I’m not quite sure where to begin. Perhaps a photo. 

I started this blog almost two years ago, when Nicole and I hiked and camped around the country (hence the name of this blog!). Since then, both of our lives have significantly changed. So we were more than looking forward to peeking back into a world we both thrive in — a world where things are a bit more quiet, more simple. Where we can jump in a car and drive with no real plan, getting to see another piece of the states, experience another way people live.

And this time it was to Acadia National Park in Maine. 

The two of us left during the hailstorm in New York City, and made our train with (barely) five seconds to spare. On the ride out to Long Island we met the sweetest old men who were WWII vets. We exchanged life stories (there’s were a lot longer, and a lot more interesting) and then parted ways once we got to Northport. We quickly packed up my dads car, ate some pizza in record time (but seriously) and left for Boston right around sunset. We arrived a bit before 1am, crashed at Nic’s friends apartment, and basically “napped” for three hours before continuing our journey up to Acadia at the crack of dawn. (The reason we left so early was because campsites are first-come-first-serve, and we were afraid they would fill up if we arrived too late!)

As we neared the park, we reveled in the local surroundings: Barb’s best clams, the millions of Moose lodges, used books stores, Russell’s Marine, $3.99 lobster shacks, Rocky Ridge Hotel…it goes on and on. We rolled into the Seawall campgrounds a little before 11am, and crossed our fingers there would be an available site. Lucky for us, we snagged one of the last ones.  

We were both exhausted yet totally revved on adrenaline (and a huge bag of trail mix we ate at 6am, but that doesn’t count.) We decided to take things slow and do a small hike near our campground; we walked about a mile down the road and found a trailhead that led out to the ocean. We were pretty much immediately in heaven: We both fell asleep on the rocks. I think I met the Buddha and reached Nirvana.

After saying bye to Gautama we headed to the small town of Southwest harbor to pick up some groceries for dinner. We ended up going for the cheapest options (peppers are $6 a pound, really?!), and loaded up our basket with pasta, frozen spinach, baby carrots, kidney beans (only type that didn’t need a can opener, forgot that…), oatmeal, coffee, soy milk, and oil. We were back at camp by 4pm, but were STARVING and decided to eat an early dinner before going back out to get firewood.

Our dinner ended up being a bit sad (video below). We blamed the whole living in NYC thing for being a little rusty, but the meal waaas edible, which is most important, nutritious, which is second important, and cheap, third important. It was only 5:30 by the time we finished eating, so we decided to take a “little nap” before getting wood and starting a fire. I was in heaven laying in our tent listening to the birds and chipmunks meander about, and the next thing I knew, I was out….for the night.

Luckily, we were able to catch up on sleep, since our alarms were set incredibly early in order to see the sunrise from the top of Cadillac Mountain, the first place to view the sunrise in the United States. But more on that later…!