California, 2017

Vernal Falls

Another successful, semi-annual California summit of Sarah, Michele, and Laura is in the books! We spent 2.5 days in Yosemite hiking (including climbing Half Dome) and driving around the park, and 2.5 days in the Monterey area drinking wine, visiting the aquarium, and eating tons of delicious food. Here are a few highlights and photos.

Half Dome Village

View from Half Dome Village

On Tuesday, Sarah flew into LA from NY, where Michele picked her up and they drove 4.5ish hours to the Fresno airport, where I arrived. Then we drove a couple hours (but surprisingly few miles) to Yosemite National Park. We booked a tent with four cot-beds on a wooden floor, nestled in a colony of identical semi-permanent shelters in the Half Dome Village. We arrived a little before dinner time, so we dropped our bags and toured around our little colony. There were hundreds of tents next to a little center with a souvenir shop, grocery store, pizza place, buffet restaurant, and bar.

We had a quick dinner and got ready for an early bedtime. We were going to get up around 5 am for the Half Dome hike, estimating it would take us anywhere from 10 to 14 hours. We met a girl in the bathroom who did it in 10 hours, which instilled a tiny bit of optimism, but she also appeared to be in much better shape than us.

Wednesday morning the alarms were blaring, but we were moving pretty slowly. It was too early for the park shuttle (or breakfast, but Michele brought coffee), so we had to walk almost a mile from camp to the trail head. We started on the trail by 6:30, and it was gorgeous. Towering green trees (I can't tell tree species, sorry) soaring around us, soft dirt surrounding our paved path, a creek babbling by, little woodland creatures scurrying. But then it quickly became steep, and didn't stop for a couple hours. We passed two waterfalls and then slowly plateaued out. We had "lunch" at 9:30 in a nice meadow area by the river where people who don't bring enough water restock their camelbaks on the way down. (Tip if you want to hike Half Dome: I had a 3-liter generic camelbak and a 1-liter Nalgene, which was the exact amount of water one person needs. I also had hiking poles, gloves for the cables, a visor and sunscreen, and plenty of food.)

On the Mist Trail

Cables!

Shortly after lunch (PB&J and trail mix) we got to the second uphill push, which consisted of a bunch of switchbacks for about an hour. Then we came out to a nice, flat vista where we could see Half Dome, and people climbing up the terrifying cables strapped to the side of the rock face. It's way too steep to just hike up, so the park installed cable handrails that you use to pull yourself up the rock face for the final 400 or so feet. My palms started sweating looking at it.

Then we had a bit of gradual uphill before the "granite stairs," also known as the "sub-dome," which is the last uphill push before the cables. It was about 30 minutes of granite steps in switchbacks, and then an expanse of open dome face, but at a low enough grade that you just lean in and walk up it. There's no trail or anything, but the peak of Half Dome is right there, so you just aim for it.

Top of Half Dome

And then we got to a little dip in the terrain. We had completed the sub-dome and were staring at Half Dome. It was a flat reprieve, except that you were walking toward the cables, and you could see the people scurrying up them. All of my pores started sweating. I'm terrified of heights, and this was a doozy. But Michele and I charged forward valiantly (Sarah decided she had enough just before the end of the sub-dome), bracing for the inevitable. We already hiked straight up for almost 7 hours. Of course this shit was happening.

We both knew to bring gloves (anyone considering it: BRING GLOVES. There's a pile of gloves left by other hikers at the base of the cables, but I wouldn't depend on them), so we pulled them out and slid them on our hands like warriors of old preparing for battle. We left our hiking poles at the base of the cables but carried our backpacks with us for water.

Yosemite Falls

Mish and I conferred at the base of the cables and decided I would go first. I walked up, put one hand on each cable (imagine a narrow stairwell, where the railings are thin cables and the steps are wooden planks 10 feet apart and 10 feet straight up and everything else is a rock face steeply leading off to your death), and went for it. It wasn't difficult in the beginning because it wasn't too steep yet. Just step, step, cable, cable, and boom, you're at the first wooden plank. But then it got steeper, and we caught up to a girl having a panic attack on the way up who caused a traffic jam for people trying to go down (did I mention up and down traffic share the same narrow cable staircase?), and it got a little hairier. But I shocked myself by not freaking out about the heights. I was able to chill and look around at each wooden plank I had to stop at, while also encouraging the girl in front of me. It took us much longer than it should have to get to the top, but panic-attack girl made it too and I'm glad I didn't devolve into one of those assholes who yelled at her about keeping it moving so they could go. Slow and steady wins the race for everyone. 

We made it to the top, and stumbled our way toward the edge of Half Dome. As always with these sorts of things, it was anti-climatic. I never get a rush of satisfaction at reaching a peak. I never imagine ticker tape raining down upon me. It's a sweaty, exhausting, drained moment in which I say, "Cool. I'm here." I feel the satisfaction of a hike when I'm at the bottom, looking back up at where I've come from. So Michele and I drank some water, took some photos, and I headed back down as an unchanged human.

But here's the crazy thing. Going down the cables was AMAZING! It was so much fun. I felt like I was at an amusement park. It looked awful on the way up, but on the way down it was a ride. I held each cable in my corresponding hand and slid down Half Dome, stopping when I needed to let people going up pass. It was the best part of the hike, hands down. Super fun.

Fish Hopper on Cannery Row, Monterey

Then we got back to the sub-dome and we had 5+ hours of downhill until we were back at camp. I'll spare you the details because it's like every time I go downhill: awful, painful, grumpy, nothing worth reading about. We made it back to camp after 13 hours. Much worse than the super-fit, friendly girl in the bathroom, but much better than everyone who didn't make it to the top. Overall it was about 15 miles. We took the Mist Trail up (which is steeper but shorter and takes you closer to the waterfalls) and the Muir Trail down (which is longer but has less extreme downhills).

Monterey Aquarium

We were all hobbled and sore, but we made it to the village square for food and celebratory drinks. And then a loooong night of sleep.

I'm going to breeze through the rest of the trip, not because it was less interesting, but because the hike was the formative lynch pin of the trip. And because I got carsick and puked twice on the ride from Yosemite to Monterey and no one needs to read that.

The day after the Half Dome hike, Michele drove us around Yosemite. We saw Yosemite Falls and various other parts of the park. That night we had dinner at our village and took the shuttle to the fancy hotel for drinks.

Sunset, sisters, wine

Vineyards

Lover's Point, Monterey (great for reading)

Big Sur

Andrew Molera Park, Big Sur

The next day we headed out of the park (which always takes a long time) toward Monterey, arriving in time for dinner overlooking the water at what the hostess said was the best table in the restaurant (why she gave it to us will always be a mystery). We went back to our adorable AirBnB for wine and board games. The next day we did the 17-mile drive through Pebble Beach to Carmel, and hit up some wine-tasting rooms in Carmel. We drove out to the Carmel Valley to a couple of tasting rooms and then drove back to town (Mish was being a very good sport and being our driver). Then it was a sunset drink on the beach, another awesome seafood dinner, more board games, and bed. The next day we went to the aquarium, which is so much more expensive than I expected but I'm happy to pay it. Our rental house provided 2 free passes, but it was still $50 for the third admission. Worth it, because they do so much education and conservation work as well. Go to the aquarium!

Big Sur

Sarah and Mish drove out to more wineries that afternoon, but I wanted to walk to the beach with my book and relax. Everyone got what they wanted, and we met up for dinner later at the fantastic Red House. The next day we had breakfast at the Red House again because it was so good, dropped Sarah off at the airport, and Mish and I drove toward Big Sur. The town is still cutoff because of the mudslide, but we were able to do a little beach walk and see some beautiful sights before it was time for me to go to the tiny Monterey airport for my long flights home.

Bixby Creek Bridge, Big Sur

Colorado, May 2017

Continuing the mini-break trend this year, one month after going to West Texas, the boyfriend and I packed up for a long weekend in Colorado. One of his best friends from high school was getting married near Boulder, so we were going for his Saturday wedding and decided to make a long weekend of it. We flew to Denver on a Wednesday night after work, and flew back home on Sunday. Here are a few of the highlights and pictures.

Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park! The weather was beautiful (sunny and cool); the trail was one of those magical ones where the ground is soft and muffles all the sound so you feel like you're communing with the trees; and there were waterfalls and snow on the ground in spots.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Stanley Hotel (aka The Shining hotel)

I have to include photos of myself
because A and I didn't take
real photos. :-(

Estes Park where we stayed for one night and wandered around the picturesque main street (and swung by the Stanley Hotel because it's obligatory).






Boulder: We rented bikes to cruise around the incredibly bike-friendly city. They even have a bicycle highway network! People can get around the whole town without having the constant threat of death by car that I experience regularly in Austin. First we biked up to Chautauqua Park, but the lack of immediate shade put a damper on my enthusiasm for exercise, so we turned around and headed into downtown. We hit the main shopping street before stopping by the Dushanbe Tea House (built in Tajikistan and shipped to Boulder!) for chai and snacks. And then it was time to try out a couple breweries. We went to Vision Quest where I had a tasty sour beer, and Sanitas where I think I had an IPA (but it wasn't super remarkable).

Dushanbe Tea House

Biking to the next brewery in Boulder

And the wedding, of course, which was beautiful AND included brunch (the best of all the meals). Par for the trip, I only took this photo at the wedding, which shows nothing about the lovely couple, venue, food, or ceremony.

Handsome introvert finds his beer

Thanks for treating me so well, Colorado! I've been stranded at the Denver airport twice, but this trip is a good start to redeeming yourself.

West Texas, April 2017

The last time I went to West Texas, it was August and I was on crutches. It's much better in April with full mobility. Ironically, I roughed it way more on crutches.

Moon rise at Indian Lodge

Indian Lodge

This time around, Andrew's parents and his aunt and uncle planned a long weekend for all of us, based in Indian Lodge in the Davis Mountains State Park. Andrew and I drove out on a Wednesday and I was pleasantly surprised that the drive from Austin to the Davis Mountains was only 6.5 hours. I thought it was 8. We beat the real grown ups to Indian Lodge (they were coming from Houston via Kerrville via San Antonio via a bunch of backroads for geocaches), so we checked in, dropped our bags in our room, and wandered the beautiful hotel made to look like an adobe village. After our tour, right on time, the adults arrived.

After Ed, Sharon, Mary, and Lee settled in, we piled into Mary and Lee's car and drove to Marfa for dinner. Only 30 minutes away, it was the first of a few satellite destinations on our list.

Paisano patio

We had dinner at Hotel Paisano, the fancy hotel in Marfa, followed by drinks on their picturesque patio while we waited for the sun to go down. Aside from the Chinati Foundation (which we did not go to but I've been to on that crutches trip--highly recommend), the Marfa Lights are the biggest attraction in town, but you can only see them at night. So we had a little time to kill before driving over to the viewing area. On a good night, visitors can see inexplicable dots of light on the horizon, moving in weird and unpredictable ways. Some seem to fly right at you, others dance around or flicker, and still others just flash on occasion.

Looking for the Lights

I say this based on experience. I've seen them before, and they're super cool on a good night. Theories abound as to what causes the lights (aliens, car lights, atmospheric reflections, cow farts, etc.), but there's still no scientific consensus, which is one of the biggest draws. We all think we'll be able to solve the mystery. Unfortunately for our group, we did not make any groundbreaking discoveries that night. We saw a couple lights in the distance that might have been remarkable, but also might have been porch lights on distant houses. After about 30 minutes of valiant staring, we all gave up. No Marfa Lights for us.

Old Mine Trail, Big Bend

The next morning Andrew and I got up and headed straight for Big Bend National Park. We were going to spend the day there, while the grown ups went to Terlingua (a very cool ghost town with a general store and a bar full of locals, but not much else). The drive for me and Andrew was about two hours to our trail head. We hiked the Old Mine Trail, a nice, 5ish-mile roundtrip. After the hike we drove around the park for a while, seeing the Santa Elena Canyon before heading back to Davis Mountains.

Old Mine Trail, Big Bend

Santa Elena Canyon, Big Bend

There's one restaurant at Indian Lodge, but they're only open for breakfast and lunch. (Side note: If you're in the area, go there for breakfast and order something you can put their syrup on. Best syrup ever. It tasted almost like an ice-cream topping, caramel or dulce de leche. Do it.) But it was getting close to dinner time, so Andrew and I drove into Fort Davis (the town by the Davis Mountains State Park) to scope out the options. It's a cute small town, with a main street housing pretty much all the food choices (which are limited). We decided to try the Blue Mountain Bistro and, despite the dreadful service, had a delicious meal. Then we were going to wander the cute stores on the main street, but everything was closed already. It was maybe 7:30.

Hotel Limpia, Blue Mountain Bistro

The next morning we hiked through the Davis Mountains and into the Old Fort of Fort Davis. It has a lot of the old, preserved buildings from when it was a functioning fort after the Civil War. At some point the army converted it to a "buffalo soldier" fort, and it was interesting to read about the history and class systems in the fort. But it was hot and we were in full sun and I accidentally kicked a rattlesnake who was sleeping in the grass, so we decided to leave pretty quickly. The roundtrip hike was about nine miles, and Andrew and I both got sunburned. Other than those two hikes, we did a lot of lounging around the hotel, reading by the pool, taking naps, and so on.

Old Fort, Fort Davis

We also drove out to the McDonald Observatory, about 20 minutes from Davis Mountains, for a star party one night. It's a fully functioning, academic observatory, and they frequently host star parties for the public to come out, listen to experts talk about astronomy, and actually look through some of the professional telescopes. They had about seven giant telescopes set up that night, trained on different spots in the sky, and an expert at each one to explain what you were looking at. I loved it, and highly recommend it. One tip, though. The party starts in an open-air auditorium with a speaker pointing out constellations in the sky and discussing all things astronomy. It's interesting, but not the best part and kind of basic information. After about 20 minutes of talking, the speaker paused and said people with kids or anyone generally impatient was free to get up and start looking in the telescopes if they wanted. Everyone else could stay seated for the rest of the talk. I'm impatient, so I headed right for the telescopes. Most people stayed for his talk, so the lines at each scope weren't crazy. I managed to look through almost all of them before he released the rest of the audience, at which point the lines got awful. So leave when the speaker makes the first offer.

Planet Marfa tipi

We spent our last full day back in Marfa, wandering around before lunch at Pizza Foundation, and wandering around some more before drinks at Planet Marfa, my new favorite spot in town. It's a beer garden with an old school bus, a tipi, and little tables tucked into random angles around the patio. But then it was time to head back to Indian Lodge for our last lazy evening in West Texas before the not-as-bad-as-I-expected drive back to Austin. I love this corner of my home state for its vastness, variety of landscape, quirky character, and peaceful vibe. I'm sure I'll be out that way again within the next few years. If you have any favorites in the area, please let me know!

West Texas sunset

2017: The Year of Mini-Breaks

This guy is getting a lot play time in 2017.

This year I'm hoping to take a few short trips, as compared to my big trip in 2016 (Tanzania). So I'm calling 2017 the Year of Mini-Breaks. There will be one international trip at the end of the year (there has to be, per this blog!), but it won't be a budget-buster like last year, which gives me a little wiggle room for small trips scattered throughout the year. Which turns out to be excellent timing, since the boyfriend has a couple of out-of-state weddings to attend that I want to tag along for. And it allows me to take my semi-annual California trip with my best friend and my sister. Here's my anticipated line up for the year:

• Long weekend in NYC to see the sister: February, already happened
• West Texas with the boyfriend's family: April, already happened, post coming soon
• Colorado (near Boulder) for boyfriend's friend's wedding: May
• Nashville: June, this is a work trip, but I still count it because I'm going to try to find good places to eat (and food = travel)
• Maine (near Booth Bay) for boyfriend's step-brother's wedding: June
• California: August, hiking in Yosemite and lazing in Big Sur with Sarah and Michele
• Cuba (I hope!!): December, week trip with friends and boyfriend

Does anyone have recommendations for any of these spots? Especially food recommendations (vegetarian or pescatarian friendly), but anything that could fit into a long weekend is appreciated!

Weekend in New York

My sister moved to Queens last year and I owed her a visit, so on an impulse I used some credit card points and bought a ticket to New York for a three-day weekend. I've been to Manhattan a few times so I didn't feel the need to do anything super touristy or cram the weekend full of activities, which made it very relaxing. I have a few photos from the trip, but be warned: they're mostly of blurry food. I went to New York to eat and I'm a crappy photographer.

I arrived on Friday when Sarah was still working, so I killed a few hours at the Met.
    

The Met

When she got off work, we met at Grand Central Station for happy hour at the Oyster Bar. The champagne was delicious, of course, but oysters are disgusting. I should have known. Why do people like these slimy blobs so much?

 

Oysters are gross, but the Oyster Bar is iconic.

The highlight of the trip was dinner at Le Bernardin, a French seafood restaurant with three Michelin Stars (!!!) for which Sarah had a gift card (work holiday present). I'd never been to a place with even one Michelin star, so I was pretty excited. By pure luck, Sarah scored a last-minute reservation at 10:15 pm, because someone canceled the day before. And because her gift card was very generous, we decided to do the tasting menu with wine pairings!

Le Bernardin

Top left: Amuse-bouches
Top right: Kampachi sashimi and Greek salad (Godello pairing)
Bottom left: Crab-filled calamari with mushroom pot au feu (Champagne pairing)
Bottom right: Seafood truffle pasta with scallop, shrimp, lobster, and black truffle emulsion sauce (Riesling pairing)

More Le Bernardin

Top left: Red snapper in a green curry sauce with goat-yogurt emulsion (Sake pairing)
Bottom left: Salmon, Buddha's hand salad, tarragon-olive oil emulsion (Chardonnay pairing)
Center: "palate cleansing" dessert of cheesecake and lemon sorbet (Tokaji pairing)
Top right: Banana s'more (Chateau la Rame pairing)
Bottom right: surprise dessert sampler after we paid! Pistachio cake, lemon macaron, chocolate tarte, guava jelly, peanut butter truffle

We finished eating at 12:15, and we were ready for bed after all that wine and food (brought to us by an adorable French waiter and an army of other wait staff). My favorites were the sashimi, seafood pasta, snapper, and s'mores. But the whole meal was incredible. I doubt I'll eat that well in a very long time, if ever again.

The next day we went back to Manhattan for brunch at Russ & Daughters, one of Sarah's favorites.

Russ & Daughters

After brunch we did a little (very little) sightseeing at the Brooklyn Bridge and the 9/11 Memorial.

Brooklyn Bridge

One of the 9/11 reflecting pools

Then Sarah tagged out for a hair appointment and our cousin Kendall took over as my tour guide. We hit a few bars in the financial district, and then Sarah met back up and we all went to Brooklyn for pizza and a little bit of salad to pretend we're healthy. And then back to Queens for a nice, long sleep.

Sarah let me sleep away the whole morning on Sunday, and then we wandered around Sunnyside (her neighborhood) and had brunch at a Mexican restaurant. Then it was time for me to pack up and head back to the airport. It was an ideal mini break, full of food and family (and sleeping).

Thanks, Sarah and Kendall, for a great weekend!

Vacationland!

Look at that leg room!

I went to Maine for a long weekend this summer with the boyfriend. He’s from Maine and I’ve wanted to visit it for years, so the relationship is working out well for me. (Not to mention all his other redeeming qualities.) He did most of the planning and worked in a couple really sweet surprises, namely first-class airfare and an adorable B&B on the water in Bar Harbor.

Liquid Riot

We arrived in Portland around 2 on Thursday, picked up the rental car, and headed to the Old Port. (We barely left the airport before I started raving about how cute Maine is.) First stop was Liquid Riot, a brewery and distillery with a patio over looking the water. Next was a late lunch at the Porthole where I got a $20 lobster roll and Andrew got something less outrageously priced.

Porthole lobster roll

Then we wandered in and out of a few kitchy souvenir shops before hitting the road to Hallowell, a little town about an hour away where Andrew’s parents live. When we got there we had some crab sandwiches and a couple beers before I started falling asleep standing up (we had been up since 4:30 for our flight). So I was in bed by 9, happy as could be.

Hallowell waterfront

Friday morning we headed into town with Sharon (Andrew’s stepmom) and hiked around the “rail trail” for a mile or so before Sharon and I tried and failed to drag Andrew into a few of the antique stores and candy shops on the main street in downtown Hallowell (which was so picturesque it looked like something out of a movie).

Downtown Hallowell

We went back to the house to clean up for the party his parents planned for noon. His parents, two aunts and uncles, stepbrother and fiancé, and a high-school buddy hung out, played lawn games, ate burgers and pasta salad for lunch and grilled scallops and whoopie pies for dinner, drank plenty of local beer, and burned some old wood in a bonfire. The weather was beautiful and it was a great way to relax with his family.

Lunch in Trenton

Then it was up on Saturday morning for the three-hour drive to Bar Harbor, a gorgeous village on the water right next to Acadia National Park. We stopped in Trenton, just outside Bar Harbor, for more lobster and crab sandwiches and then drove straight to Acadia.

Andrew had talked up the Beehive hike so much that I don’t think I had a realistic perspective. I just thought it would be cool. We parked, walked through Sand Beach (which reminded me of pictures of tiny Italian beaches tucked between cliffs), and started climbing.

Sand beach from above

Smiling to avoid crying

It didn’t take long to realize (1) what I had agreed to do and (2) that Andrew didn’t understand how deep my fear of heights runs. It was harrowing, clinging to metal bars sticking out of the cliff and scuttling along ledges just a few inches wider than my feet while death taunted me from the rocks below. Andrew had to coax me through a few times, but we finally made it to the top with no tears. We got to descend via the Bowl Trail, a much more civilized approach to hiking.

Second surprise of the trip

We walked back along Sand Beach, this time taking off our shoes and dipping our toes in the Atlantic (way too cold to swim contrary to what all the lunatics in the water would have you think). Then we drove into Bar Harbor and I immediately started oohing and ahhing about how lovely everything was. When we pulled up to Shore Path Cottage my voice went high pitch.

We settled into “Bob’s Room,” I showered off the terror sweats from the Beehive, and then we walked down the lawn of our hotel to the Shore Path that runs along the water in Bar Harbor. It was less than half a mile to the main downtown strip and it was so picturesque. We wandered in a few more souvenir shops and then went to Galyn’s for dinner. It was only 5. We didn’t care.

It worked out perfectly because Galyn’s had early bird specials from 4–6 (not that either one of us has a reputation for being cheap). And since it was only $21 (early birds) for the full lobster meal, and since I planned on trying it while I was up there, I ordered it (and even wore the bib). It was all right. Lobster just doesn’t live up to the hype for me. It’s good, sure, but not amazing and certainly not worth all the money people charge for it.

This guy <3

After dinner we walked to the grocery store to buy lunch fixings for the next day and a bottle of wine to drink on the lawn at our B&B. When we got back, we grabbed our books and a couple wine glasses and settled into the deck chairs facing the water. It was so perfectly relaxing, and we were in bed by 9 or 10.

Sunday morning we got up at 5 to watch the sunrise over the Shore Path and then went back to bed. Just that little moment felt like the ultimate expression of vacation.

Sunrise from the lawn

Sunrise from the Shore Path

We got back up at 8:30 to catch the free breakfast (blueberry pancakes, toast, English muffins, hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, and fruit salad, oh my!); Andrew made some peanut butter and blueberry sandwiches for our day of hiking; and we got ready to hit some more trails in Acadia.

Spring Trail

We started hiking at Jordan Pond at about 10 am, got a little lost trying to find our trail head, but eventually made it the Spring Trail that would take us to the Penobscot Mountain Trail and then on to the Sargent Mountain Trail. Spring started off pretty brutal and had us climbing straight up through rock crevices and such, but I had a wider buffer between myself and the drop to certain death, so I was much chiller than the day before.

Need to work on this

And it evened out pretty quickly when we got to the Penobscot Trail. From there I settled in for a continuous but manageable slog uphill for about an hour and a half to the top of Penobscot Mountain. I tried to take those fun, jumping pictures at the summit but it's not a good look for me.

Then we pulled out our walking poles (breaking them in for Kilimanjaro) and headed down into a little valley between Penobscot and Sargent Mountains. Not long afterward we started going back uphill and put the poles back in our bags. Then it was about another hour to the top of Sargent where we took our lunch break. FYI, peanut butter and blueberry sandwiches are delicious.

View from Sargent

Then we pulled the hiking poles back out and started down Sargent Mountain. It was dreadful. I dislike going downhill under normal conditions, but Sargent was pretty strenuous, which meant I hated it. I stumbled and slid down jumbles of rocks as I tried to keep up with Andrew, who never seems fazed by any of this stuff. I had to take a break about halfway down because I was getting too grumpy.

But then we crossed a little stream and the downhill got better. Still downhill, but on a trail with manageable rocks and even over some stairs. And before I knew it we were emerging on Jordan Pond. It was a beautiful site, taking over the horizon through the deep trees, getting bigger as we got closer. The trail was flat and a chipmunk greeted us as soon as we came out of the woods.

Acadia

From there it was only about 30 minutes back, over some more rocks and then onto a makeshift boardwalk consisting of two planks running parallel a couple feet off the ground. I was convinced I’d break my ankle on them after making it all the way down Sargent uninjured. But I didn’t and we made it back to the car safe and sound. All told, we hiked about four hours, went 6.5 miles, and summited two mountains. Not too shabby!

We went back to our charming temporary home and cleaned up before going back into the thick of Bar Harbor. The town is adorable and everyone knows it, so it’s a mess of tourists all summer long. We darted around them on the sidewalk as we made our way to the Atlantic Brewery. Call me a brewery snob, but this one simply wasn’t worth the time. A flight of six beer samples is only $5, so I guess if you have nothing else to do, sure. But the beer was pretty meh and it was served in an empty room with a bar against the side wall. No tables or even barstools, but one very disinterested, inattentive bartender.

After our flight we headed two doors down to a bar with happy hour, but after a drink and a snack we were both ready for dinner. Again, it was 5 and we still didn’t give a shit. Being old is awesome. We went to Epi’s because they have Andrew’s favorite sandwich (the Cadillac) and got dinner to go. We ate in the park in the heart of downtown, overlooking the water.

Dinner spot

Then we decided to repeat the previous night because it was so nice, so we went back to the grocery store (which was a mob scene both times we were there), picked up a bottle of wine, and then chilled on the lawn again. That’s currently what we’re doing as I’m writing, but we’re going to head back in town soon (I say that like it’s far; it’s maybe three blocks when we don’t take the Shore Path) for ice cream at CJ’s. Andrew says it’s the best. I’ll let you know.

Nope! Ice cream is supposed to be a joyful experience but CJ’s stressed me out. Crowds of people mobbing the counters so I couldn’t see the flavors, and workers yelling at everyone to come up and order. Nope, nope. The ice cream was good, though. After dessert we went back to the hotel for another gloriously early night.

Cadillac selfie

Monday morning (it came too soon!) we had another delicious breakfast on the porch of the B&B before saying farewell to Bar Harbor. We drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain (tallest peak in Acadia) because I couldn't leave without seeing it. Then Andrew drove me through Bangor, his hometown, and I got to see the house he grew up in before we had lunch at his favorite sandwich place. Then we drove to Freeport to visit LL Bean (which I think is a required pilgrimage for Mainers) with all the tourists who weren’t in Bar Harbor. Soon after we were driving back to Portland to spend our last night in Maine with Andrew’s stepbrother and his fiancé (Rob and Jessie), who live close to the airport and were letting us stay at their house (we had another early flight).

We had one last beer in the Old Port with Andrew’s parents (who drove in just to say goodbye) before going to Rob and Jessie’s. They took us out for great pizza (Portland Pie), we chilled for a bit at their house, and then I crawled in bed early (as usual) anticipating that 5 am alarm that would force me out of bed and out of Maine, but only temporarily.