Mini Road Trip to Acadia National Park

My little cousin is going to college at College of the Atlantic on Mount Desert Island and I've been promising to visit since she started last September. And now the school year is almost over! So I volunteered to drive her back up to school yesterday after she'd been home for her brother's going away party on Sunday. It is a long haul up there, it's 3.5 hours from Portland, but we took the slower back road route because going through all the little towns is so much more interesting than the highway.

We got to see the fancy new Penobscot  bridge. We considered going up because it is supposed to be an awesome view and one of the fastest elevators in the world.

 But we were too cheap to pay the admission fee and in a hurry to get up to Bar Harbor.

When we got to COA (which btw has the cutest little campus) we dropped off our stuff off in Lindsay's room and headed straight downtown for dinner. It was late and we were starving!

Lindsay picked the Side Street Cafe because they have good vegan options. It was cute and cozy and adorable. My meal was decidedly unvegan- homemade mac and cheese with mushrooms and spinach. It was possible the cheesiest mac and cheese I've ever had. Delicious!

One of the best parts of this time of year is that it stays light so late. So we had plenty of daylight left to walk around. Because of the full moon the tide was super, super low. We walked way out on the sand bar out to Bar Island. The COA students like to watch the tourists in the summer who forget to watch the tide and get stuck out on the island.
 The plan for this morning was to get up early and watch the sun rise from the top of Cadillac Mountain. It is the first place the sun hits in the US each day. Except when the alarm went off at 5am, the sun was already up. Oops. Darn those long days! We hiked up Cadillac anyway and it was a pretty spectacular view from the top. I was glad we didn't do it in the dark because it was rocky and technical and I would have definitely rolled an ankle.

After we hiked back down I dropped Lindsay back off at school and headed back to Acadia for a run. I just couldn't resist. The carriage trails there are a runner's paradise.  They are crushed gravel so they are easy on the joints, but still smooth, even, and easy on the feet. I ran the Witch Pond loop, which was about 6 miles, rolling up and down around Witch Pond and marshes. With the sound of the wind in the trees and the smell of leaves and salt air I was happy as a lark. Pretty good day- by 8:30 I'd hiked up a mountain and run 6 miles. Carpe that diem.