Maine

  Sorry for not posting for awhile!  We've been in Raleigh, NC, relaxing with Peter's parents and being at the NC State Fair!  But we haven't posted about Maine yet, and that place deserves its own entry.

  I think Maine has been the most beautiful place we've visited so far-this might be because we hit the fall color perfectly, or just the overwhelming natural beauty. At any rate, we drove across the state and spent three days in Acadia National Park.  (I know, know-only three days?  We would've stayed longer, but it was just going to rain.  As it was we had great weather!  Besides, Megan had a moment at Acadia where she 'hit the wall' and declared she was ready to be home!)  

   The first day we did a short, hour long hike, called the Beehive Trail.  It was cool-the trail ascends 500 feet along a beautiful cliff of pink granite and firs.  On top, we hiked along the ridgeline, saw the first color of sunset warm the sky, and viewed the Bowl, a natural granite basin the size of a small lake on top an adjacent mountain.  On the hike down we were struck by the pairing of red and orange maples with dark fir evergreens, with gorgeous pink granite in every direction.   

The Bowl

  

   That first night we had our first lobster pound eating experience.  We shared one lobster, a pile of steamed mussels, some corn on the cob, potatoes, and out of this world wild Maine blueberry pie.  

We saw Sand Beach, the only non-rocky section of shoreline on Mt. Desert Isle.  We also spent some time walking along the rockier part of shore, too.

Our other Maine adventures included kayaking Long Lake.  We didn't make out on the ocean (this time) but Long Lake was very pretty and we love kayaking: it's such great exercise for the body and soul.

We had some good local brews at a pub, some fried shrimp and chatted with locals.  Acadia has a scene drive, as well, with great views of the island.  One morning, we got up really early to watch the sunrise on Cadillac Island.  This is the first place sun rays hit the United States for a large part of the year.  BUT...it was cold!!

Gorgeous Maine coast line

Pictures from low tide pools

Harbor in Bar Harbor, Maine

That was about it for Maine.  We left and drove a really, really long ways down to Hampton Virgina to see Megan's Uncle Bill afterwards.  Got some great Chesapeake Bay crab cakes and more fried seafood! Yummy.  

We also visited Megan's cousin Jenny and her great family outside of D.C.  We went into town one afternoon and saw the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  Cool, but by that time we were kinda worn out.  It's been nice to relax these last few days in NC.  And, fair food is fabulous.  Yesterday we tried our first Krispy Kreme Burger: a patty with bacon and cheese between two Krispy Kreme donuts.  Delicious.  

We'll be in Missouri in a couple of days, and probably put up some more pictures, and maybe a trip slideshow that goes over the best pictures.  But we'll still blog about cool stuff after that, so keep checking back!

~Peter and Megan