This Summer's Maine Event

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.

(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.

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!

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. 

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).

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. 

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.

What a fun hike...lots of rock scrambling and hanging onto iron railings on the way up!

As we hiked down the other side of Beehive, we got a few short gasps of sun through the clouds, which made already gorgeous views even more spectacular.

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.

Just look at this!!

We turned around after a couple of hours and made our way back to Sand Beach, which was a whole other world with the sun shining. We ditched the hiking boots and braved the Atlantic up to about our ankles. (We'd laughed at the sign at the entrance to the beach, but it was 100% correct: that water is wicked cold!)

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.)

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.

We made it! (Barely)

We hiked down via the Gorge Trail, which lies between Cadillac Mountain and Dorr Mountain.

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.

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. 

Fish tacos

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?)

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.

Cinque Terre è Bellissimo

Here's what you need to know about Cinque Terre (or at least what I knew before I went there):

• It's freaking gorgeous.
• Cinque Terre is a collection of five fishing villages that have since become adorable beach towns: Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.
• All five villages are connected by trains and by hiking trails. Cars are all but outlawed, which makes sense, considering that the vast majority of the "streets" in Cinque Terre look like this:

• The towns are along a very cliff-like coastline, which means incredible views of the Tyrrhenian Sea. It also means rather steep streets and hiking trails. 

I don't remember the first time that I heard of Cinque Terre, but I do remember that as soon as I saw pictures of the string of 5 colorful seaside towns along the Italian Riviera, I knew I HAD to go there.

I mean, just look at it!

So after one last cappuccino in Rome, Lauren and I parted ways at the train station; she heading northeast to Parma, and me heading northwest to Cinque Terre.

After a very scenic train ride along the coast, I arrived in Vernazza, the 2nd-northernmost of the five towns in Cinque Terre. My Airbnb host met me at the train station and showed me to the cutest little room that was to be my home base for the next two nights.

Most adorable Airbnb yet!

Vernazza is a teeny little beach town; the main road leads right from the train station to the small beach, which doubles as the town's harbor. I spent most of the afternoon wandering up and down the streets, just getting oriented to the town and snagging some spectacular views before hitting the beach to soak up some sun.

It was really starting to feel like I was on vacation.

I'm sure it will come as no surprise to you that I squeezed in two trips to the gelato shop before calling it a night.

The next day, I got an early start, and after a cappuccino and Nutella croissant--man, I could go for another one of those right about now--I headed south out of town along the hiking trail to Corniglia.

What should probably have only taken me an hour and a half turned out to be about a two hour hike, because I kept stopping to take in the mind-bogglingly beautiful views:

Eventually, I made it to Corniglia, where I cooled off--you guessed it--with some gelato as I meandered along the winding streets.

It was in Corniglia that I first discovered the appeal of the rocky beach. After following a very steep set of stone steps, I arrived here: 

 

SO. FREAKING> GORGEOUS.

Anyway. Major advantages of rocky beaches include:

1. Less crowded.
2. Sand doesn't get all up in yo bidness. 
3. The water is so flipping clear (no sand clouding it up). 
4. The aforementioned sand doesn't get all in your stuff. 
5. Way more interesting scenery; watching waves hit rocks is way better than watching waves hit the same smooth stretch of sand over and over again. 
6. No sand to stick all over you and your shiznit. (Have I mentioned this already?)

Being the dingus that I am, I didn't have my swimsuit in my daypack; I'd dressed for a day of hiking without considering the possibility of getting in the water. (I know, I know....like I said: dingus.) 

I consoled myself with some more gelato before heading south out of Corniglia toward Manarola, only to find that the trail was closed for maintenance. (Apparently there had been some flooding earlier in the year, and the trails from Corniglia to Manarola and from Manarola to Riomaggiore were both closed.)

I chose to interpret it as a sign from the universe to head back north, and after a brief stop back at my Airbnb in Vernazza to grab my swimsuit--see? I can learn from my mistakes!--I hiked an hour and a half north to Monterosso. 

I was almost to the town when I spotted a side path down toward the water. I say "side path." It was really more of a trace of a trail along a foot-wide ledge. 

I'm all about following whims when I travel, so I (very carefully) edged my way along the path until I arrived here: 

I spread out my towel on a large rock before scooching into the clearest water I've ever swam in outside of a swimming pool. After about an hour of soaking up the sun and sea, I watched as two guys climbed up to a ledge about 20 feet above a cave. After they spent 5 minutes debating how deep the water below them was, one of them belly-flopped off the ledge into the water. The other guy followed with a little more technique.

You already know this adrenaline junkie was next off that ledge.

It wasn't quite high enough for me to check cliff-jumping off my bucket list, but it was still pretty dang fun!

As the sun started to set, I toweled off and headed into the town of Monterosso in search of dinner.

I forgot to take a picture of my asparagus risotto (I was so hungry it was gone before it occurred to me to Instagram that shiz), but take my word for it, it was pretty darn tasty. A couple of glasses of wine later, I headed for the train back to Vernazza, stopping along the way for some gelato at a shop that was blasting 80's music.

I caught several of my fellow passengers eyeing my pistachio and dark chocolate cone jealously on the train.

On my last morning in Vernazza, I spent most of the morning lingering over a cappuccino and croissant with a view of the harbor, before catching my train to Venice. 

Cinque Terre, I'll be back! And until then, you'll be on my mind.

Oh Canada

As I'm sure you can imagine, Canada in December is freaking COLD. I know Maryland isn't exactly warm right now, but when I say Ontario was cold, I'm talking negative, double-digit temperatures here.

So why did I choose to spend five of the coldest days of the century (yes, really) in Toronto?

Well, I was itching for another international voyage, but when I started pricing flights for my winter break, everywhere warm was pretty dang expensive. So I decided to pay my first visit to our neighbors to the north. 

Wednesday morning, Evan and I flew out of DC and were on the ground in Toronto before noon. Despite the best efforts of the automated kiosk in the customs line, we were breathing brisk Canadian air shortly thereafter. 

Thanks to the Moovit app (a must-have for any traveler hoping to use public transportation), we had no trouble finding the train and then streetcar that we needed. But paying for it was a whole 'nother can of worms. Once on board the streetcar, it became apparent that the 20-Canadian-dollar bill I'd gotten out of the airport ATM wasn't going to work in the coin slot on the bus. 

Enter stereotypically friendly Canadian lady, who offered us to swap the twenty for all the change in her purse so we could pay the fare. She also gave us a rundown of how paying for Toronto public transit worked (so we wouldn't get stuck again), inquired about where we were from ("And what do you think aboot the weather here?"), and told us her own life story (born in England, emigrated to Canada when she was 5). When we reached our stop about 15 minutes later, our new best friend (and the lady across the aisle) sent us on our way with the warmest wishes for a good first visit to Toronto.

Oh, Canadians. 

Having without further incident located and checked into our Airbnb (which we found out later was in the heart of "hipster heaven"), we proceeded to get frustratingly lost looking for tourism office. (Seems a little counterintuitive, no? You'd think it would be one of the easiest things to find when you first arrive in a new city.) When we finally stumbled upon it a half hour later, my frazzled nerves were immediately soothed by the friendly and helpful tourism lady, who plied us with suggestions for more authentic/local things to do during our stay in Toronto, locations of cheap souvenir shops, and coupons for all of the touristy things to do in the area.

Armed with a city map, covered in scribbled notes and circled attractions, we headed for St. Lawrence market. We grazed our way through a tasty seafood orzo and a variety of desserts from one of the bakeries, before sampling some of the Niagara region's famous ice wine, which--as the very friendly vendor proceeded to tell us--is made from grapes that are frozen solid, picked by hand, and pressed into a delicious dessert wine (that apparently also pairs really well with blue cheese). 

On the recommendation of the tourism lady, the last activity for my first day in Canada was the Art Gallery of Ontario, which on Wednesday nights is freeeeee! There were a few exhibits that I really liked...this one was my favorite:

That's right...I came all the way to Canada to see a Baltimore artist's work.

I'd booked a day trip to Niagara Falls for day two of my great northern adventure, so Thursday morning featured an early start at Tim Horton's, complete with a cup of coffee and a maple donut.

America may run on Dunkin', but Canada runs on Tim Horton's. 

The first stop along our tour was at a winery, where I participated in my very first wine tasting, managing to simultaneously feel very sophisticated and very ridiculous. I sampled a white (which I liked) and a red (which I didn't). And that's about as much as I can say about that, given my limited wine-tasting experience and vocabulary.

Next stop on the tour was Niagara on the Lake, a teeny little town with the most adorable main street ever. AKA, a total tourist trap. But I didn't let that deter me from stopping in almost every bakery, candy shop, and ice cream parlor in town to satisfy even my sweet tooth.

Never too cold for ice cream!
(Maple walnut and caramel macchiato flavors, in case you were wondering.)

We arrived at Niagara Falls after a brief stop at the largest naturally occurring whirlpool in the world (who knew that was in Canada?). As it was far too cold for boat cruises to be operating, our tour group went up in Skylon tower for a view over the falls.

The tower

The view

When we finally got up close and personal with the Falls themselves, the wind was fortunately blowing toward New York, taking the mist with it, so I didn't immediately become a Jess-shaped popsicle. 

When we got back to the city, dinner was the next order of business. After wandering up and down a couple of restaurant-filled blocks near the Airbnb, Evan and I were convinced by the super-friendly hostess to dine at Reverie at Weldon Park. And I am so glad she did convince us.

All I can say is SWOON. 

Sea scallops with piccata sauce and fresh bread

Gnocchi fritti with edamame, grilled heart of palm, ricotta, and spinach cream

Alaskan trout with Canadian curry, Israeli couscous, cauliflower, shaved carrot and lime yogurt

Dessert, which completely blew my mind.
Chocolate cake wafers, smoked white chocolate mousse with lime zest,
candied orange peel, toasted white chocolate crumbles,
coffee ice cream, candied orange peel,
and--get this--dark chocolate air with cayenne. WHAT EVEN??

Day three of my great northern adventure started with breakfast at a place called Boom Breakfast & Co. and this scrumptious take on eggs Benedict.

Peep that smoked salmon and spinach. Not to mention those fries. YUM.

Then it was off to the distillery district, where I bought myself a pretty cool Christmas ornament (for next year's tree) and then spotted a chocolate shop. I probably don't need to tell you that I spent some quality time (and a fair few Canadian dollars) there.

The distillery district

Bicerin: 1/3 liquid chocolate, 1/3 espresso, and 1/3 cream.
Believe it or not, this thing was too rich even for my sweet tooth.

After lunch at Mexican restaurant that had really cool lamps, the next item on the agenda was ice skating by city hall. Toronto has 52 outdoor ice rinks where you can BYOS (if you have them) and skate for free. I rented a pair of skates--a mere ten Canadian dollars for a two-hour rental--and then proceeded to have circles skated around me by Canadian children who were apparently born with ice skates on their feet.

In my own defense, bundled up as I was against the -10°F wind chill, it was really hard to move with any semblance of grace.

Ice-skating really wore me out, so I decided that a quick pre-dinner power nap was in order. Three hours later (whoops), Evan and I had a late dinner at very hipster ramen place where they shouted something in Japanese both as we entered and when we left.

Side-note: ramen is definitely one of the best cold-weather foods.

My last full day in Canada began with another visit to the St. Lawrence market. Since it was Saturday, the farmer's market section was open for business. I browsed all the fruits, vegetables, honey, beeswax, and coffee stands before buying some dirt-cheap maple sugar products, including a 100-mL bottle of dark maple syrup small enough to take on the plane with me. 

Seduced by the aroma of a nearby bakery stall, I bought two chocolate croissants--one for the early flight the next morning, don't judge me--and an apple strudel. Between the baked goods and the cappuccino that I subsequently bought, it was almost like being back in Europe.

I bought dinky little carry-on-sized bottles of ice wine to go with my travel-sized maple syrup. (Only to find out at the airport the next day that it was cheaper to buy ice wine duty-free. Plus I wouldn't have had to chuck half of my toiletries to get it through security. *sigh*)

We did a late lunch at Amsterdam Brewhouse down by the water. Yummy beer, yummy pretzel (with a really tasty sauce that I've forgotten the name of but I remember was made from some of the leftovers from the brewing process), yummy sweet potato fries, yummy cheesecake. 

Left to right: 3 Speed Lager, Natural Blonde Lager, Raspberry Wheat Beer,
 and a pilsner brewed in a small batch onsite.

We had decided to save CN tower, one of the most touristy of tourist attractions in Toronto, for the last evening in the city. Conveniently, it was only a couple of blocks away from the Amsterdam Brewhouse, so a short walk later, we were standing in a very long line.

The second tallest free-standing tower in the world.
(The tallest tower in the world from 1974-2010.)

In spite of the wait, we managed to make it to the observation deck in time for the sunset.

I'm on top of the world!

Back at ground level and once again seeking warm foods, we had dinner at Ravi Soups: apricot and red lentil soup with Ravi slaw (some sort of coleslaw-salad concoction with a spicy dressing) and a yummy cheddar biscuit before calling it a night.

New Year's Eve day dawned way too ugly early. I say "dawned;" it was 3:45am when we got up to brave the -15°F weather and catch the bus to the airport. 

The early flight home turned out to be not so early...the plane got delayed after we boarded because the bridge was frozen to the plane. LOL.

And thus concluded an international trip with only a minor mishap: leaving my library book on the plane. Oops.