Acadia National Park

Greetings!

As you can see, Taylor and I decided to use the long holiday weekend to visit a place he’s really been wanting to go: Acadia National Park in Maine. We flew into Boston around 2AM on Friday (it was the cheapest flight), and our generous friend Nik Locker picked us up at the airport to head straight to Maine! I slept in the back for a few hours, but they stayed awake and got to see a lovely sunrise.

The park is small enough that we only needed about two days to see all the main things, so here are some photos from different places we decided to stop and see. Nik was down to explore whenever we were, so it was fun having an extra person around! On the first day, we got there, walked around Bar Harbor before the tourist crowds woke up, set up camp, and did a little exploring in the park. We grilled steaks for dinner on the campfire, which you KNOW must’ve been Nik’s idea, because all we brought was hot dogs. We used those to supplement, and this trip, we remembered to have condiments.

After dinner Nik really wanted a cookie, so we drove back into Bar Harbor to visit some pastry shops and find him one. In the meantime, our car battery died, so we had a mini adventure that ended up taking us to the police/fire department nearby so they could jump start our battery. That night Taylor and I slept in the tent in the pouring rain, which held up nicely, and Nik slept in the back of his car, cookies in hand.

Bar Harbor is a really cute little town with a beautiful coastline. It would be a great place to make as a yearly summer trip since there’s a lot to do. It does get packed the weekend of July 4 though… just a heads up if you ever decide to visit! Buy your food before everyone else does. Maybe you’ll miss the stampede for the buns, bags of ice and ‘MURICA t-shirts.

Saturday we had a little breakfast in Bar Harbor and drove around Park Loop Road (a circular road that encompasses many of Acadia’s attractions). The weather called for rain, but it evidently came early because it was a gorgeous day with a cool breeze. Some of the places we stopped at for pictures were Thunder Hole, Otter Point and Seal Harbor. We went on a ~4 mile hike around Jordan Pond and talked about how many Asians there were in Maine, and then had lunch overlooking Eagle Lake! Doritos taste so much better with a mountain view.

Low tide was around 3:30 that day for Bar Island, right outside of Bar Harbor, so we walked across the rocks to see Bar Harbor from the island’s point of view. Nik and I were sitting on a rock as Taylor explored a little when a dad, three kids, and an uncle came over and found a “treasure,” which was a pile of rocks with a pirate flag in it and some tape in the shape of an “X.” Evidently this was a birthday treasure hunt, because the kids dug it up and found three buckets filled with toys and candy. The whole time we were about ten feet away, feeling really uncomfortable that we were accidentally taking part in such a cute, planned surprise, and also grateful that we hadn’t kicked over the pile of rocks before we knew what it was. At least it wasn’t a proposal and we didn’t have to witness anything potentially more awkward.

Back at the campsite we paid for showers and made a little fire to enjoy before dinner. Dinner, in Bar Harbor, we stopped at three different places and got a little thing here and there. As busy as the town was with tourists for 4^th of July, it was still a fun place to walk around and enjoy being clean. Thankfully, no rain that night!

Taylor and Nik got up at 3:30 Sunday morning to see the sunrise from the top of Cadillac Mountain. As Taylor puts it, “We had about 20 or so minutes alone up there which was great, until crowds of Asians came rolling in. There ended up being at least 600 people all on top of the mountain, pushing for sunrise pictures and cackling at 4 in the morning.” Needless to say, Taylor and Nik regretted their choice even with the beautiful sunrise.

As soon as they got back to camp, we packed and got on the road toward Boston. Breakfast was at a little café in Portland, Maine, and we sat in the sun at their harbor for a little while. Nik lives in Exeter, New Hampshire, and commutes into Boston a few days a week to visit the church he works for. He showed us where he lives and then took us into downtown Boston, where we met up with our friends Ryan and Tami Fox who were also visiting for the weekend. With them, we saw Boston Commons, Harvard, and Nik blessed us with his random knowledge about the history of things in Boston. It’s a great city with a lot going on!

We spent the night sleeping on the floor at his church, and then headed to the airport first thing today to catch our flight back to Charlotte. It’s been a busy weekend, but so much fun to see good friends, beautiful scenery, and a city I’ve heard so much about. Video coming soon!

Life is good. Jesus is better.

Love,

Taylor and Michelle