Author: alison

One of the best lessons I’ve learned in the last 3.5 years, since Covid, of the numerous lessons I have learned, is that multiple things can exist at the same time. I can’t tell you enough how helpful this lesson has been for me. I think of the life I used to live in the binary and I feel like I don’t even know who that person is anymore. How freeing my life has become without trying to put everything into one of two boxes. And, decolonizing your brain is a VERY difficult task. Unlearning takes time. For me it is often a minute by minute challenge. I am also trying to remind myself that change doesn’t happen overnight and to give myself grace even when I stumble. As long as the general direction is forward amiright? 

I’ve been missing my people a lot lately. I haven’t been in the presence of any friends or family, except for Dave, since September 3rd. And, another lesson I learned, in cultivating my circle, my people will be my people no matter where I am in the world. My dad was in Boston for work this week and there was a tiny long shot that he was going to be able to drive up and visit us for 24hrs. I was trying to not get my hopes up and when it didn’t work out I was pretty bummed. This is where perspective comes in. I can miss my people and be grateful for this experience. The situation can always be worse. I can be disappointed and happy that we are both safe, alive and well. Many things can exist at the same time. I can’t waste any time complaining about any of it!

I reserved a spot to visit Cadillac Mountain yesterday in the event that my dad would come. I was excited to go too because we hadn’t been up there yet. I am so glad that I decided to go on my own. I’m getting really good at solo exploring and had a wonderful day. I also loved being able to go in the morning on a weekday because it was A LOT less crowded than it is on the weekends, which makes sense.  Let’s just say I understand now why it is one of the top destinations in Acadia. There is a gorgeous, almost 360 degree view, from up there. I feel like I repeat myself a lot, which I am sure you are getting used to at this point, and Acadia is a truly spectacular place! 

After spending about an hour exploring the summit I made my way back down and decided to visit Southwest Harbor as a recommendation from a friend. It is a cute little town. Not too much to report on that. I think if I was planning on taking the ferry to one of the islands in the area that is where I would do that. I also had been wanting to explore the Bar Harbor Shore Path more because I loved it so much the first time we went but ran out of time to walk the whole thing. So I drove to Bar Harbor next.

I have to say that even driving around the park and not stopping anywhere is glorious and it is hard to not stop at every vista because of the beauty! Bar Harbor is nuts even on a weekday. We found a parking lot on the edge of town last time we were there that is only $2/ hour instead of $4 and has a bathroom by it so I consider it a little hidden gem. And it is on the side of the town where the shore path starts so win win. The shore path goes all the way to the harbor and offers incredible views of the Porcupine Islands and hotels, cruise ships and fishing boats, sea gulls and lobster traps. 

I was able to get a table at Jeannie’s Great Maine Breakfast after my walk, which was incredibly packed when we tried to go before whale watching, and it was pretty good. I wish that Dave had the opportunity to go to Acadia and Bar Harbor not on a weekend because it is a lot less nutters. 

We went to dinner at the Lucerne Inn on Tuesday night just to mix it up a little bit and it offers a great view of Bald Mountain and Phillips Lake. The server said Bald Mountain wasn’t too challenging of a hike, and it had stopped raining as I was leaving Bar Harbor, so I decided to check it out. The reviews I read said that the path can be difficult to find, which was true, and Google surprisingly led me right there. When I arrived at the spot it directed me to, I just didn’t think that the rock face I saw was the parking lot. So I decided to take a gravel path that looked like other people seemed to have driven on, let’s just say those people for sure had Jeeps! I was very nervous about getting stuck or having a large rock give my little Honda Civic a flat in the middle of nowhere, and I had to keep going forward. Terrifying! By the grace of God I got out of there without a flat and drove down the initial rock cliff, that for sure wasn’t the parking lot right, and headed home. 

This weekend we hope to visit some of the other cities/ towns nearby. We’re thinking Camden, Belfast, and Rockport. Dave hasn’t had a full weekend without work since he started working 5 weeks ago so I’m excited to truly do whatever we want to do this weekend. We have reservations at the restaurant on Jordan Pond on Sunday so I’m excited for Dave to see it and do the hike around the pond together.  I hope everyone is doing well where you are. You are missed and loved. 

Oh how I do love myself a good alliteration! It is definitely Fall in Maine. I know my Midwest family experienced unseasonably high temperatures this past weekend, and even though it was in the 70s in Acadia yesterday, that was not the case during our whale watching expedition on Saturday out of Bar Harbor. It was about 55 degrees on the boat and it took me until, what felt like Sunday morning to thaw, and it was worth it!

We just finished our first week in Brewer, ME. A very small town of 9,636 people, Brewer is just across the river from Bangor which is slightly bigger with 31,921 people. We chose to stay in Brewer because of its proximity to Acadia National Park. When we began planning this trip several months ago we were thinking that Acadia would be an incredible place to see the fall colors. We had been to Maine once before and only made it as far as Portland back in 2015. We absolutely loved the landscape and have been wanting to come back ever since.

We had a pretty easy week after the seemingly non-stop sight seeing of Quebec and it has been nice to not feel as much pressure to do that since we’re here for four weeks. After settling in, shipping packages home because I of course brought more than I needed, getting groceries, going to the laundromat and getting my vaccinations,  I did manage to get out of town a couple of the days to do some exploring. We have met so many nice people so far who have all graciously given us recommendations for what to see and do while we’re here.  My first stop was at Dragonfly Winery in Stetson. One fun fact about that is that the wine is very similar to the wine in MN. This is mainly because of the similar climate and the fact that several of the wineries in this area use the Frontenac grape that was developed at the University of Minnesota, represent!

I also visited Bissell Brothers in Milo and Orono Brewing which is in Orono where the University of Maine is located, and the Orono Bog Trail, which I shared some pictures of below, was absolutely gorgeous and peaceful. One of the things that I was taken with there was this amazing carpet of red sphagnum peat moss that looked like it should be growing under the sea. It is nice that some of the leaves and ferns are beginning to change colors and I can’t wait to go back and do more exploring there as there are several trails in that area. 

Saturday we did a whale watching trip out of Bar Harbor. Dave had never been whale watching before, and we had heard they had seen a Sperm whale earlier that week, so we thought we’d give it a try. We were told that it can be at least 10 degrees cooler on the boat so we brought several layers and were still pretty chilly. We just haven’t had a chance to acclimate yet, and like I said above, it was worth it. The first cool thing we saw was a pod of over 30 Atlantic White-Sided dolphins. They were following along with the boat for a while and it was really fun to watch them jump and play in the waves. As we continued on we did get to see one Humpback Whale named Ditto who got pretty close to the boat. Toward the end of the trip we also saw a few Fin back whales but they were pretty far away and we learned that they don’t show their fluke when they dive so they weren’t as easy to see. We also saw several Puffins, Harbor seals and Grey seals along the way as well. 

Yesterday was the celebration of life for my friend who passed away. She absolutely loved nature so I knew that I wanted to be somewhere experiencing its beauty in honor of her and nature definitely showed up! It isn’t peak colors yet but you can definitely understand why people say Acadia is one of their favorite parks. The mixture of coniferous and deciduous trees, the mountains, rocks, islands and proximity to water all contribute to the majesty of the park. We’re hoping to go back several times in the next three weeks before we leave. We still need to see Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, Otter’s Cliff and Jordan Pond. 

We finished our day yesterday with a walk along the Bar Harbor Shore Path which offered great views of the Porcupine Islands of Bar, Sheep, Burnt, Long and Bald. Our whale watching guide gave us a mnemonic device for how to remember the names in order; if a Sheep is Burnt too Long it will be Bald. 

This is truly a gorgeous area and I am so thankful for this extended amount of time here to enjoy and explore it. There is so much to see and to not feel stressed about trying to see it all in one week is truly a gift. We are really working on our “BE” while we’re here and I think we’re off to a good start.