if only briefly...
i'm back! and departing again swiftly tomorrow for lancaster to see BWNK!'s fam and camp with friends, so before i leave, let me tell you what i did while i was gone:
BWNK! and i got back to brooklyn about 3:15 this afternoon after an 8 hour and 45 minute drive from Acadia National Forest!
it all started last Sunday when we left Brooklyn with our sites set on Portland, ME (not MA, thanks lucy!)
highlights of portland included a cheap motel, ice cream at beal's where my coworker kate used to work, and the best beer i have ever had. it was called vacationland and it's a summer ale from a place called gritty mcduff's.
yum!
i highly recommend it to anyone who ever makes their way up to portland; the onion petals were also delicous. oh did i mention accidently biking on a highway and over an unlit bridge at night to get back to said motel from downtown portland? whoops...
we bid adieu to portland with our sites set on acadia and after a lot of meandering around cool bridges and a place called rockport, we made our way there around 5pm. we set up the tent, matress, etc and after a short hike/meander around backwoods till we found our way back to a trail, we built a fire, cooked some food, played 20 questions, then hunkered down for the night. where we quickly leanred maine is colder than we thought at night, even in mid-may, COLLLLDDDDD!!!
hiking off-trail
we rode our asses off along the historic carriage roads of the parks and discovered a lot of cool beaver handiwork. i thought i was a badass and could in no way get tired, but those hills proved me wrong! after a little bout of pouting and whining (and sitting to rest), we found our way to historic bar harbor, a very cute little hamlet in the middle of the vast wilderness of the park, and got a delicous very maine lunch of blueberry pancakes (ryan) and a fish sandwich (me) at a place called jordan's. after lunch we finished the last leg of our only-kinda-long, but very tiring bike ride, made a fire, ate, and took a nap back at the campsite. after that we drove to mount bubble and hiked back up and down that which was nice and just long enough and hard enough to wake us up. we retunred to bar harbor and did some indulgent grocery shopping and got ingredients for smores, chips and dip, beer, wine, AND corn on the cob, then we decided to drive to the top of mount cadillac, the highest peak on the eastern seaboard. after which came back to the campsite and dined like kings on our grocery store loot! then a long game of 20 questions after which we wimped out and slept in the car.
the long ride: bikes in nature
a stop along the way, jordan "pond": every man is (on) an island
and not to be forgotten, the handiwork of beavers:
mount bubble and it's namesake rock
the little gray sub-compact that could at the top of cadillac mountain + a view
(ps mount desert is the very large island on which acadia national park is located) ryan was feeling sick (i think one of the cans of raviolis he had the previous night for dinner was expired, whoops!) so we slept in late, had an easy, fire-less lunch, and then around 11:30 set out for another hike. this one our longest! during which we got to the top of mount dorr and walked around the tarn (a pond by acadia standards, but a lake by many others probably) and the woods in general. grabbed a quick bite back at the campsite and digested while we drove to a historic lighthouse where we walked around for a bit. , before making our way to mount beech for what turned out to be my favorite hike up the back half of the mountain to the old fire-look-out house at the summit then back down the otherside which abutted the lake where we had parked. after that we decided to try to beat the sunset before it reached pretty marsh, but due to road work failed. by this point it was pretty late so we rushed home, heated up a quick dinner, drank a little, and finished the night with a quick round of 20 questions and went to bed in the tent again, but with greater success (aka not dying of cold).
Mount Dorr
the lighthouse
backside of mount beech and the fire house
the sunset that escaped us
my thoughts on day 3 without a shower
and i must say after all that, and not showering for three days till just moments ago, i have never felt so clean in all my life!
BWNK! and i got back to brooklyn about 3:15 this afternoon after an 8 hour and 45 minute drive from Acadia National Forest!
it all started last Sunday when we left Brooklyn with our sites set on Portland, ME (not MA, thanks lucy!)
highlights of portland included a cheap motel, ice cream at beal's where my coworker kate used to work, and the best beer i have ever had. it was called vacationland and it's a summer ale from a place called gritty mcduff's.
yum!
i highly recommend it to anyone who ever makes their way up to portland; the onion petals were also delicous. oh did i mention accidently biking on a highway and over an unlit bridge at night to get back to said motel from downtown portland? whoops...
we bid adieu to portland with our sites set on acadia and after a lot of meandering around cool bridges and a place called rockport, we made our way there around 5pm. we set up the tent, matress, etc and after a short hike/meander around backwoods till we found our way back to a trail, we built a fire, cooked some food, played 20 questions, then hunkered down for the night. where we quickly leanred maine is colder than we thought at night, even in mid-may, COLLLLDDDDD!!!
hiking off-trail
we rode our asses off along the historic carriage roads of the parks and discovered a lot of cool beaver handiwork. i thought i was a badass and could in no way get tired, but those hills proved me wrong! after a little bout of pouting and whining (and sitting to rest), we found our way to historic bar harbor, a very cute little hamlet in the middle of the vast wilderness of the park, and got a delicous very maine lunch of blueberry pancakes (ryan) and a fish sandwich (me) at a place called jordan's. after lunch we finished the last leg of our only-kinda-long, but very tiring bike ride, made a fire, ate, and took a nap back at the campsite. after that we drove to mount bubble and hiked back up and down that which was nice and just long enough and hard enough to wake us up. we retunred to bar harbor and did some indulgent grocery shopping and got ingredients for smores, chips and dip, beer, wine, AND corn on the cob, then we decided to drive to the top of mount cadillac, the highest peak on the eastern seaboard. after which came back to the campsite and dined like kings on our grocery store loot! then a long game of 20 questions after which we wimped out and slept in the car.
the long ride: bikes in nature
a stop along the way, jordan "pond": every man is (on) an island
and not to be forgotten, the handiwork of beavers:
mount bubble and it's namesake rock
the little gray sub-compact that could at the top of cadillac mountain + a view
(ps mount desert is the very large island on which acadia national park is located) ryan was feeling sick (i think one of the cans of raviolis he had the previous night for dinner was expired, whoops!) so we slept in late, had an easy, fire-less lunch, and then around 11:30 set out for another hike. this one our longest! during which we got to the top of mount dorr and walked around the tarn (a pond by acadia standards, but a lake by many others probably) and the woods in general. grabbed a quick bite back at the campsite and digested while we drove to a historic lighthouse where we walked around for a bit. , before making our way to mount beech for what turned out to be my favorite hike up the back half of the mountain to the old fire-look-out house at the summit then back down the otherside which abutted the lake where we had parked. after that we decided to try to beat the sunset before it reached pretty marsh, but due to road work failed. by this point it was pretty late so we rushed home, heated up a quick dinner, drank a little, and finished the night with a quick round of 20 questions and went to bed in the tent again, but with greater success (aka not dying of cold).
Mount Dorr
the lighthouse
backside of mount beech and the fire house
the sunset that escaped us
my thoughts on day 3 without a shower
and i must say after all that, and not showering for three days till just moments ago, i have never felt so clean in all my life!