A Little Vacation Before Grad School Starts

This post is not really related to my grad school journey, but after I got accepted into American earlier this year, I really wanted to take a “last hurrah before grad school consumes my life next year” trip this summer. And, I knew exactly where I wanted to go! 

My dad’s cousins have a condo near Bar Harbor, Maine and after several years of trying to get up there to visit, I finally had the perfect opportunity to book a trip up there and spent the week of July 4th visiting them. 

After an early morning flight to Boston, a 4-hour layover at the airport and another short flight to Bar Harbor, I finally stepped foot in Maine. From the time that I stepped off the plane, I could not get over the beauty of the place and was so ready to experience all there was to do there! My first glance at the beauty of coastal Maine came with this view from my cousins’ condo complex.

Each day during my visit, I went hiking in Acadia National Park and in the process found that I really love the challenge of hiking.  There are hundreds of trails throughout the park and every hike has gorgeous scenery, whether it is overlooking the water, the island towns below, rocky beaches, lighthouses, etc.  My cousins were great guides in showing me around and I also had the best hiking buddies…their dogs, Molly and Jasper! 

Experiencing a small-town Independence Day celebration on this trip was also something different for me as well. For most of my life, I have attended either big city Independence Day celebrations or most recently…working on July 4th and seeing fireworks displays at various baseball stadiums. The parade was your classic small-town parade…lots of old cars, bagpipers, community group performances, along with some Maine touches (Travelin’ Lobster float and Lumberjack Shop float).

At their post-parade festival, there were (in true-Maine fashion) lobster races, which I found incredibly bizarre, but entertaining and of course I had to take video of this! 

 

One of the many highlights from my trip was watching the sun set over Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park.

I also spent a good amount of time exploring downtown Bar Harbor, which was true quintessential small-town Maine…lots of locally-owned stores, restaurants, ice cream shops, etc. along the main street.  Of course, I had to go into the independent book store in town just to browse!  And surprisingly, I did not buy any books while I was in there.  The downtown area was also right along the water, which made for some spectacular views along the Shore Path.

I am looking forward to another visit to Maine sometime soon...maybe a post-grad school trip might be in order for next year!

 ____________________________________________________________________________

In my next post – Only a few weeks left until grad school begins…