Maine

Our vacation to Maine was absolutely wonderful. It was, unfortunately, flanked on either end by weather related flight delays, but the time spent in Maine could not have been more perfect.
The weather was amazing until the last half day of the trip (when it cooled down and rained)- sunny and 70 during the day, and cooling into the 50's at night.
On Saturday we drove from Portland to Bar Harbor. (We were supposed to drive up Friday afternoon but we didn't make it to Portland until midnight!)
Route 1 was very scenic, and we stopped and took some pictures along the way.
For lunch, we stopped in Trenton to eat at the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound. We shared steamers, a lobster, and blueberry pie à la mode. Everything was wonderful. Once we got to Bar Harbor, we checked into our B&B, the lovely Coach Stop Inn. After unpacking, we drove to Acadia National Park to fit in a little hiking before dinner.
First we stopped at the Jordan Pond House for tea and popovers, then we began to hike around the Jordan Pond and up a trail called the South Bubble Trail. We had asked a ranger for trail suggestions and she specifically mentioned that the hike to the top of South Bubble was "easy."
Apparently her definition of "easy" involves 500 feet of boulder scrambling up the side of a mountain. It was really fun, just not what I expected my first hike to entail! And we do think that there was an easier trail to the top that we must have overlooked because we saw a family with a toddler at the top, and there was no way they would have been able to come up the way we did!
We thought that the way down was going to be the easy trail that we had missed, but it was just as difficult as the way up. Ultimately though, I really loved that hike because I felt so proud of myself for being able to get through it. This entire trip, especially the hiking, made me feel so thankful for my strong, healthy body!
The next morning, we returned to Acadia and hiked the Great Head Trail. This trail was completely different. The Jordan Pond and South Bubble Trails had great views of the pond and woods and mountains, whereas the Great Head Trail had lovely views of Sandy Beach, the ocean, and sea cliffs. It was also a lot easier than the South Bubble Trail. The picture I've posted was taken as I'm lying on a rock above the sea cliffs listening to the waves crash below. It was amazing and totally relaxing. (We also took a million more pictures so feel free to check them out on my facebook page.)
After our hike, we went into Bar Harbor for lunch and wandered around the downtown area. We then drove to Portland to our second B&B the Pinecrest Bed and Breakfast. We ended our day with dinner and local microbrewed beers at the Sebago Brewing Company Brew Pub.
(We actually tried several different microwbrewery beers over the course of the trip. My favorites were the Bar Harbor Brewing Blueberry Ale, and the Sebago seasonal wheat beer.)
On Monday we drove around and saw a bunch of lighthouses in and around Portland, including the lights at Two Lights State Park, the Portland Head Light, the Spring Street Light and the Bug Light. We ate lunch at Duckfat (truffle ketchup is the bomb!) hen spend the afternoon wandering around the Old Port district. We ended the day by taking a sunset cruise in Casco Bay. Unfortunately, my camera battery ran out at the last lighthouse before Portland, so I didn't actually take any pictures of Portland or of the Casco Bay Cruise. It was very pretty though. Basically, we just got tickets on the ferry that services all of the small islands in Casco Bay. There was no description beyond the island names, but the 2 hour ride was beautiful and I was really envious of the people who get to live on gorgeous islands off the coast of Maine! The other notable fact about the sunset cruise is that it was windy and cold on the water, especially after the sun went down! After we got back to land, we warmed ourselves up with bowls of chowder.
On our last day it was cold and raining, so we spent it indoors as much as possible. We toured the Wadsworth Longfellow House and the Portland Museum of Art.
After a tasty lunch at the Public Market House, we drove to the airport because our flight was at 4. Unfortunately, we ended up having to stay in Washington D.C. over night and didn't get home until Wed. morning.
Overall, it was a wonderful trip and I would love to go back to Maine some day. I also want to continue hiking. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did!