Our good friends who have also done a good amount of road-tripping, the Ingrams, told us we just HAD to hike the Beehive Trail in Acadia.  The ranger at the information desk took one glance at us and declared, “That trail isn’t for kids.”  (Sometimes I wish I could turn my rebellious nature off.  If you want me to do something, just tell me not to do it.  It should do the trick.)

Now in my defense, I knew from researching it that kids could, in fact, tackle the hike.  So I didn’t feel too risky by disregarding her warning.

Oy!

It was thrilling.  And terrifying.  All rolled into one death-defying hike.

I’d like to point out that these pictures are not optical illusions.  There really were major drop offs.  And steep cliff faces.  I was truly scared for the majority of it.

That view though!

We were proud of ourselves for doing it.

Yay us!

My favorite part of the whole thing was watching the kids help each other.  There’s always so much bickering and arguing, but when they actually feel like they’re in danger, it’s like all of a sudden they remember that we’re all on the same team.  (The first time I experienced this phenomenon was when I took them on a high ropes course.)

Sweet victory! We didn’t die!

  We celebrated in downtown Bar Harbor with ice cream.  I’m not surprised that our sweet friends remembered this hike.  It isn’t something you just forget!  We’d do it again in a heartbeat*.  We love and miss you, Ingrams!!!

*Billy is excluded from this sentiment