Tag: Acadia Page 1 of 4
2019 was the best year for travel in my recent memory! Before this year, the last time I had been on an airplane was New Years Day, 2014. In 2019, we took three plane trips and visited more airports than seems reasonable. I finally spent some time west of the Mississippi and even got to break out the passports a few times. We took another amazing cruise and took my family to one of our favorite places.
Today, a memory popped on Facebook that we booked our flights to Phoenix one year ago. That trip was a super busy whirlwind, but it was an experience I will never forget. It was my first time visiting a desert, it was cold and rainy so I still haven’t really gotten a true desert experience. It is still fun to joke about Phoenix being a cold and rainy place. Of course, the highlight was spending a day at the Grand Canyon. Getting there right after they had reopened due to a blizzard was amazing! Crowds were low and the snow really added something special to all of our photos. I’ve printed the above photo and it is now hanging in my living room.
Just about a month after getting home, we hopped on another plane for our much anticipated cruise. We bought a voucher for this cruise on our last cruise back in 2015. We had booked and cancelled and rebooked so many times I was worried we were never actually going to take this trip, so it was a great relief to finally get back on a ship! All of the ports were visited were amazing and we took some great excursions. I can say that I accomplished everything on that trip that I had hoped to. Of course, we also got to experience New Orleans, but I don’t feel like one day was really enough time to take that city in.
After getting home from our cruise, we had just a few short months to prepare for our trip to Maine with my family. It was good to go back and spend more time in a place that has so much to see and do. It was great to share it with my family and watch them take in the beauty for the first time. Of course, we still weren’t able to do all that we wanted to do at Acadia so we’re trying to figure out how we’re going to make it back to Maine in 2020.
Of course, we took some day and weekend trips since June. We went camping at Sleeping Bear Dunes and spent a chilly weekend by the fire in Canada. After spending all that time in airports in the first half of the year, I really do miss getting farther away. Especially with the weather getting colder, I would love to escape somewhere warm for a little bit! I have been obsessively checking for flight deals so we can jet off for another long weekend.
We do have another trip coming up before the end of the year. We are taking my mother-in-law this time and heading back to Corning, New York. Too bad we didn’t make it back to Boston, or we would’ve hit all of our stops on our 2018 road trip again this year. We’re heading out that way because the Corning Museum of Glass has an exhibit until the end of the year entitled “How Glass Got Us To The Moon” that we wanted to check out. So, be sure to stay tuned in the next few weeks for posts about that trip.
Thanks for stopping by! To read about some of our previous trips, click here. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.
Wow! The trip was at the end of June and its the middle of October and I have finally finished my recap. As you can tell, it was a very busy trip that covered a lot of Mt. Desert Island. We were able to do all of the things that we weren’t able to do on our short visit last year. We hiked South Bubble Mountain and explored the carriage roads. Chris did several other solo hikes that I still need to get him to write about for you.
We watched the sunset over Cadillac Mountain from the water and explored waterfalls I didn’t even know were in the park. We saw several lighthouses and explored the Schoodic side of the park. We visited both the winery and brewery on the Island and spent time exploring Bar Harbor. We stayed in both Southwest and Northeast Harbor and spent time in both towns.
The Terrace Grill in Bar Harbor
We also got to do some shopping and enjoyed a lot of good meals. We picked up some fresh Maine lobster and cooked it at home, which Chris did not enjoy killing. Our first meal in Maine was at a place called The Liberal Cup in Hallowell, Maine. We enjoyed the views at Jordan Pond House and The Terrace Grill in Bar Harbor. We found a breakfast place we enjoyed within walking distance of our house in Southwest Harbor called Sips. We dined for a cause at the Common Good Cafe. Our final Maine meal was at a local hangout in Portland called Becky’s. In all of these places, TripAdvisor helped up find delicious, memorable meals that would otherwise fly under the radar!
After a week in Maine, have I seen it all? Absolutely not. I think I got my Mount Desert Island fix, though and I now I want to spend more time in Portland and I want to go back to Hallowell. I would like to see Castine, as well. Bar Harbor is the biggest tourist area in Maine and I would like to see places where most people don’t go. So, I will definitely have to return to Maine!
Thanks for stopping by! To read more about this trip, visit the Mainely Acadia Trip Report page. To read about some of our previous trips, click here. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.
While planning this trip, the number one thing we wanted to do was a carriage tour of the carriage roads. On our first day in Acadia (Sunday), while we were driving the Park Loop Road, we made a stop at Wildwood Stables to book a carriage tour. The first available tour they had was the following Saturday. We were planning on driving back to New Hampshire that day, but we were able to squeeze in a morning carriage tour before heading south. All week, we called checking for cancellations, but we weren’t able to get in any earlier than Saturday morning.
We chose the Mr. Rockefeller’s bridge tour, a two-hour tour that highlights the picturesque bridges that were planned by John D. Rockefeller Jr. One of the highlights of the tour is Cobblestone (above). Built in 1917, Cobblestone is the oldest bridge on the Carriage Roads and the only one built entirely out of cobblestones. The tour takes a short break so you can get out and explore the bridge. I wish I had more time to photograph here!
Jordan Pond Gatelodge
The tour was a great way to see the carriage roads and it was much less strenuous than biking. The price ($40 for adults for the 2-hour tours and $24 for the hour-long tours) is reasonable and totally worth it, in my opinion. The biggest downside is how quick tours book up. I wanted to wait until we knew what the weather was going to be like before booking and by doing so, all the tours early in the week were booked up. We were very lucky we stayed so long or we probably wouldn’t have gotten in. The moral of the story, if a tour of the carriage roads is on your must-do list for Acadia, book it as soon as possible to have your choice of tours and hope the weather cooperates.
Thanks for stopping by! To read more about this trip, visit the Mainely Acadia Trip Report page. To read about some of our previous trips, click here. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.
After a week on Mount Desert Island, we returned to our first stop of the trip, the Park Loop Road. It was a good way to bookend our trip with a nice drive along some of the most scenic spots in the park.
Of course, we got out and walked around the top of Cadillac Mountain to take in the panoramic view of the park. Guests are free to get off the path, but are just asked to stay on the granite surfaces not stay off the vegetation. If you are at all surefooted, this is a nice way to get out of the car and stretch your legs. You are already at the top of the mountain, so its pretty flat, but as you can see in the picture to the left, the ground isn’t very even so it can be easy to trip if you are not paying attention.
After heading down the mountain, we were ready for lunch so we headed to the Atlantic Brewing Company. ABC is the only brewery on Mt Desert Island and they have two locations – one downtown Bar Harbor and one not far from the park. I’m not a big beer drinker so I was glad to see they serve ciders in the restaurant. When we finished eating, we got a tour of the brewery. It is a very small brewery and with our small group, the tour only lasted about 20 minutes. Since we did those bourbon tours a few years ago, it was interesting how similar the beermaking process is. If you are looking to kill some time on Mount Desert Island and you like beer, the Atlantic Brewing Company tour is free and includes a tasting. For more information, visit AtlanticBrewing.com.
Thanks for stopping by! To hear more about this trip, visit the Mainely Acadia Trip Report Page. To read about some of our previous trips, click here. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.
