We arrived on Mount Desert Island simply earlier than Labor Day weekend, after which our sons, Louis and Gabriel, can be returning to high school. The summer season up till then had been constructed round prolonged visits to household and buddies. This journey to Maine, my spouse, Anne, and I had determined, can be a retreat for simply the 4 of us, with as few distractions as attainable. We pictured rocky, distant islands, pine bushes, and tents below an evening sky crammed with stars. There can be days with no cell telephones or computer systems, spent wandering round Acadia National Park, which covers roughly half of Mount Desert Island.

This wasn’t our first journey to Maine. Two years earlier, we had visited a good friend’s oceanfront dwelling simply exterior the city of Rockland. We ate soft-shell lobsters recent from the ocean and witnessed afternoon storms adopted by sunsets that turned the sky a vivid shade of pink. Anne and I developed a behavior of describing that journey in near-mystical phrases, as by some means each peculiar and magical, acquainted and in contrast to the rest. 

Our five-day itinerary on Mount Desert Island was supposed to recapture that magic, with visits to just about each nook of Acadia, together with sufficient lobster shacks, pie stands, forest preserves, and coastal villages to fill a complete summer season. We might first spend two nights at Under Canvas Acadia, a glamping website a 35-minute drive away on the adjoining Blue Hill Peninsula. Then we might cross the quick causeway that connects the mainland to Mount Desert and keep 4 nights in Bar Harbor, the island’s largest city.

On the drive from our dwelling in upstate New York, we detoured east simply as we crossed the border from New Hampshire into Maine. I defined to my spouse that I needed to spend as a lot time as attainable driving alongside the sting of the continent, to be reminded that we had been at all times close to the top of one thing. As we drove, I requested our sons which, of all of the locations we had been planning to go to, they had been most enthusiastic about. They’d made it clear that the heated swimming pools and scorching tubs at Salt Cottages and on the Harborside Hotel, Spa & Marina, the 2 locations the place we might be staying in Bar Harbor, had been the predetermined highlights of their journey. Nonetheless, I couldn’t assist hoping that at the least considered one of them would select the 2 nights of glamping. 4 years earlier, driving cross-country, our household had spent an unseasonably chilly summer season evening at an Underneath Canvas website close to Yellowstone, huddled in a king-size mattress whereas a wood-burning range crackled within the nook.

“Is it the tents at Underneath Canvas?” I requested them.

Gabriel, who can be turning 15 on the final evening of our journey, might sense my nostalgia, and made clear he thought-about it his job to bat it down. He shook his head. “Sorry, Dad. It’s not the tents.”

Once we arrived at Underneath Canvas Acadia, the solar was near setting. We had seen images of the camp on its web site, however these did nothing to decrease our sense of surprise. With their uninterrupted views of Union Bay, the gleaming white canvas tents rising out of a clearing within the woods had an nearly fairy-tale high quality, as if they’d been conjured fairly than constructed.

That first night, we ate lobster rolls and maple-marinated steak by a firepit. The restaurant at Underneath Canvas, whereas staying trustworthy to the concept of a semi-rustic canteen, was a showcase of simply how extraordinary a easy menu of native components may be. 

Had we been anyplace else, we might have returned to our rooms after dinner, spent a couple of minutes watching cable TV or our telephones, then gone to mattress. A luxurious campground in Maine, nevertheless, required a break from previous habits. Our teenage sons, in a second of joyous regression, insisted on roasting marshmallows. Licking the sugar off their arms, they then pleaded that we be a part of the group of younger households that had gathered within the widespread room to play bingo. My spouse and I checked out one another, making an attempt to recall the final time they’d requested us to play a sport with them. We knew to not betray even the slightest trace of shock, and stored our composure via all three rounds—after which Louis, our youngest, declared it was nonetheless too early to go to mattress. 

“One sport of Scrabble?” he requested, figuring out that, in fact, we might say sure, as a result of the very last thing any of us needed was for the night to finish. 

The subsequent morning, my spouse urged we neglect, at the least for now, all of the maps and itineraries I’d compiled. “Let’s transfer slowly,” she stated, “and see what occurs.”

Fairly than head straight to Mount Desert Island, we drove a brief distance south of Underneath Canvas to the city of Blue Hill, maybe finest generally known as the house turf of creator E. B. White and the setting for his beloved youngsters’s traditional, Charlotte’s Net. As we ambled round its streets, our youngsters, confused on the absence of a transparent agenda, requested if we had any concept the place we had been going. We all checked out my spouse for a solution. “We’re going to stroll slowly via this city,” she stated. “We’re not vacationers. We’re wanderers.”

Unscripted wandering got here with its personal surprising rewards. We toured just a few native artwork galleries, adopted by an early lunch on the Fish Net, a roadside restaurant that, by midday, was filled with locals. We ate lobsters and corn at picnic tables after which, in our seek for dessert, stumbled upon the Blue Chill, a family-run ice-pop stand that served distinctly Maine-summer flavors, similar to blueberry lavender cheesecake.

The solar unexpectedly broke via the clouds simply as we had been ending our ice pops, turning what had felt like an early fall day again into summer season. We knew the second won’t final, and that what we would have liked straight away was a seashore, or at the least direct entry to a physique of water—each of which we discovered at Harriman Level, a 138-acre protect on the southeastern aspect of the peninsula.

Because the day grew hotter, we hiked via the forested wetlands adjoining to White’s former home (which remains to be privately owned), the trail lined in a layer of pine needles that made the bottom really feel nearly tender. Once we arrived on the shore, we had been shocked to search out that the small stretch of sandy seashore overlooking Mount Desert Island and Blue Hill Bay was fully ours. 

We waded into the clear water just a few inches at a time so we might modify to the chilly. My spouse took images of the shoreline, whereas our sons ready an elaborate burial for a lifeless crab that they claimed was nearly definitely an alien. It was solely once I felt a slight chill within the air that I remembered the time and urged we depart earlier than it grew darkish. 

Again at Underneath Canvas that night, we unfold out a map of Acadia whereas our sons performed cornhole with a pack of different younger friends. My spouse identified that this was the closest factor to an American summer-camp expertise anybody in our household had ever had. “The one distinction,” she added, “is we’re fortunate sufficient to be with them.”

The subsequent day we woke earlier than dawn, our garments pungent with smoke from our wood-burning stoves. On the drive to the Harborside Lodge, my spouse and I debated how you can spend our morning in Bar Harbor. We joked that, after nearly two complete days residing tough within the woods, we had been prepared for a little bit of luxurious. 

For the reason that late nineteenth century, Bar Harbor has been related to America’s wealthiest households, and whereas I knew it had modified considerably, I nonetheless imagined cobblestoned streets and eating places with wood-paneled partitions—a city sufficiently small that we might see all of it in an hour, two on the most. 

That morning, we stored to considered one of my unique plans and made a brazen try to soak up each ice cream parlor, café, restaurant, landmark, and memento store in Bar Harbor. After two hours of strolling, we’d lined at finest two complete blocks. Once we paused to relaxation in town inexperienced, I used to be able to admit the issues in my strategy. “Slower,” I instructed my spouse. “I promise.” She pointed to our youngsters, who had been setting their very own tempo. One was having his second ice cream of the day, whereas the different was mendacity on his again, studying a graphic novel.

Later that day, we took a tour of Bar Harbor with Eben Salvatore, whose firm, GEM, rents out electrical buggy-like automobiles for tooling across the island. In keeping with Salvatore, Bar Harbor is not only a summer season vacation spot. Cruise ships come to city from Might via October, and an October marathon attracts a youthful crowd. “As a result of the cruise ships had been coming,” he famous, “the eating places and outlets would keep open.” A longer season benefited the lodges as properly. “From there it simply continued.” 

Over the previous 14 years, my spouse and I’ve spent at the least 2 hundred nights sharing a resort room with our youngsters. Fortuitously, our suite on the Harborside Lodge was extra expansive than anyplace the 4 of us had stayed earlier than. It was extravagant with out being opulent, as if even the furnishings knew to not distract from the waterfront views. Standing on the roof deck, which got here with a scorching tub, we had the sense of being at each the sting and the middle of the island.

That afternoon, we made our first journey into Acadia, keenly conscious that no matter how formidable we had been over the subsequent 4 days, we might see solely a fraction of it. The primary nationwide park to have been assembled nearly fully out of land donated to the federal authorities, Acadia sprawls throughout roughly 50,000 acres of Mount Desert Island. Since its inception in 1916, the Schoodic Peninsula and 19 different islands have been added. 

Acadia holds some placing pure landmarks—Jordan Pond, Cadillac Mountain, the granite cliffs of Otter Level. As a lot part of the park’s identification are the 45 miles of carriage roads constructed by John D. Rockefeller and the wild gardens and memorial paths of the Sieur de Monts Spring. With practically 4 million annual guests, it’s nearly as well-liked as Yosemite, regardless of being lower than a tenth of its measurement. 

Once we arrived on the entrance to the park, the value of that recognition grew to become evident. The 27-mile-long Park Loop Highway, which skirts round Acadia’s japanese half, was lined with vehicles, practically all of which appeared to be in search of parking close to the most well-liked websites. And whereas we entered Acadia figuring out there was no mistaken alternative, no single expertise that outmoded others, we every had a want checklist. Anne needed to stroll alongside the carriage roads, our sons had their hearts set on Sand Seaside, and I remained fastened on seeing Cadillac Mountain. 

We wound our means slowly alongside the loop, which supplied occasional views of Bar Harbor and the encompassing islands. As we neared Sand Seaside, we discovered that every one the tons had been full. The identical was true at Jordan Pond and Eagle Lake. Our youngest son reminded us that we had been in a nationwide park, and no matter the place we stopped, it could be higher to be on foot than in a automobile. “What occurred to wandering?” he requested. 

I pulled over on the first accessible parking spot. We had been solely a brief hike from Thunder Gap, an inlet on the southeastern coast identified for the resounding increase that happens when the waves hit the inlet shortly earlier than excessive tide. A crowd was watching the water swirl and crash, and whereas there was no thunder that afternoon, the relentless drive of the waves into the shore was spectacular. 

Anne and I attempted to comply with our youngsters’s lead as they climbed the rocks right down to the ocean, however we shortly gave up and made our means again to Ocean Path to benefit from the view. Of all the paths in Acadia, this one is maybe probably the most lovely—and accessible. The 4.4-mile loop hugs the southeastern coast from Sand Seaside to Otter Cliff, and on the afternoon we visited, it was populated with a multigenerational crowd, together with hikers on their solution to scale the cliff partitions. 

Having taken within the shore, we headed to Cadillac Mountain. You’ll be able to’t drive to the summit with out a reservation, which made it not solely straightforward to succeed in but in addition straightforward to get a parking area. If anyplace in Acadia can deal with a crowd, it’s that peak. With restricted vegetation due to robust winds and poor soil, the summit provides each room to roam and unimpeded panoramas of each nook of the park. 

We discovered ourselves drawn to the view of Bar Harbor and the Porcupine Islands from the North Ridge Path, and a little bit means alongside the monitor we climbed down onto a boulder clean and large sufficient to carry the 4 of us. Because it grew nearer to nightfall, we determined to see if we might catch the sundown from the western lot. Nearly as quickly as we started heading in that route, nevertheless, we realized that just about everybody on the summit had had the identical concept. Fairly than accept a partial view, we determined we might return one other time, possibly for dawn, or possibly late at evening, when, we’d been instructed, the sky was darkish sufficient to see the Milky Approach. 

Having discovered the significance of arriving early, we returned to the park shortly after breakfast the subsequent day. We walked alongside the tree-lined carriage roads adjoining to Eagle Lake, which retained a way of intimacy as they wound their means into corners of the park inaccessible to vehicles. We might discover that very same intimate connection to the panorama in different corners of Acadia. Standing beneath the carriage-road bridge at Eagle Lake, my spouse and I had been reminded of the arches in Central Park that our youngsters had as soon as cherished to play below. 

Once we ventured over to the quieter western half of the park to go to Echo Lake, I requested the children if the view from the seashore reminded them of something. This time they shared my nostalgia, and agreed, with none prompting, that the clear, nonetheless waters of the lengthy, slim lake, with Acadia and Beech mountains rising alongside the edges, reminded them of our first tenting journey to the Catskill Mountains. It was at that time I started to suspect that related experiences had been taking place throughout Acadia. The park makes it attainable for anybody to discover a shut connection to the panorama, to see an echo of themselves in its clear waters or on the height of considered one of its mountains. 

For our final two days, we traded our suite for a two-bedroom cabin at Salt Cottages, which sits on the street into Bar Harbor. The cabins that arc across the compound supplied a special sort of splendor, one the place the red-and-white-striped picnic-blanket décor was repeated within the pool umbrellas and cushions, the awnings, and the throw blankets. 

The general impact of all that symmetry, my spouse famous, was “like being in a Wes Anderson film.” Every seemingly minor element was half of a bigger imaginative and prescient during which the country summer-camp cabins of our childhood, actual or imagined, had grown up and now got here with overstuffed white couches, a second bed room for the children, a saltwater pool surrounded by audio system, and batched cocktails on the snack bar. 

We spent most of our first afternoon transferring between the pool, the Ping-Pong desk, and the cornhole board, sharing them with a younger couple from Georgia and a post-wedding social gathering of buddies from Rhode Island. Had we performed nothing else however play, we might have declared the day successful. It was our second-to-last evening, nevertheless, and we had dinner reservations at Little Fern, in Southwest Harbor. The restaurant is within the Claremont Hotel, one of many few remaining properties on the island that dates again to the Gilded Age. 

For the primary time that summer season, our youngsters placed on button-down shirts and gown footwear. As we took our desk, which had a misty, fog-filled view onto Somes Sound, it was straightforward to think about returning sometime because the friends of our grown-up sons. Having eaten practically each attainable model of lobster over the previous few days, there was one thing particular about feasting on native mushrooms and indulging in a dozen beautiful Maine oysters. By the point we completed, the solar had practically set, and the clouds that had lined the sky all day had begun to point out indicators of breaking. 

It was Gabriel’s birthday in only some extra hours, so Anne and I agreed to detour into Acadia to see if we might catch a glimpse of the celebs. The park at evening was a completely totally different factor—it has the most important expanse of darkish sky east of the Mississippi. The farther and better we drove, the quieter it grew to become, with our automobile typically the one automobile on the street. 

We had been nearly on the entrance to Cadillac Mountain’s Summit Highway when the clouds shifted once more, leaving a gaping gap crammed with stars, together with the arc of the Milky Approach. We pulled over and awakened our sons, who had fallen asleep within the again seat. We minimize the lights and let our eyes modify. Once we lastly bought out and seemed up, it was even higher than we’d hoped, the 4 of us collectively, breathless within the face of peculiar surprise.

A model of this story first appeared within the July 2025 difficulty of Journey + Leisure below the headline «Chasing Summer season.»