Maine

Today was a travel day for most of us, and we arrived in the mid-afternoon. Our rental was super family-friendly: it had an outdoor seating area and firepit, a sandbox, a ton of toys, board games and a smart TV so we could watch movies when the fog rolled in.

Let me introduce you to my family. On this trip, we traveled with my sister (Ashley), nephew (Aiden, 4), niece (Lorelei, 1) and Sylvia and Tony, the parents of my brother-in-law, Mike. Mike and I went to high school together (Ashley is 3 years younger than me), so I've known Sylvia and Tony for more than twenty years and they're great travel companions, always game for family-time. Mike was unfortunately not able to come on this trip and he was missed! Sylvia and Tony live about 2 hours away from Mount Desert Island and they brought snacks, breakfast and lunch items for us to enjoy at the house.

After settling in, we decided to take Aiden on his first real hike. I'd done some research about duration and elevation change appropriate for a 4-year old and, on recommendation from my aunt, settled on Flying Mountain which was just a short drive from our rental house.

Flying Mountain is a 1.5-mile loop trail with ~300 feet of elevation gain. We thought we might be pushing it with Aiden but he's a pretty active little man so we decided to go for it. He did great! We pretended he was our wayfinder (from the movie Moana) and he led us the whole time, except in some steep places where Ashley wanted to look out for him and go first. The trail has good variations of forest hiking and some steeper sections with scrambling, just enough to keep Aiden interested. We took the loop trail down and spent some time at Valley Cove throwing rocks, exploring and enjoying the smells of the ocean before taking a truck road back to the parking lot. We carried Aiden on our shoulders a little bit here since it was flat. Proud Auntie moment, though sad that I took so few pictures!

We went for dinner at Abel's Lobster Pound - I suggest that you don't. While the location is very good, the food is average and expensive. You should probably go up to the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound.

After rising & shining and breakfast at the house, we decided to spend the morning at Bass Harbor Lighthouse, about a 20-minute scenic drive from the house. We all scrambled on rocks (safely) and searched tide pools, but we didn't find anything living in them unfortunately. I think in general that beaches get the notoriety for family vacations, but rocky coasts are so much fun for exploring and fostering imagination. Even baby Lo had a good time hanging out with grandma and grandpa and watching Aiden investigate his surroundings.

We returned to the house for lunch and naptime (adults too) and Aiden informed us that he was ready to go on another hike. Who are we to disagree? Tony and Sylvia opted to stay at the rental with Lorelei. After a little bit of research (there are over 20 mountains on the island after all), we decided to stay on the quiet side and hike Acadia Mountain which is also a short drive from the rental house. Acadia Mountain is longer and has more elevation gain than Flying Mountain (2.8 miles, 500 foot elevation gain), but since Aiden had done so well yesterday we decided it was a good next step.

We had the trail to ourselves which is just crazy to me in the summer in Acadia. This trail was again a nice mix of forest hiking, rock scrambling, staircases (Aiden got a ride on Ashley's shoulders) and cool trees, mushrooms and flowers to investigate. The peak has really pretty views of Somes Sound, St Saveur Mountain, Flying Mountain and the Cranberry Islands. Aiden has a stink face in the picture, but I promise he had a great time and was just sick of picture-taking. It started to drizzle on our descent and we made it to the car before it started raining!

We headed back to the house, had dinner, played some games and watched movies into the evening.

The only portion of Acadia National Park that has a fee is Ocean Drive. Highlights of Ocean Drive, including Sand Beach, Thunder Hole and Otter Cliffs, should not be missed on your journey to Acadia, it's postcard Maine, but I do suggest that you use the free buses into the park from points all over the island. The car traffic and parking is heinous and the buses run continuously .... I'm getting off track ... my point is that all other parts of Acadia NP are fee-free, including the carriage roads. For years, my dad and sister came to the park each summer at least once to ride the Eagle Lake loop and have lunch at the Jordan Pond House (JPH), so we decided this would be a great way to spend a day.

After breakfast, we drove into Bar Harbor to rent bikes, a trailer for Aiden and a bike seat for Lorelei. We hopped on the free bus at the Village Green for Eagle Lake - there was a pretty long line so this took some time. Luckily, the free bus to this location has a bike trailer attached since so many people do this loop. We took the loop counter-clockwise and met Sylvia and Tony at the JPH for luncheon on the lawn. JPH is my favorite restaurant anywhere, hands-down, and my must-have meal is lobster stew, popovers and freshly-squeezed lemonade. I'm salivating thinking about it. When I worked in Acadia one summer, I think I turned into a popover I ate so many. The menu hasn't changed much over the years and all of the food is fantastic, you can't pick wrong. We walked down to Jordan Lake and played on the rocks a little bit, enjoyed the views of North and South Bubble and took pictures of those cute kiddos.

We rode back along the lake, enjoying a few rest stops to stretch our legs. We passed horse-drawn carriage rides which Aiden got a kick out of, and took the bus back to the Village to return our rentals. Highly recommend this family-friendly way to spend the day in Acadia!

Our family departed this morning, heading back to reality while Shawn and I continued our summer vacation in one of my favorite destinations. We headed into Bar Harbor for brunch at Cafe This Way, a must visit for me every time I'm in the area. We wanted to do a hike and I always have a few go-to's. One of my favorite loops is to start at the JPH and hike along Jordan Lake, up Pemetic Mountain, down, up South Bubble, down, up Sargent Mountain, down Penobscot and back to the JPH for food. Since we'd just been at Jordan Pond yesterday, we opted for some other favorites.

From Bar Harbor, we took the free bus to Sieur de Monts Nature Center where we caught the Beachcroft Path to the top of Champlain Mountain. I love the views from Champlain. Precipice is my favorite route up Champlain but is often closed due to Peregrine Falcon nesting, which keeps the crowd factor minimal. We headed down Champlain toward and around The Bowl, to my favorite hike in Acadia: Beehive. The rock scrambling and rungs make this a bad choice if you're afraid of heights, but the views of Bar Harbor, the Porcupine Islands, Sand Beach and the Atlantic are excellent. A good alternative to Beehive for the height-averse is Gorham Mountain - similar views, easy hike (stock photo above from 2010 with my dad and stepmom Sandy). After descending Beehive, we picked up the bus at Sand Beach back to Bar Harbor. A lot of people like to hike Cadillac Mountain, the tallest in the park, but I refuse because there's a road to the top. There's nothing like working your tail off to reach a peak only to be surrounded by a bunch of cars and people instead of serenity and nature (yes, I sound old).

Back in Bar Harbor, we decided to enjoy a flight of beer and dinner at Atlantic Brewing - Shawn looks pretty happy, doesn't he? I'm a big fan of so many restaurants in Bar Harbor that I struggle with choosing or advising where to eat - pretty much anywhere. We were married in Bar Harbor, had our rehearsal dinner at Rupununi's, Shawn's impromptu bachelor party at the Dog and Pony and my bachelorette party at Geddy's. It's a special place for us and we inevitably visit some combination of those while we are there. We also enjoy ice cream at Ben and Bill's and moseying around the Cool as a Moose shop.

Today was kind of a boring day from a travel blog perspective. We got the rental cleaned up and squared away, and headed toward Millinocket which is a 2.5 hour or so drive from Southwest Harbor. We stopped for lunch at Pat's Pizza in Ellsworth, such a fan of Pat's double dough. We explored my alma mater, University of Maine at Orono: the Alfond Arena, my old dorm, the student union. It's changed a lot and I felt old. We went into Orono to check out Marsh Island Brewing where we enjoyed a peanut butter stout, and then headed north for adventure. We saw a couple of moose on the way in a bog - always keep your eyes out for wildlife driving this far north.

Our pre- and post-Katahdin lodging was Five Lakes Lodge on South Twin Lake, just south of Millinocket. WOW! What a stunning accommodation - look at the size of that bed! Perfect views of Katahdin from every room. It's a B&B open year-round and an indulgent way to experience the Maine woods, with tons to do right there at the lodge. Rick and Debbie are fantastic hosts, most helpful with advice, and I still dream about Debbie's breakfasts (I'd still like that pancake recipe .... ).

We awoke at around 5am to perfect weather and breakfast that Debbie had laid out for us the night before (note: always check the weather before you hike Katahdin!). In advance, we had secured parking reservations which are recommended if you are not staying inside the park at a cost of $5. For Maine residents you can book parking after April 1, but for non-Maine residents we could reserve up to two weeks before our hike. There are three options: Roaring Brook (Chimney Pond and Helon Taylor Trails), Abol (Abol Trail) and Katahdin Stream (Hunt Trail). The Togue Pond Gate to Baxter State Park opens at at 6am and your spot is guaranteed until 7am, after that it's first-come, first-serve. We chose Katahdin Stream and the Hunt Trail (10.4 miles, 4188 ft elevation gain) because we wanted to hike the last section of the AT (or first depending on your direction) and see the Katahdin Stream Falls on the way. We figured 10.4 miles round trip - piece of crumb cake, this 5am start time is unnecessary. We were very, very wrong...

We arrived to the gate at 5:45am to a fairly long line of cars, but once the gate opened it moved efficiently. The Hunt Trail was a great choice for us and we really enjoyed the variety. The first 3 miles traversed classic Maine woods - smelled so fresh and piney. It was fairly easy for us and lulled us into a false sense of security. Katahdin Stream Falls were awesome. Coming out of the woods the views were impressive, but we didn't get to notice them much because for the next mile and a quarter we were climbing serious boulders on Hunt Spur. Shawn slipped once on loose gravel and nearly fell a very, very long way. With the rough granite, gloves would have been nice but not necessary. Damn that was hard. We emerged onto a fairly level tableland, still slow-going due to the rocky terrain, and passed by Thoreau Spring. The top creeped up on us more quickly than expected (luckily, we were tired) and views from the top were phenomenal. We could see the lakes, South Basin and Knife's Edge over to Chimney Peak. This reminded me of the book we are all made to read in school "Don Fendler: Lost on a Mountain in Maine." Clouds came and went over the peak as we ate our lunch. The trail was busy but we encountered only one AT thru-hiker at the end of her journey. The hike down was just as hard as the hike up, we were covered in sweat and tired. Katahdin is a monster not to be under-estimated. We've hiked many epic trails of longer distance and more elevation gain, but Katahdin still ranks as our hardest of all time.

We were back to the lodge by 4pm. We cleaned up and headed to dinner at Scootic In where we powered down two seriously large plates of pasta. We loved that place, no frills good food. After dinner, we drove for a short while on the Golden Road looking for moose, but we were unlucky so headed back for an amazing night of rest.

We departed 5 Lakes Lodge with full tummies and extremely sore legs. If we were to be staying another day, we'd be rafting the Penobscot River - great rapids, wicked views of Katahdin and I've seen a moose more than once on that river. Northern Outdoors and New England Outdoor Center are both great outfitters. (Note: stock photo to the left of a trip in 2010 with our pal, Kara, and Katahdin in the background).

We headed to Skowhegan to spend the rest of our trip with my grandfather, Norman, pictured to the left with my late Nana. Love his shirt, don't you? Central Maine is not a typical destination spot but if you are passing through, near and dear to my heart are Big G's restaurant in Fairfield (we always go at least once), apple-picking at The Apple Farm in Skowhegan and enjoying soft-serve ice cream as much as possible - usually at the Ice Cream Shoppe close to my grandfather's. It's tough to find good soft-serve ice cream in the south.