We awoke just about three and a half hours after falling asleep in the Sieur de Monts parking lot. It was dark and so peaceful beneath the birch trees there, and even though the car didn’t provide the most comfortable accommodations, we both got some rest and awoke just before 6:00am for a drink of water and to start our day.

NPS workers appeared in two pickup trucks by 6:30 to, we assumed, begin cleaning the restrooms. We drove by after a few minutes and confirmed that’s what they were doing, and then circled back around to our parking spot to wait for them to finish. Another pickup truck appeared, but that worker was tending to something at the Wild Gardens and soon left.

Once the workers finished cleaning, we used the restroom again (leaving it super clean, of course!) and moved on, but not before peeking inside the still-closed Wild Gardens to see if we could spot any snakes or frogs. I didn’t see any, but did find some Jack in the Pulpit and enormous skunk cabbage! Once Rich came out, I showed him the plants and he spotted some large mushrooms in the area too.

By now it was 7:30am, and we knew we’d have a long wait before our room would be ready. We drove into town past the RV parking area, and eventually parked on the street near Slice of Eden, happy to discover that the parking meters don’t work until 9:00am.

The new location of Slice of Eden Bakery is much more spacious and closer to our hotel than their original location on Main Street. They had a nice efficient system for ordering, and a nice selection of goodies in the case. We ended up with a salt & pepper bagel (with spicy lime cilantro cream cheese), a raspberry/cheese Danish, tea (Earl Grey) and coffee. We sat outside (it still wasn’t raining) and although there were some wind gusts it was still relatively warm.

We drove by our hotel and seeing that there was still someone in our room’s assigned parking spot, decided to continue on and spend some time at the visitor center. There have been some significant changes there for this year; for example, the ranger stations where you ask questions and purchase park passes is now outside, and the gift shop area is only accessible from the outside and has limited occupancy. The restrooms are accessible and I was surprised to find no one else inside when I used them, and that they were absolutely immaculate. We got our park pass and then decided to drive the Park Loop Road.

It was a gorgeous morning for the drive, at least at the beginning, and there wasn’t too much traffic. We drove the loop, passing Cadillac Mountain and noticing the setup for their new reservations system near the end of our drive. We passed through a few rain showers, some heavy, but the drive was mostly dry and cloudy.

When we paused briefly at Beaver Dam Pool, Rich asked if there were any abandoned trails on the cliffs above. Funny he should ask, because I had just been looking at the possibility of hiking the Beachcroft Trail to the saddle and then searching for the old Black & White, which would head down toward the Bicycle Path and Beaver Dam Pool. Worth an exploration for sure!

Rich also noted that another possibility for overnight “camping” might be at Fabbri memorial, assuming their restrooms are also open 24 hours.

Back at the hotel, we inquired about our room, noticing that it was 10:30 and the other occupants of our room hadn’t yet left. They were required to check out by 11:00 but in any case, our room could not be ready for us until 3:00pm, or 2:30 at the earliest. Susan and Penny at the desk took our phone number and said they would call us if the room was ready earlier.

We decided to make a quick trip to the store (which was INSANELY busy) and then go to Paddy’s for lunch. We wandered down West Street, thinking that Paddy’s opened at 11:00 and we could just walk in, but they didn’t open for lunch until noon, and it was only 11:39am. We just waited on the sidewalk and eventually entered right at noon. We enjoyed a nice lunch on very empty stomachs. We each had a pint of Guinness, of course, Rich enjoyed a nice hamburger and I had my usual fish sandwich. Both meals were larger than we were expecting, and I couldn’t even finish my sandwich. The cole slaw was great, and the fries were decent although they were batter-coated, which Rich doesn’t like. The place filled up quickly, but we had a relatively quiet spot and no problems.

We returned to the hotel to find our room ready just before 2:00pm. We collapsed basically for the rest of the evening, which by now had turned rainy.