During our recent time in Portland, Maine, as food lovers we were overwhelmed with the huge number of highly rated and award-winning restaurants in such a small town. We were also torn between eating as much lobster and seafood as humanly possible and exploring some of the other types of cuisine available in Portland.
When we heard about Pai Men Miyake, which incorporates local seafood into Japanese cuisine, we knew it ticked both boxes and that we absolutely had to check it out.
Oh Acadia National Park. Breathtaking isn't a strong enough word to describe how stunning the hiking trails are here. We spent the better part of three days out exploring all we could in this park and felt like we did this one a great deal of justice.
Naturally, we have to share a few of our favorite trails from all of our hikes.
But before we do, we have to take a step back and mention a big caveat that could change your plans outright. When it comes to hiking in Acadia National Park, the biggest thing we would advise visitors is to not get your heart set out on exploring any specific trail. Seriously!
While it is good to have an idea of the trails you'd like to hike, the reason we say this is that hiking trails in Acadia regularly close for routine maintenance, fixing washed-out paths due to inclement weather, and also seasonal issues things like falcon nesting season. All closures can be seen on the National Park Website, although keep in mind that trails can close without advanced notice for any reason.
During our July visit, for example, the Precipice Trail was both due to falcon nesting, the brief hike out to the Sand Bar didn't work out due to tide timing, and many of the carriage trails were closed for repairs as well (including one that was seemingly only closed the day we were there). As there is nothing you can do about this in most cases, we simply think it is best to go in with a mindset of you can get what you can get here.
So, with that, let's talk about some of the trails we love!
It always feels a bit weird to go to a cemetery when you are traveling to a new destination. But all macabre elements aside, some cemeteries have so much history and ambiance that they do pop up on the tourist radar, and Bonaventure Cemetery just outside of Savannah, Georgia, is one such spot.
There's the history and famous residents, of course, but also incredible architecture, massive oak trees, and of course the idyllic Spanish moss that you can see all over the region as well. This all comes together to make an ambiance that you can't quite get anywhere else and is why Bonaventure is so popular with visitors to Savannah.
In this one, we don't want to dive into specific recommendations on what to see at Bonaventure Cemetery. All we want to do is encourage you to take a walk around the gorgeous cemetery when you visit. So instead, we're simply going to share a few of our favorite photos from our walks around the cemetery in this one!
Acadia National Park just outside of Bar Harbor, Maine, is one of those places where it is somewhat tricky in figuring out how much time you need to explore and truly do the park justice.
On one hand, with great weather and the north's long summer days, you can hike an incredible amount of trails within the park in just a single day. We hit it so hard on our first day there that if you told me had to leave I would've been more than content. We really saw a great cross-section of the park in a short period of time. On the other hand, frequent rain, solid crowds in prime months, and the nearly four-hour drive from Portland add on some considerations that may make you want to extend your stay.
We ultimately settled on four nights in Bar Harbor and felt this was the perfect amount of time to really explore Acadia National Park and the region at large.