bar harbor camping trip

This year for our 4th wedding anniversary trip Daniel and I decided to head up the coast to beautiful Bar Harbor, Maine. It has been a place Daniel and I have wanted to visit since we moved here, so we were glad to finally get it done. :) This was also Daniel and I's first time camping just the two of us (we have always gone with other friends or family before) so that was an adventure as well. We really did have a lot of fun though with it being just the two of us. We had a wonderful time relaxing, hiking, and just enjoying our time away together. The weather cooperated [for the most part] which definitely helped. :)

We left Saturday morning (August 14th) for our trip north. Bar Harbor is about 5 hours away from where we live, but we probably took about 9 hours to drive up there as we made a few stops along the way.

Crossing a bridge into Maine, it kind of reminded us of driving from Washington into Oregon and crossing the Columbia River! In this case I think we are crossing over the ocean or some sort of inlet.

Our first stop was actually in Kittery, Maine at the Kittery Outlets. We were really only there for about 30 minutes, but Daniel had never been, they are right off the freeway, and I was dying to go into the Crate and Barrel outlet again. :) Next stop was the Clam Shack.

In adorable Kennebunkport, Maine.

For, according to many, the best lobsters rolls in the country. We won't lie, they were very good. So good we forgot to take a picture. :)

Next stop was in Freeport, Maine for the LL Bean flagship store. It was huge and actually quite entertaining. We wandered around for quite a while and of course had to get our pictures taken in front of the boot. :)

Final stop was in good ol' Bangor, Maine to see the giant Paul Bunyan statue!

Daniel getting a big time sun flare. :)

We arrived at our campground just about dinner time. We had booked a site on the oceanside campground, but it was not right on the water. When we arrived we were informed there were a few other sites available so we drove around to see them. When we came to this one we couldn't resist paying some extra money to be right on the water. We loved it, and were very happy with our decision. :)

Beautiful!

That night we set up camp, ate dinner, and then really went to bed pretty quickly.

The next morning after breakfast we spent some time exploring the campground.

Found some clam shells.

And drank some morning coffee.

Daniel unfortunately had a little schoolwork to finish up, so I ventured out on my own via the free bus to downtown Bar Harbor to a farmers market!

I knew Daniel wasn't super interested anyway but I was hoping to visit and pick up some yummy Maine treats! We ended up with bacon that was so delicious I don't think we can ever go back to regular bacon again, blueberry jam, organic grass-fed cow vanilla yogurt, and of course some fresh Maine wild blueberries. For the record, all the stereotypes are true, blueberries and lobsters are EVERYWHERE in Maine; and I love it. How I ended up in the state with Boston baked beans (yuck), Boston creme pie (eh), roast beef (eh), and clams (yuck), I'll never know. :)

When I returned Daniel was just walking back from some oceanside studying.

Great view from the tent!

So I am the official activity planner for all our outings and vacations. Therefore, I do a lot of research before we go anywhere about what to see, where to eat, and what to do. Since we were going to be right at Acadia National Park (the first national park east of the Mississippi) I picked up a guide book at the library with hiking trails in it. We did our first hike Sunday afternoon. It was only 4 miles, but was categorized as difficult to strenuous. It really wasn't too bad though, and there was an option to go down a different way then you came up which we both enjoyed.

Cute little above the tree line trail marker.

Daniel is the king of the world!

Self timer semi-fail. :)

Heading back down!

Home again, can't get enough of our view. :)

Daniel grilling some brauts for him and yummy artichoke chicken sausages for me! :)

Settling down for the sunset.

Unfortunately, this was as good as it got. But better than morning I suppose. :)

And the next morning we woke up to sprinkling/rain. Boo. :(

After we [I] pouted for a while we decided to try and make the best of it. At Acadia Nation Park there is this drive called Park Loop Road. It is 20 something miles but takes about 2 hours and hits up all the major attractions. Think road to Hana on a much smaller and less tropical scale. :) We decided since most time would be spent in the car, just jump in and out for pictures, we could survive. Added bonus that it would probably be MUCH LESS crowded then normal (this was VERY TRUE!)

Walking up to the visitor center to buy our pass (don't tell them that we hiked in their mountains the day before without one...this was unintentional, there was a little confusion) :)

Bubble Pond

Sand Beach

Thunder Hole (which unfortunately was not as thunderous as normal this day)

We also attempted to drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain (highest point in the park) but unfortunately it was ALL CLOUDS. You could not see a darn thing.

Before going back to our campsite for dinner we stopped in downtown Bar Harbor for some walking around and ice cream (yes before dinner we deserved it because of the rain) Thankfully the rain had stopped by the time we got back, so we were able to be dry while making dinner and enjoyed some time sitting around the campfire.

Praise the Lord for blue skies the next morning! We ate breakfast, packed up, and headed back into Acadia National Park.

Cadillac Mountain take 2 was a bit more successful. :)

I am standing on a ledge, not some miraculous late growth spurt. :)

Me in my hard core hiking gear. :) Today (Tuesday) we were going for a 6 mile hike, up 2 different mountains with a pond in between, categorized as strenuous (hence the gear).

Peak #1

Daniel in the beautiful pond. This was also our lunch break location.

Peak #2

Because we were driving back home this day we wanted to get back to the car ASAP. Daniel gave us a little time goal to try and get back to the car by. We were going down the mountain(s) at a pretty brisk pace even jogging at the end. Well, we turned it in to a bit of a race and somehow I ended up winning! So here is my victory pose. :)

On the way home, Daniel enjoying some caffeine fuel and a pepperoni stick. :)

Phew, lots of pictures. As you can tell, we had a really great time and are even trying to figure out if we can make it back up to Acadia sometime again before we leave Massachusetts. :) And in case you didn't notice this officially puts me less than 1 month behind. Yay for small victories. :)