It's all south from here...

Well, we've covered quite a bit of ground the past two days. After our trek from Vermont to the New Hampshire coast and a restful night at the Motel 6, we were on our way to Maine. We began the morning with a walk around Portsmouth, the home of my hopefully future sister-in-law Bre. It was absolutely adorable! There were so many wonderful old buildings converted into quaint little shops and restaurants. During our walk we scoped out the real estate for our future weekend home (yeah right), and settled on a nice one for $897,000. Hopefully we'll hit the lottery sometime soon:).

After our walk, we hit the road, only to drive around aimlessly for a half hour as we tried to move northward. Once on the right road, we were instantly in Maine and driving through some very beautiful coastal towns. I think I decided in the first half hour that we have to come back to Maine to vacation sometime. We continued up the coast until Kinnebunkport, then hit the main highway to fasttrack it to Acadia National Park. On the road, Tim called around to find us a place to stay. While many hotels were in our range, we hadn't ruled out camping yet and Tim found a place the was open to tent campers for two more nights. He actually stayed at this campground when we was a kid on vacation with his family. Before booking there, I put a call into my dad and Allison to check the weather online... I didn't want to be stuck outside all night in ~30 degree weather. Well, the verdict came back with a low of 49 degrees, so we strolled into the campground, staked our spot, and hit the road to Acadia.

We made a short drive through Acadia to get the lay of the land before our real trek through the next morning. After the drive, we headed into Bar Harbor for some grub. We made a quick jaunt around town picking up a birthday present for Tim's brother Nathan and a patch for Tim's endless patch collection. From there, we ended up at Chowdah's per the campsite lady's recommendation. It was my first time in Maine, and by golly, we needed a lobster dinner! We ordered a large lobster dinner and two cups of chowder. Everything was very good and I enjoyed my first lobster very much.

From there we cranked the heat so I could soak it all up before camping in the frigid air.. I know, I'm a wuss. Camping went well. I was definitely warm enough in my two pairs of sweatpants and sweatshirt and coat:). We got up bright and early the next morning and were on the road at 7:15!

Acadia was absolutely beautiful. We took the Park Loop Road around the island, stopping at the roadside pull-offs to peer over cliffs and down trails. We also stopped at Jordan Lake and walked three miles around it. Everything was very beautiful with the reds, oranges and yellows of the leaves blanketing every turn. We ended our trip to the park with pepperoni and cheese sandwiches... bleh.

The rest of the day was spent driving to Andover. NH where we are spending the night with our friends Cindy and Benny Benson, Allison's house parents from her boarding school. They cooked us a fabulous dinner of grilled chicken, potato salad, green salad, and fresh bread. And to end the meal... ice cream with Cindy's famous hot fudge sauce! Needless to say, we're stuffed and feeling very content. The evening was further enhanced by Cindy's granddaughter Clara, who is absolutely adorable. She set the table, cleared it, and overall was very entertaining all night. The rest of the evening has been spent chatting and listening to the debate.

And for tomorrow... we're off to Boston, Cape Cod, and then to spend the night in Rhode Island! Oh, and the highlight of the day? Passing Sarah Palin and the Straight Talk Express on the highway in New Hampshire:)