I Hopped South of the Border to Acadia National Park in Maine

This week was another big adventure, but yet again for something that wasn't officially on my bucket list.

The reason this one wasn't on the list is because it isn't actually in the Maritimes... or even Canada for that matter. This week I drove down to the United States to visit Maine - specifically, Acadia National Park.

So even though the park isn't in Canada, it's still something I wanted to do before leaving, while I still have the opportunity to just hop over to the States for a day or two (soon I'll have new countries to hop over and visit, hehe).

I've heard a lot about Acadia, primarily from guests I meet at the Rocks who have been there recently - since we're so close by, people often visit us both in the same trip. After doing some research about the park before leaving, I discovered it's one of the most popular national parks in the US, and after seeing how much it has to offer, I can see why.

I drove straight up to the park, which took about five hours - pretty much as long as it would take to drive up to Cape Breton. So while it's not exactly a short drive, it's not crazy far away either.

Usually when I make a day trip to go to a national park (especially one I've never been to before), I tend to go a little bit crazy and try to cram in as much of the park as I can before I leave. Since Acadia is so huge - there are over 80km of hiking trails - I knew there was absolutely no chance I was going to see anything more than a small section of the park, so instead of making my day super hectic by constantly rushing from one trail to the next, I wandered around and explored a lot more than I usually would. Still, I saw a lot of different scenery, from beaches to rocky cliffs to mountains.

I actually didn't stay in Bar Harbor on Wednesday night, although in hindsight I do wish I had so that I could have gone back to the park for an extra couple of hours before leaving the following morning. Instead, I spent the night in Bangor, about an hour from the park, for a number of reasons. It was a lot cheaper, it slightly broke up the journey home for the following day, and it allowed me to do a little bit of shopping before leaving.

Even though my trip felt a little bit hectic, it was certainly short and sweet. Ever since my travels around Europe in January, I've realized just how much I love travelling alone, and I'm planning on writing a special blog soon all about travelling solo.

For now, here are some photos from my trip, and video will be added very soon.

Acadia National Park: check.





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