Road trip!

I wish I was more spontaneous. I am a true planner, and usually I love it! Sometimes the planning for a vacation is almost as exciting as the vacation itself. I just love the anticipation.

Still, sometimes I wish I was more apt to just jump in the car/plane/train/boat and GO. So when my friend reached out last minute about taking a road trip I was hesitant. We couldn't decide where we wanted to go, so he suggested he pick me up in Boston and we "see where the road takes us." Ummm, not really in my comfort zone!

With his urging, I [over]packed a bag and jumped in the car on Friday when he showed up in Boston with another friend in tow. We got in the car and discussed quickly what we were looking for. We all wanted to do something outdoorsy, and all really needed a pick me up, so I suggested we take the nearly 5 hour drive to Acadia, Maine! I've really wanted to go to Acadia but the trips just never panned out, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. We were able to book a last minute room at the Days Inn right in Acadia. We arrived around 11 on Friday, stopped in town for a drink, then set our alarms for sunrise!

Cadillac Mountain is the highest peak on the Eastern Seaboard and offers the first sign of sunrise in the continental US...in fall and winter. In the summer the first sunrise spot is actually Mars Hill, a mountain near the Canadian Border. Still, we decided it was worth the 4 AM alarm and did it!

Proof during the drive!

The sky when we first got up to the mountain

Just before the sun peeked out

Fireball!

Sunset on August 8th was at 5:36 am and I had read that the actual rise takes just under a minute. I really wanted to just enjoy it, so I put my phone away for the rise (the photo above is my friends). It was really one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen and I couldn't get this song out of my head for the rest of the day.

You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes

It brought me back to life

The sun started as just a tiny disc on the water -- it looked like the horizon had erupted in flames. Pretty amazing stuff! As you can see in the photos, it was pretty cold on top of the mountain -- I was wearing sweat pants, a sweat shirt and had two towels around me! Supposedly it was only 50 degrees. How will I survive the winter??

Seeing as we slept for about 2 hours, we thought it wise to head back to the hotel for a quick nap. We slept until about 9, had some breakfast at the hotel, then drove over to Acadia's visitor center. We were looking for a 3-4 hour moderate hike and did some research. We settled on the Gorham Mountain Trail, the Beehive Trail, and a stop at the Bowl lake. The hike was AMAZING. It was my first hike in New England that involved climbing up boulders. It was pretty challenging at times. The views were insane and I really wish I had a better camera than my phone!

After the hike we were all super hungry and went in search for lobster. We stopped at the Bar Harbor lobster pound on the side of the road and it totally hit the spot.

Well deserved beer!

Since my friends had a much longer drive than I did, we decided to break it up by heading to Portland, Maine to spend the night. Unfortunately EVERY hotel was booked so we ended up staying in a pretty gross motel in South Portland. It looked like the motel from Identity...

We arrived in Portland around 8:30, cleaned up, and went downtown for some fun. I really loved Portland when I visited in the winter, so it was exciting to check it out in the summer. It was definitely more crowded! We started by going to Novare Res Bier Cafe, which many on yelp called "the best beer bar in New England." Founders was doing a tap takeover that night and KBS was on draft for 25 cents...so insane.

I ordered a few delicious brews...

Around midnight we wanted a change of scenery so we went to Bull Feeney's Irish Pub. This reminded me of some of the Boston bars I went to in college and was pretty fun, especially because of the awesome cover band.

The next morning, we were up around 10 and started the long drive home. We stopped in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for some exploring and lunch. I am trying to eat as much lobster as possible so we stopped at Surf Seafood for some views and rolls:

After lunch we stopped at Annabelle's for some ice cream -- it was listed as one of Travel & Leisure's top ice cream shops in America, so obviously I was going. I got an amazing cup of cookie dough with reeses pieces.

Portsmouth is really cute, and I'd love to spend more time there!

It was only about one more hour in the car for me after Portsmouth. It was an awesome weekend...perhaps I will be more spontaneous from now on!?