My favorite boy toy and I are on vacation this week, having sent the dogs to their favorite daycare (and kennel).  Going to Acadia in Maine has been on our list of things to do for a while.  We came here nearly 25 years ago and had often talked about coming back.

We rented a house from the lovely Peggy Hobbs.  We heard about her from a fellow blogger at Chronicles of a Country Girl and wow, what a nice place! The cost per night is less than a moderately priced hotel room, but we have two bedrooms, a living room and a nicely equipped kitchen plus a large bathroom.  It’s quiet and convenient to what we want to do, from photography to eating out in Bar Harbor to just exploring Mount Desert Island.

Here’s a link to Maggie’s Cottage, which is what we rented.  The pictures showing the inside are accurate and was what we found when we got here.  Originally we looked at renting Summerwood, but it only has a queen size bed which we didn’t want.  Peggy graciously let us upgrade at the last minute, which we really appreciated.

We’ve been doing what we love best – driving all over exploring, taking lots of pictures, and being tired from all the fresh air and exercise.  As usual, it took me several days to get used to the additional exercise.  Walking during lunch is just not enough preparation for walking all day to take pictures.  I’ve had to give up doing too many stairs because of my bad knee, but overall, I’m doing fine.

You see this guy in the picture above?  Everywhere I went, he followed me.  I couldn’t get away from him!  He even got in the car with me and had the nerve to say that since he had the keys, he was driving!  Wait until you see how many pictures he’s in.

If my cell phone worked more than in just Bar Harbor, I’d have called my daughter to complain.  Of course, she would have said to stop teasing Dad and leave him alone.  And she’s right.  He’s done nearly all the driving, which I’ve enjoyed.  When I’ve wanted pictures of the stuff he doesn’t care about, he pulls off and lets me hop out to take them.

It’s been raining for the last two days.  Occasionally, it was just a sprinkle, but most of it was a steady rain with gusting winds blowing it sideways.  After a while, I got tired of taking pictures while holding the umbrella up enough to keep it out of the frame, than having to clean water spots off my camera lens.  I finally left my favorite boy toy out there taking his pictures while I sat in the car and read.  I got a lot of good pictures, but not as many as he did.

I had hoped to think out some things for my journals and / or blog.  I haven’t though.  If I’m not taking pictures, I’m just standing there or walking along the paths, enjoying the ocean air and the sound of the waves hitting the rocks.  I’ve commented on this before in my blog, this tendency to just sit and be when I’m outside, whether visiting the botanical gardens or wandering along Skyline Drive.

In my fall walk, I commented:

More and more I realize though that I don’t go there to think, meditate or even contemplate.  I find that as I wander around with my camera, my brain is just. . . empty.  Yep, empty.  I’m not thinking about anything.  I’m enjoying what I see, what I hear, and sometimes what I feel without analyzing, questioning, or worrying about it.

It’s nice to just be in the moment and not be planning, wondering, or learning – to just be there.  I cannot stress enough the pleasure of hearing the surf, feeling the wind and rain, and the pleasantness of walking along the rocks.  Actually, Monday had sun for part of the day.  When I got bored taking pictures, I was able to sit on the warm rocks, facing the ocean and just close my eyes.  When I got tired of that, I read.  My husband was happy to see that I wasn’t unhappy waiting for him to get done.

Thankfully, I don’t have a 5 am wake-up tomorrow.  With the rain, there’s no sunrise going to be visible.  Still, I’ve been told to not stay up very late as we are getting up early, just not sunrise early.  So off to bed I go.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures!  I’ll be posting more shortly (click here to see).

Maine (Acadia National Park) Travel Acadia National Park amazing mailbox quest Bar Harbor living in the moment Maine Oceanview Trail Otter Creek Otter Point Park Loop Sand Beach Southwest Harbor