Dear Travel Journal,
You are punishing me for not updating you while traveling by snagging my memory post-vacation. I have been editing this post for days, updating to add memories as they came, and I feel I have finally captured them all. We left Virginia at the crack of dawn only to wind up hitting Boston traffic in route, but lo and behold we made it to Portand, Maine in time for a delicious dinner at Gilbert's Chowder House. It only took me eleven hours to realize remaining vegetarian in Maine was going to be near impossible, there was not a single meatless item on the menu. I rationed I should be eating lobster in Maine.
The next day we toured Portland a little, headed up to Freeport to rummage through the massive L.L.Bean store, and finally arrived at our cute little house in middle of nowhere, Maine. Sunday the fun really began! We woke up to moms waffles (later in the week we added Maine blueberries). Heaven on a plate! With full bellies we headed to Acadia National Park to complete the Park Loop Road Tour, better known as the "see all the sites without doing any of the work tour." For those of you who are planning a trip, the grueling hikes up the mountains make the view SO much better than the picture taken from a car window. We actually did drag mom and pops up Bubble Rock to see the glacial erratic for a much needed break from the wootton. After this mile long hike they realized they would be keeping busy with other activities throughout the rest of the week.
Tuesday was probably my favorite day! We rented bikes in Bar Harbor and explored all the moderate Carriage Trails on [bike] wheels, totaling 23 miles by the end of the day. We peddled to Witch's Hole, around Eagle Lake, and to the Jordan Pond House where everyone gathered at for delicious Popovers a la mode and a three miles hike around Jordan Pond. Following the hike, we were looking forward to our DOWNhill ride back to the bike shuttle pick-up. Unfortunately, a wrong turn took us on some difficult trails (which we attempted to avoid since the moderate trails were challenging enough)! Biking in Acadia is amazing; no cars, wide trails, incredible views, but do not be fooled... it is hilly, very hilly.
At 8:30 AM on day six our plans had already fallen through, the price for a 45 minute ferry ride to Schoodic was insane. We were already in route to Bar Harbor so we had to act quick! Dad pulled off at the Acadia Mountain parking lots so naturally we decided to trek the steep and strenuous climb up (with parents in tow). Acadia Mountain Trail is known as the king of trails and after hiking it I have no doubt why! Nevertheless the payoff was grand: views of Somes Sound and Southwest Harbor. As if the climb up was not tough enough we decided to take the less direct two and a half mile climb down. This route took us down Acadia Mountain and up another mountain (St. Sauvier) before actually descending us to the parking lot. Following the hike we headed to Southwest Harbor to check out the sea wall and eat lunch and ice cream. After lunch our plans had already been made, swimming in Echo Lake! This was the most amazing fresh lake I have ever swam in... it was cold and refreshing, clear as anything, and had great rocks for diving off! This accidental day turned out to be one of the more tiring days we had days. Life lessons can be learned everywhere, even on vacation. We all know how important it is to be flexible and this day shows just how great a little flexibility can be when you are charting through unfamiliar territory! If nothing else, this day provided the most laughs and some real family bonding!
Thursday, the gang met at Cafe This Way for a monstrous breakfast. I would highly recommend this place to anyone in the Bar Harbor area. Then we walked around all the tourist shops in Bar Harbor, killing some time before our kayaking adventure. Bar Harbor is definitely the social center of Mount Desert Island. I am really glad we stayed on the outskirts of town and were able to avoid all the people, restaurants, and t-shirt shops! There is a candy store in Bar Harbor that serves lobster ice cream (gag me), but it was worth stopping in. The Kayaking was a lot of fun. We had a private tour so it was just the eight of us (so nice), and I was thoroughly surprised how much everyone enjoyed it! Most of the time was spent on the water (which was actually really rough, making me feel pretty sea sick at times), but we did stop on one of the many islands to collect sea glass and our breath!
Day eight we did as many challenging trails as we could squeeze in! Final number... two! That's it? Go ahead and laugh, but that was all we could handle in one day. The morning began with a three mile hike up Door Mountain. Basically, we climbed one and a half miles up stairs, and I thought Tallulah Gorge State Park [GA] was bad. Upon completion we headed to Precipice (the most challenging trail in the park) thinking how hard can it really be? It was a challenge but oh so much fun! The non-technical climb includes at 1000-foot elevation gain over only 0.8 miles. There were iron rungs and ladders and warning signs telling us that death was lurking! Oh life, please preserve my soul! Did I mention we had to come back down? We did manage to fit in another hour at Echo Lake before heading back to the house for our last home cooked Maine dinner!
For those of you who are still reading, wow, your attention span might be as impressive as my memory (of this trip and nothing else). I mean as much as I want you to know every detail of my trip... I really just want to remember how much fun we had. Saturday we packed up all our things and took a Route 1 back to Portland, stopping in Kennebunkport (to see the Bush's house) and in Kittery (to go to the outlets)! In Portland we saw 2 lighthouses, the Goddard Mansion, and a cool looking fort. We were all exhausted so we found a hotel and chilled for the rest of the night.
On Sunday we went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It was such a cool town! They had a neat kitchen store, amazing running store, old bookstores, and a Bull Moose music store for the boys. I wish we had more time to explore NH, but the time we had was enjoyable and made for a fantastic 22nd birthday (especially the dinner at Rudi's)! Monday we drove home just in time to pick up Max from the local kennel.
This was a perfect vacation, complete with hiking, biking, kayaking, and swimming!
Your tired traveler, Sam
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