What's Next?: End of October & Bar Harbor Getaway

Saturday, November 9, 2024

End of October & Bar Harbor Getaway

It was a busy week with the start of driver's ed for Sam (!!) and a late 25th anniversary (!!) getaway weekend up to Bar Harbor for Ryan and I. That is a whole lot of milestones!

Tuesday was a short walk in the darkness on a cold, calm morning to get in some movement before yet another work conference. (2.0 miles walked)

And so it was that Wednesday was the start of the running week. It was a dark, windy and rainy run on the roads through Highland Green with a lot of puddles and one deer seen. (6.0 miles)

Thursday, I worked from home so it was a late morning fitting it in kind of run. Nice and sunny. They are doing some logging between the powerlines and the connector to put in solar panels. Kind of a bummer as I liked that stretch of woods. (5.3 miles)

After work and swim practice, I dropped Sam off at Rohan's so the girls could go trick-or-treating. It was fun to see them dressed up and excited to go out on Halloween!

On Friday, I headed out early for a road run around town. It was soggy and weirdly warm out. (6.8 miles)

View on the way to the dump after dropping Sam at school.

Then after a few errands and some chores around the house, Ryan and I headed off to Bar Harbor for our late anniversary weekend away. We stopped at Mason's Brewing on the way up for a yummy lunch and a beer, and then once we hit the island, we headed right to Great Head for a walk. It was a gorgeous afternoon, in the 70s and bright and sunny. And as always never a bad view to be had. (1.7 miles walked)

Once our walk was done, we headed to the Bar Harbor Grand, our home for the weekend. It was the perfect spot on an early November weekend. We showered and then headed across the street for dinner at Peekytoes Provisions. A delicious crabcake and salad for me, crab bisque and tuna tacos for Ryan, plus a few good glasses of beer and wine and a smoked ricotta chocolate mousse to finish up the meal. Yum! The perfect start to a fun weekend.

I headed out early for a run in the morning. Temps were 30+ degrees cooler than on Friday, with a stiff breeze to make it feel even chillier. Brrr. I headed down Main Street, and veered onto the Shore Path for a quick view of the sunrise before continuing on. I ran up West Street and turned onto Duck Brook Road to connect to the carriage roads, where I looped around by Witch Hole before retracing my steps back into town. Very pretty morning light. Stopped to take way too many photos, and those two glasses of wine certainly did not help. Definitely a meander 😂😂 Had to add on a bit of extra road in the end but got in the 10 I was hoping for. (10.0 miles)

Ryan was across the street in the little cafe enjoying breakfast, and I sent him off in the hopes of donuts, but the store was closed for the season, so I settled on the continental breakfast at the hotel, which really wasn't bad. Then we headed out for a drive and ended up at Hunters Beach. So pretty. We did a nice little loop down to the beach and up and over the cliffs. (1.2 miles walked)

Then it was back into town for lunch. I had hoped we could get poke boles at Aloha, but alas, like many other restaurants, they appeared closed for the season. So we ended up at Two Cats, which was not at all a bad alternative and entirely delish, just not the veggie-heavy light meal I had originally been thinking of 😂

From there, we headed out to hike Bald and Parkman. I totally recommend Two Cats and I totally recommend this loop but I may not recommend eating at Two Cats before hiking this loop 😂😂 So much food to try to digest while hiking uphill. Gorgeous afternoon. Cool and blustery with amazing classic Acadia views. Quiet trails too. (2.4 miles walked)

We headed back to the hotel after our hike to shower and relax for a bit before walking down the street to Havana for our fancy anniversary dinner. It was incredibly delicious and fun to finally eat there after so many years. Cheers to 25 years and many more to come! 💗🍸🍷

Wasn't feeling super peppy on Sunday morning, but had some miles to run, so chose a mellow route. Ran on the roads out to Great Meadow, Jessup Path and Hemlock Trail. Love the meadow grasses and birches along Jessup Path. Breezy and cool. Started and finished along the Shore Path for the ocean views. (7.0 miles)

Then it was across the street for a bagel sandwich and coffee before packing up and checking out of the hotel and going on one more walk before we headed home. We started over at Sieur Du Mont, hiked up and over Kebo Mountain and returned via Great Meadow and Jessup Path. Nice loop on quiet trails. Two deer seen as we hiked the trail along the Kebo Mountain ridge. (2.8 miles walked)

All in all, a really fun getaway with Ryan, and always great to get out and enjoy the island.

And many thanks to Mom and Dad for hanging with Sam while we were away!

Got back home mid-afternoon and after a few loads of laundry, some grocery shopping and a few things around the house, we headed over to Mom and Dad's to celebrate Dad's 80th birthday a few days early! We love you, Dad! 💕