Memorial Day, Acadia Nat Park, Maine

Acadia National Park. One of the spots Jenn wanted to go before we left. With the hectic schedule over the last few months, I didn't think we would get a chance. The force was with us, several times.

Friends of mine were planning a trip and had an opening - we hopped on and went camping at Blackwoods campground.

Planning.
As luck would have it, the weather system has done something amazing lately - it rained solid for a week and looked like a solid rain for the next 10 days. As such, all of the folks that wanted to go camping decided they had better things to do and canx. So it was just Jenn, me, John and Sam. Translation- All the food that we prepped to feed 9 people, would feed us several times over.

Friday
Tent, bags, tarp, truck, maps etc. All systems go. We pack up and leave. The most direct route would be to go north on I93, take a right on I95 and proceed northeast for the next several hours through Portland and Bangor, head south on 3 and dead-end at Blackwoods campground. The trip should take 4 hours and we should see some nice coastline, be at the campsite with plenty of daylight in order to leisurely pitch the tent, have a beer, cook dinner, have a smore and hit the rack.

A less-than direct route would be to not take the right on I95 but instead race past the 95/93 interchange, continue northwest for 2 hours on I93 through the heart of New Hampshire and then slowly, with that sick we are lost feeling in your gut, realize that we are north of Concord NH when we should be in Portland Maine. Well, that took us through some interesting back-roads. The quote of the day - Dan, thank goodness you can read a map. The other quote of the day - Dan, why didn't you say something? We heard that 2nd quote of the day more than the first one. :)

We got back on track and it only cost us an hour and a small fight later on that day.

We got to Bangor, stopped for gas, and asked directions, drove through Bar Harbor and arrived at the campsite. Bar Harbor is a very beautiful town. A wet, overcast, small, friendly beautiful town. We saw shorline and mansions and pine trees and shops and more pine trees and more shops. We saw signs warning us of Moose but we did not see a moose. We did see the Mangy Moose clothing store, but no moose and no squirrel.

We arrived at 6pm - sum total of 7 hours on the road - tired and wanting a beer and conversation from somebody besides us. Thank goodness for Sam and John. They did not know how good it was to see them. They had been there so long, that Sam asked the check-in point if we got there and went to the wrong campsite. Translation - they got there, set up, started worrying, started a fire, re-assured themselves we were fine, went for a hike, and started worrying to the point of "it has been way way too long, I wonder if something happened?" and then we finally showed up.

Saturday
The next day, the four of us went around the island and hit a few spots. It reminded me of what you would expect the Washington/Oregon coast to look like - Rocky, jagged shorline with lots of huge, crowded pine trees. The weather was an overcast, cloudy mist. The loud breaking surf created a peaceful attitude - it was fantastic. We had lunch together and then Jenn and I went on a hike, the sun came out, the force with us again, and we had a perfect afternoon.

That night we had the usual camping dinner- baked Ziti, smores, coors light. The basics of the food pyramid all carefully chosen to compliment each other's delicate taste balances.

Sunday
The next day, Jenn and I went into Bar Harbor and met a guy who owned a t-shirt shop and starting talking with him. He and his wife worked for Eastern Airlines for many many years, quit that and did something else, quit that and moved to Bar Harbor to open the shop. They had now been there 16 years and love it. They guy was as nice as a person comes and it seemed that everybody we met was in the same good mood and just as warm and open. In fact, Jenn made the comment, "Everybody here is happy." It was true. He gave us a lunch recommendation, we bought a shirt and were off to finish shopping and looking at the shops.

The sun was on and off but it wasn't raining so it was a great day to sightsee. Based on the lunch suggestion, we went to the Atlantic Brewing Company. We arrived, did a quick beer tasting, went out back, sat down and ordered some of the best barbeque I have ever had. It was fantastic! You gotta love the force when it is on your side.

We started talking with the couple next to us, Chris and Britney. The short of it - we became fast friends, drank a little too much and spent the rest of the day talking and laughing. Again, the force was with us, they are genuinely wonderful people. They are engaged and are prepping for the wedding, as are we, Chris skis, Britney snowboards, Jenn Skis, I snowboard. On it went, it was a bit crazy with all the similarities. Jenn and Britney exchanged digits and e-mails, and the four of us took the party to town. We stopped along the way, dropped off their dog, had a beer at their house, admired the view and went to the bar. We had time for one beer and then had to leave for dinner at the campsite. It was a great day, we met two great people and had a long day jam-packed with laughter.

We had a nice dinner with John and Sam, I got smores all over my face, I successfully did not fall into the fire and we hit the rack.

Monday
Pack up, clean up, shower up, breakfast in a diner. Man- how good does a shower feel after 3 days? Pretty damm good. How good is a cup of coffee for breakfast on your third wet/cold morning? Fantastic. We decided we really need to buy a coffee pot for camping.

Now that we know the way NOT to get home, we actually made good time all the way to Freeport Maine - home of LL Beane and the best lobster lunch on the warf. Jenn ordered 2 3/4 lb lobster and I had shrimp. Jenn got a bowl of clam chowder - check the box - New England clam chowder in Maine. It was pretty dang good. We ate, laughed and got back in the car for the last 2 hours.

No traffic. I could not believe it. Jenn drove. I was stoked. We were back home and unpacked before 7pm.

Jenn called Britney to let her know that we got home safely.

Wedding canx

I called a few of my friends that are invited to the wedding. They were the "iffy" folks and I wanted to get a feel if they were more confident that they could or could not attend. In short, it was great talking to them but 4 are definate canx and 2 more are 90%. The 2 that are 90% will probably cause another guest to canx because they are friends and would only know each other.

So, with a probability of 7 canx, we can breathe a little bit and not stress so much. Right.

So what happens when more people canx, which they will. I am really not worth a trip to NY. I guess I invite a couple other friends that I couldn't before due to the numbers, which is cool and akward at the same time. Hi, I would like to invite you to the wedding even though we both know that you didn't make the "A" list. Now that we know where you rate in my life, bottom feeder/also ran/after thought, would you like to come and share the joy of my lifetime? We are registered at . . . . .

Wedding invites suck.