maine | exploring acadia's coast

Our first order of business when we travel is getting the lay of the land. And so, after a relaxing morning waking up in our cabin surrounded by trees and water, and eating veggie pitas for lunch in Southwest Harbor, we set out by car to get our bearings of the island. Mt. Desert Island is shaped like a pair of lungs. The land belonging to Acadia National Park is scattered throughout the island - the majority of the land on the eastern lung is within the park. There is also a big chunk of land that belongs to the park on the western lung (where our cabin was located). And then there are random smaller parcels of land scattered throughout MDI that also belong to the park where residents of the island have donated pieces of land to the park. (In fact Acadia is one of the few national parks created almost entirely of donated land.) But the eastern part of the island is where most of the major points of interest (and entrance stations) are located, and that is the area we set out to explore on our second day in Maine.

For me, the priority was hitting Sand Beach. Just because the water temp only reaches a high of 55 degrees here and swimming would require a wet suit (or a very large set of cojones), doesn't mean you can't spend a day reading a book with your toes in the sand. It's a beach after all, and a pretty perfect one at that. Sand Beach is located in a beautiful secluded cove surrounded by rocky outcroppings, pine trees, and clear blue water. Oddly enough, it actually reminded me of the beaches on the east coast of Maui.















Anyway, back to spending the afternoon relaxing with our toes in the sand. One of us was into it...

...and one of us was not. Yes, this is what he wears on the beach:

Must. Not. Let. Sand. Touch. Skin.

Larry also doesn't like "sitting around on the beach", so after we read a bit and he waited for me to take photos, we got back in the car to explore a few of the other sites along the east coast of the island. (If it had been up to me I would've spent the whole week reading my book at Sand Beach - definitely my happy place!)

The Maine coast looks exactly like you'd think it would. Rocks, pine trees, blue water:







As the sun was going down, we headed back to the western side of the island for the evening - dinner outside in the town of Southwest Harbor as the sun set, and then back to Sans Souci where we wrapped ourselves with blankets and sat on the deck gazing at the stars.