Fall Break 2024: Maine

 Maine!

Oh, how we fell in love with you!

This was the first time any of us had been there.

It is SPECTACULAR.

Especially in the fall.

The timing of our vacation was based on when

NCLA had their fall break, but it just happened

to PERFECTLY coincide with peak (or near-peak)

fall foliage. What a fun, unanticipated benefit!

Look at these views!

Wow!

One of my friends had told me that we HAD to

stop by the LL Bean flagship store.

None of us are really into LL Bean, but it was at a

good point in the drive to take a break, so we stopped.

Fun fish hanging from the ceiling.

It was giant and fun to look around.

Our main destination:

Acadia National Park!

It did NOT disappoint.

It's one of those HUGE national parks.

We hardly scratched the surface of what there

is to see. But we loved the parts that we did get to see.

Isn't it beautiful?

This is an area called Cadillac Mountain.

You have to reserve a time window when you

can go up there. It keeps crowds under control.

We had fun doing jumping pictures.

And a little acro 

So fun.

It was chilly, as you can tell from our winter gear.

Pretty bridge

More gorgeous foliage

We stayed in the Northeast Harbor area,

in a cute little place called Kimball

Terrace Inn. 

This was the view from our window.

Caroline couldn't wait to go explore their cute little downtown.

Unfortunately, it was a little late and most of the stores

were closed 

More cute storefronts there.

And a cool statue made out of shells.

Such a cute little downtown.

We loved their grocery store.

I went birding in the evening.

Not a lot of birds,

but I got to see a beautiful sunset.

Then we went out to dinner

at the restaurant on the hotel property,

The Nor'Easter Pound and Market.

Caroline got a yummy mocktail.

Andrew's the only one that eats lobster,

but that's what you're supposed to eat when you're in Maine.

He was so excited!

But he doesn't usually eat the whole thing like this.

YouTube was required to figure

out exactly how to eat it. Ha!

Day Two: we explored a different part of Acadia.

This was Ship Harbor Trail.

Gorgeous.

Water hiking--my favorite!

The terrain is so different from home.

This was kind of an interesting part of the trail.

More jumping pics

I love little moments like these when we vacation at

National Parks. It seems like being in these beautiful

places create moments to be still and grateful for

God's creations.

Cute little mystery bird that Merlin couldn't identify

Common Eider

Common Loon

We spent a little bit of time in the town of Bar Harbor.

Bear and I found a cute bookstore.

Cute historic homes

This is how the locals pronounce it:

baa-haa-haa

Fun town to walk around.

Parking is hard to find.

Andrew ended up dropping us off and

picking us back up when we were done.

We hiked the Ocean Path Trail.

It starts here at the appropriately-named Sand Beach.

So pretty.

And meanders along the coastline.

Oh, how I loved sneaking gorgeous views like these

along the hike.

Andrew's Achilles tendon STILL isn't quite recovered,

even though it has been almost a year since his last surgery.

They have some intense hikes in Acadia, but we kept it 

slow and easy. 

Taking a few minutes to just enjoy the views.

Some cormorants at the shore

Caroline rescuing a caterpillar along the trail.

Made a super quick stop at Little Hunters Beach

So many rocks!

I thought of Grandma Sweat.

Also made a quick stop at Jordan Pond.

Andrew's heels were killing him, so Bear

and I went down to the pond to check it out,

More gorgeous views

With some awesome fall foliage.

I LOVE this pic of me and my girl!

Dinner at Colonel's Restaurant.

Another yummy find.

There was a comet in the sky that night.

We went out to a dark area to try to see it,

but didn't have any luck.

Cool moon, though. :)

And some final fall foliage views on the way out of town.

We had a GREAT first impression of Maine. We'd LOVE to come back and spend more time.