3 New States

From Quebec we drove to Maine (new state for BT) to visit Acadia National Park.

View of Bar Harbor From the Spit at Sunset

One of many well-constructed boardwalks around Jordan Pond in Acadia National Park.

Walking back across the spit from Bar Harbor Island at low tide

We picked the lovely, reasonably priced, and perfectly serviceable Belle Island Motel because it fit our budget, got good reviews and was in Bar Harbor, which meant we could get to the Park without too much lost time due to driving.

Sunset across the bay in Bar Harbor, Maine.

My favorite part about this motel?  They had a self-service fire pit, with wood under a tarp, a butane torch to light it, sparks flying everywhere, and plastic chairs around a low fire ring that did nothing to stop or contain sparks that shot up and blew in the wind -- everything designed to remind my Californian self that I was far, far away from home.  Here, in this part of the world, apparently, they can just leave supplies to start a huge fire in the back of the motel.  And no fires start.  Despite the admittedly high, drunk, or irresponsible patrons we encountered on our visits to the fire circle and the looming trees into which the sparks all fly -- because it is SO HUMID that nothing could possibly catch on fire that wasn't kept dry under a tarp and lit with a butane torch.

A solid hike up Mt. Cadillac.

View into the bay from the summit.

We took the gorge trail down, which involved some good scrambling.

After lots of hiking in Acadia national park (including a solid incline up Cadillac mountain and some scrambles down the associated gorge for a total of 10+ miles for the day), we racked up two more new states for BT -- New Hampshire and Vermont.  Both are hilly, rural, with quaint villages, and very green, with pockets of trees just starting to hint at the famed fall colors.

Benington, VT Revolutionary War Memorial

After Vermont, we took advantage of some local friends who offered to host us.  First, we spent 2 great days with friends in a tiny village in NJ who have a precocious (and super adorable) 3 year old daughter.  She insisted that we sing happy birthday to her imaginary friend with dessert the first night, so we did.  Staying in a real home with a real laundry room and grilling in the back yard felt like a vacation from our vacation. 

Then, we spent 1 night with another family in DC including their 4 year old and a 3 month old sons.  It was nice to enjoy the chaos and not really have any plans in both locations other than hanging out, watching the kids, and catching up with the adults in the few minutes of downtime we could find between the kids' needs.  Visits like this remind me just *how* demanding on parents' time young children are. 

Not sure why, by this tri-color Open flag is ubiquitous in the Northeast.  Any explanations on the history/origin?

Mileage on my feet for the week was lower than previous weeks (19.95) due to pushing through a fairly long driving section (1,080ish miles) as well as higher temps, humidity, lack of good safe running routes, and preferring to hang out with our friends over working out alone.