Maine Vacation

Nathan and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in August with a trip to Maine. It was an awesome trip – perfect weather, beautiful scenery, cute little town and lots of stuff to do outside. That is pretty much our perfect vacation.

The boys had a blast in Lebanon with Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bill and we headed to Portland, Maine. We stayed the first night in Portland and ate at a great place called Duck Fat. The next morning we headed up the scenic highway to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. We stopped for lunch in a cute little town about halfway there and then made our way to Bar Harbor. It’s the biggest town on Mt. Desert Island and is so cute. There are a few other tiny towns, but it’s pretty much Bar Harbor and the national park. We stayed in an awesome bed and breakfast within walking distance of downtown and very close to Acadia. After we checked in at the bed and breakfast, we headed to the park and drove the loop road. Acadia is much, much smaller than other national parks we’ve been to. We were able to drive the whole park in a couple of hours.

The next day we went hiked in the morning and then went sea kayaking in the afternoon. It was awesome and we got to see a bunch of seals and birds while we were on the water.

The next day the weather was a little rainy, but it turned out to be a good day because the park wasn’t crowded at all. We rented bikes and rode about 20 miles on the carriage roads in the park. This was probably my favorite thing we did on the trip. The carriage roads were built years ago by the Rockefellers and are wide and somewhat flat. No cars are allowed on them – just bikes and horse-drawn carriages.

One of the most famous places in the park is Jordan Park Pond. We stopped here and got a blueberry soda and a Moxie soda. We had never heard of Moxie so we tried it – I thought it tasted like cough syrup!

The last day we did another hike in the park and then headed back to Portland. We didn’t fly out until the evening the next day, so we had time to visit the lighthouse in St. Elizabeth. It’s the most famous lighthouse in Maine and very beautiful.

We would love to go back to Bar Harbor. It would be really fun to take the boys in a few years when they are big (and tall) enough to do some of the outdoor activities like the kayaking and biking. Maine is my new favorite place, in America at least. I don’t think anything will beat Riomaggiore in Cinque Terra or Hydra in Greece!