That's right. Your favorite blogger is back from ACTUALLY GOING SOMEWHERE and is going to give ya the scoop. Try not to fall out of your chair in shock.
Back at the beginning of May, when there were still an impossible amount of days left in this hellish school year, I texted my friend Rachel: "Yo let's plan a trip for the summer...I got the itch to travel." Within an hour, we'd decided on destination: Maine for immediately following the end of the school year.
I know what you're thinking: why Maine? Three words: Acadia National Park.
Having decided that an 11-hour drive during the daytime would be a waste, we departed at 8:00pm on Thursday and drove through the night, arriving in Bar Harbor bright and early. Obviously coffee was the first (okay, the ONLY) thing on our minds, so after quickly scoping out our breakfast options (well, as quickly as two coffee addicts can when sleep-deprived and suffering from caffeine withdrawal) we got a table at Jordan's, ordering, in addition to the obvious coffee, their famous blueberry muffins, because, well, Maine...blueberries. Duh.
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| (This is where a picture of the aforementioned muffin should be, but in true Jess form, I didn't think to take a picture of my food until it was WAY too late.) |
Feeling somewhat more prepared to take on the day now that we were fed and caffeinated, we set off to explore Bar Harbor a bit more, me with one earbud tuned into the virtual professional development I'd signed up for before realizing I'd be out of town. (Whoops...thank goodness there was a good cell signal in town.)
Having strolled up and down the main roads in town and bought maple candy to keep our energy levels up, we took the recommendation of a lady in the souvenir shop to check out the "Pahk Loop Road." A quick stop in the Visitor's Center for a park map ended in a sprint to the car when it suddenly started POURING. Since we couldn't check into our Airbnb for a few more hours, we decided not to let a little downpour stop us from our first foray into Acadia.
Signs for Sand Beach caught our eye, so after strewing the contents of our backpacks all over the backseat in search of our rain gear, we ventured out.
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| Laughing at the fact that I almost didn't pack my rain pants. |
It was rather nice to have the beach to ourselves actually, especially once the clouds quit dumping on us.
After getting overly excited about spotting a seal (that I may or may not have initially thought was an otter) we did a bit more driving around the park, which didn't do much to really orient us since we couldn't see past the heavy fog that lingered after the storm.
It will come as no surprise that we crashed early once at our Airbnb that night...I think I was dead asleep by like 7:30. Driving through the night sure does a number on one's circadian rhythm.
Thanks in part to a 4:45 sunrise--did you know that Maine is essentially an hour ahead of Maryland, daylight-wise? I sure didn't--we got an early start to our Saturday. Since the weather still wasn't the greatest, we decided to save the more epic hikes on our list for another day and headed to the trailhead at Echo Lake instead to check off some hikes a little further down our list.
We got a smidge lost trying to find a fire tower at the summit of Beech Mountain, but boy were the views worth it!
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| Oh, wait...no they weren't. |
Finally giving up around noon, we headed back to Echo Lake, where the fog had cleared enough at sea level to attract a few brave beach-goers.
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| Picnicking and people-watching. |
We decided to stick to sea level for the rest of the day and drove along the coast on the west side of the island (AKA, the less popular side). We spent the afternoon popping in and out of various harbor towns in search of tasty snacks (we found some!) and staring moodily off into the ocean (by which I mean trying not to slip off the rocks and into the Atlantic).
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| Nope, don't know that guy. |
After accidentally seeing a lighthouse (having stated that I couldn't care less about seeing a lighthouse, we still somehow managed to stumble upon one 🤷) and discovering a few hidden gems like this...
...we decided it was dinner time.
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| Our server was impressed with my tenacity in getting every last bit of meat out of this sucker...I told her I'd had years of practice on Maryland crabs, hon. |
We only slightly regretted the decision to dine outside when it became so chilly that the melted butter re-solidified.
Sunday morning was another early start, as we were headed for some of the more popular hikes that day, starting with Beehive Mountain, which overlooks Sand Beach.
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| What a fun hike...lots of rock scrambling and hanging onto iron railings on the way up! |
The revelation of these new spectacular views lured us back toward the water, and we followed the Ocean Path for several hours with our eyes wide open.
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| Just look at this!! |
We made our way out of Acadia the long way that afternoon and headed back into Bar Harbor in search of dinner and aloe vera. (We were now very much regretting the decision not to make a pit stop at the car for sunscreen before hitting the Ocean Path.)
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| Mussels & fried green tomatoes...I could for sure go for some more of them right about now. |
We did some porch sitting at the Airbnb before another early bedtime. (I know, I know...but we had plans to be up at the top of a mountain for the sunrise the next day, so...)
Two-thirty A.M. came awful early on Sunday, but somehow it was still a race against the sun to get to the summit of Cadillac Mountain (the highest peak in Acadia) in time for the sunrise at 4:45AM.
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| We made it! (Barely) |
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| Looking at Dorr Mountain from the far side of Cadillac Mountain. |
We had this gorgeous trail entirely to ourselves, except for two crazy (but very nice) guys who passed us as they were RUNNING down this (very steep, very rocky) trail.
Around 8:30AM, after having second-guessed where we'd parked (everything looked different in the daylight) we arrived back at the car. By this point, we'd been up for 6 hours and had already hiked 9 miles. It was time for some serious breakfast.
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| We don't mess around when it comes to breakfast. |
We did a bit more wandering along the carriage roads through the park before we attempted to check out Jordan Pond and the famous popovers served at its shoreside restaurant. I say attempted, but we weren't the only ones with that idea and the wait time was BONKERS. So we slowly made our way back to the Airbnb for a nap.
On the way there, it occurred to me that we were not far from Echo Lake and that our swimsuits were in fact in the backseat...
...so we took a little detour.
One much-needed power nap later, we made our way into Bar Harbor one last time, where we once again dined al fresco.
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| Fish tacos |
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| We let ourselves get talked into blueberry pie. (Okay, fine, we were going to order it anyway even before our server suggested it.) |
After lazing on the lawn overlooking the harbor itself, watching the boats going in and out, we decided it was time for some ice cream. (Yes, dessert again. Are you really surprised?)
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| Irish mudslide in a fresh waffle-cone bowl...life doesn't get much better. |
We bade adieu to Mount Desert Island bright and early the next morning and headed for home. I have nothing to say about the drive home except that New York drivers are the worst, gas prices in New York are ridiculous, and the traffic pattern at the George Washington Bridge (combined with the aforementioned New York drivers) makes for a HORRENDOUS experience. The end.
To my loyal readers: thanks for sticking with me through my frequent and lengthy hiatuses--hiati?--I'm hoping to sneak in a few more posts this summer before the new school year sucks up my entire life again this fall.
