Maine really is the way life should be...

So about 8 years ago, I went up to Maine to meet up with some friends I had met on my Europe trip. My parents drove me up from North Carolina on a 16 hour roadtrip. It was me and 3 other girls (Katie, Stephanie, and Amanda) meeting up in Stephanie's hometown for a small reunion of sorts.

This past weekend, I went back up to Maine because now that I'm living in Massachusetts, it's only 2 hours away. The great thing I've learned about New England is that EVERYTHING is in driving distance. If you decide to go one place, why not drive a little farther to see something else while you're at it. In the case of my last roadtrip, I decided to drive all the way up to Acadia National Park and stop in to see my friend Stephanie on my way back down.

I love national parks. I think it's one of the best things about the United States and I wanted to finally visit the first national park east of the Mississippi (true fact, the NPS says so). I have to say that Acadia NP may be my second favorite national park - second, of course, to Glacier National Park in Montana. Maine is a lot like Montana... except it's got that rocky coastline putting one both at the beach and at the mountains at the same time. After rushing to the park to get a nonreservable campsite (yes, Mom, I camped by myself!) and setting up my camp hurriedly so I could get back to exploring... I drove along the Park Loop road and stopped along the way to check out some of the sights. Park Loop road is like GNP's Going-to-the-Sun road, except not as scary and not high. I went up to the top of Cadillac Mountain for a great afternoon view of Bar Harbor (you kind of have to use a Maine/Boston accent when you say it) and the Frenchman Bay. I devoted the rest of the day to driving the loop more than a few times and stopping to see Thunder Hole (a cool inlet that at the right time sounds like a thunderstorm when the waves crash), Sand Beach (the only sandy beach in the area - the rest are rocky!), and the Bass Harbor Head lighthouse.

After camping in the rain (no worries, my tent was dry thanks to my rain fly), I got up at 4:00 to drive up to the top of Cadillac Mountain again... this time to see the sunrise. It was densely foggy and windy when I got to the top. Luckily, the fog cleared for a good 20 minutes as I watched the sunrise over Bar Harbor and the Frenchman Bay. This is the first place to see the sunrise in the United States!

Since I was up, I thought I'd drive along and hit the cool spots again, though it was like I had the whole park to myself since it was so freakin' early. I stopped by Thunder Hole again to see if I would finally get to hear it sound. It did. :)

After packing up my campsite, I started on my hike on the Bear Brook trail to the summit of Champlain Mountain. It was a great hike... though I must say that hiking, while it's fun by myself, it's more fun hiking with a friend (Katie!). Besides, how many self portraits can you take... well, I took many.Made a quick stop in Bar Harbor - for an hour because parking was a highway robbery total of $5/hour! Then I headed down to Poland, ME to stay with Stephanie and her new family! Poland, ME... yes, where Poland Springs water is from. Cool fact: Stephanie has Poland Springs water straight from the tap!!! Awesome.

Stephanie, her husband Rick, and their cute little boy Andrew brought me to the Auburn/Lewiston Hot Air Balloon festival. It was really cool getting to see the the balloons and the hot air at night, though I think Andrew was a little overwhelmed. :)

The next day, Stephanie, Rick, and Andrew set off to Old Port - the historic part of Portland. It was super cute with lots of cool shops and restaurants. I think I could live in Portland... or at least outside of Portland since it's expensive there. They also brought me to Ocean Park to the beach and then back to Auburn to a family party. It was great hanging out with Stephanie and her family (her parents and sister are great!!). Later on, we went to a driving range and played miniature golf in the dark. :) Since it was the last roadtrip of the summer... why not take a more scenic route and go through the White Mountains in New Hampshire. I drove to the top of Mount Washington - a stop on the Appalachian Trail and the home of the highest recorded winds (213 mph in 1934) - where it was snowing, foggy, windy, and cold. It was great! Middle of August and I got to see snow and ice... and almost blow off a mountain! After coming back down, I saw a moose that had just caused a motorcycle accident on the roadway. crazy.

All in all... a great roadtrip and a great way to end the summer. Seeing Stephanie was great! And since Portland is only 2 hours away, I know I'll be seeing her soon. :) School starts next Thursday... and orientation starts this Friday. Here's hoping I get excited somewhere along the way...