As my final huzzah before entering true adulthood and starting my fulltime job, I embarked on a weeklong road trip of Maine and Canada with my friend and roommate, Holly. On our first day, we departed Somerville (new home–we moved from Boston) around 10am and drove north. We stopped in Portland, ME to get some groceries and lunch. The grocery store was by a park that I intended to go to but it was rainy so we concluded that we had gotten the Portland experience and moved on. We also met up with Sam, our friend and former roommate. The next stop was a little state park called Moose Point Park. It cost $4 per person to enter the park and I was surprised to find the toll booth manned by a park ranger since it was Labor Day and raining. It probably cost a lot more to pay her to sit there than the money they made from entry sales. 

The park had steps that lead down to a rocky beach and we looked around at the tidepools. Originally they didn’t appear to have much life but we discovered that they were full of teeny tiny crabs. We saw twelve tiny crabs in total. One for each dollar we collectively spent on entry so we really got our money’s worth. 

We continued driving and got to Bar Harbor, which is a town inside Acadia. We walked around some cute shops filled with Mainey stuff, including a pet shop called Bark Harbor. I got a catnip lobster claw for Rumble. We got dinner at a pub and then got ice cream at a place that supposedly is very good. Apparently, in the busy season there’s a huge line, but we were the only people in there. They had some weird flavors and didn’t do samples so I decided to be adventurous and got a flavor called fresh basil and mint. I was hoping it would mainly be mint flavor but it was mainly basil. It wasn’t bad but also wasn’t something I wanted a whole bowl of. 

Finally we headed to our campsite, set up our tent, and went to bed. I usually don’t sleep well while camping but I actually slept pretty well. 

We started our day in Acadia by doing a hike called the precipice trail. I think this is considered the most strenuous trail in the park. In the beginning it involved some scrambling over boulders and parts of the trail even lead underneath boulders. 

Up higher there were a lot of parts where we had to climb ladders and hang onto rungs as we walked along cliffs. It would have freaked out my mom. It was pretty similar to Angel’s landing in terms of precariousness. Also it’s not recommended that you do the trail when it’s wet and it was totally wet when we did it. Like some of the walls had water actively falling down them like a waterfall. But the conditions meant that there were very few other people on the trail to get in our way, which I loved. 

I really liked this trail. It was interesting and engages your whole body, which is unique for a hiking trail. We ate lunch at the top and enjoyed the view. Then did a much less precarious hike down (they don’t recommend you go down the ladders). 

Next we walked a trail that goes along the ocean and we enjoyed some ocean cliffs. The trail leads to an attraction called Thunder hole, which is a sea cave that makes booming sounds when the water hits it right. We came at a pretty good time tide-wise and got to see some nice splashes. We watched it for a while and Sam described it as “a mesmerizing hole.” 

After that we were pretty tired so we drove the loop around the park and went back to bar harbor for some more shopping and dinner. There were a lot of nice, soft stuffed lobsters that I contemplated buying. 

When we went back to the campsite I built a fire and we roasted marshmallows. It was a bit hard to start it because most of the sticks around were wet but I managed. I told holly we didn’t need a lighter because I had my flint and steel (and dryer lint) and sure enough, I was able to make it work.

Sam had to leave the next morning to go to work but Holly and I stayed and did the beehive trail, which is probably the most popular trail in the park. It’s considered an easier version of the Precipice trail because it has parts where you have to climb ladders but it’s much shorter than Precipice. 

On this day it was sunny and there were a ton of people doing the trail. So many, that near the top there was a long line of people stopped and waiting. We stood in this line for probably half an hour, and for most of it we were standing still. When we reached the top, we found who we assume to be the reason for the line: a group of older women on a “girl’s trip” who probably should not have been climbing this mountain. There was one woman in a knee brace who we overheard saying that she needed knee surgery. Bad move. 

We climbed down and began our drive to the next destination: Prince Edward Island in Canada. It was a long drive–7 hours. We got in pretty late so we got dinner food at a Walmart, set up our tent, and went to bed. 

For our first stop of the day in PEI, we drove to a lighthouse but didn’t go inside because that cost money and lighthouses aren’t cool enough to be worth money. We just looked around outside and swung on some swings. 

Next we went to a little town with a harbor and got ice cream. There was a very friendly cat outside the ice cream place. 

We drove through a town called Montague and stopped at a few little shops but it wasn’t as touristy as we thought. Most of the shop owners seemed surprised to see young people. Next we went to a park with a bunch of weird sculptures in it. It was definitely for children but we had a real good time. 

I got a new boyfriend.

Holly got the same boyfriend. I guess we’re sisterwives now.

Next we drove to a beach where we ate lunch on the boardwalk and waded into the water which was surprisingly warm for this latitude. I guess it’s warm because of the Gulf Stream. The beach had a nice view of some red cliffs. All the rock around PEI is red like this. 

Next we drove to a park where we walked a trail that had a boardwalk that lead across a pond. It was very pretty and we saw some cool wildlife. 

Finally we headed to Cavendish, where we got dinner at a “Chinese” restaurant called cavendish Boardwok. The food was not bad but weird. Holly got what was supposed to be sweet and sour chicken and she described it as chicken fried in pancake batter and a sauce that was sweet and tasted like berries. Very strange.

We ate the food at our campsite which was by the sea and surprisingly buggy. I built a fire and that helped keep the insects away. It was a bit hard to start because the area had very few trees and mostly thorny scrub so I had nothing to use as kindling but I made it work with some newspaper and cardboard. Holly took out a knife and peeled little pieces of wood off our logs to help. We got a good fire going and roasted some marshmallows.

The next day we began our long drive towards Quebec City. The camping part of our trip is over, but stay tuned to hear about our adventures in French Canada!