jordan Pond Restaurant for lunch** (side notes - I had made advance reservations for the restaurant. my first popover was awesome. Then I overdid it having 2).  Drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain**. [nap / rest]. Ended up doing the Compass Harbor trail looking for a sandy beach we heard was around there but only found a rocky beach. Per kids' request we went back to Sand Beach for 45 mins. 
Tues - did the tidepooling on the way to Bar Island** and hiked to the top. You have 1.5 hours before and after low tide to go to / from Bar Island before the ocean covers the trail. [nap / rest].  Did Diver Ed's Dive in Theater** (great for both parent and kids IMO). Dinner out in Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island Ice Cream** (side note - Desert is pronounced like: don't desert [abandon] me).  We went back to Mount Desert Island Ice Cream two more times after this - particularly enjoying the butterbeer ice cream.
Wed - We had breakfast at Jordan's. It was my oldest's bday this day so we let him pick. We spent 4 hours at Sand Beach (DH did Great Head trail but rest of us stayed on beach). That night my husband took the older 2 on a 3 hour fishing trip which they all liked and caught a lot of fish (mostly pollock). This is the only thing all week that the 2 year old couldn't do (we wore her on most hikes tho she walked some too).  
Thurs - 1 hour horse drawn carriage ride on the Carriage Roads** (side note - I want to say I booked this 1 week before we left and there was only one slot left for the whole week, which I took). Then we went to Echo lake**. [nap / rest]. Did souvenir shopping in downtown Bar Harbor and walked along the Shore Path. That night we did Stars Over Sand Beach** and saw the Milky Way!  Excellent program that i wouldn't have done with DCUM!  I thought the laser the rangers used to point out the stars was really cool. 
Friday - breakfast at Two Cats**. Went to the visitor center for the older 2 to turn in their packets and become Jr rangers**. It was beautiful weather all week but this day was rainy. We tried to hike Ship Harbor in the rain but only did 1/2 of the figure 8 with kids who weren't into the rain. We quickly stopped by the lighthouse and made our final ice cream stop before getting ready to pack up.

In sum - I recommend Acadia!
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