Week in Acadia

Aug. 22-Sept. 2, 2008

Despite a bad Internet connection, we ended up spending over a week in Acadia. Shaune did most of his work at an Internet cafe in the quaint town of Southwest Harbor. Most of our time was spent hiking, kayaking, cooking, and reading, which made for a pretty great week. Acadia is absolutely gorgeous, pristine, with loads to do. We had great weather as well, the evenings and mornings were cool and the days were warm and sunny. But, I have never seen such huge mosquitoes in my lifetime. They came out in full force around 6pm, and hovered around like miniature aircrafts until way after dark. We built enormous fires every night, which helped slightly.

Aside from that, we renewed our addiction to the card game Shithead (which occupied countless hours on islands in Thailand). One highlight were the times that we went on long bike rides on the Carriage Roads that snaked around the crystal clear glacier lakes and through the hillsides. Commissioned by Rockefeller in the early 1900s as a retreat into nature on horse-drawn buggies, the roads wind through the park for 45 miles and are mostly used for cyclists and enthusiastic walkers. Built for horse buggies, the gradual gradient is absolutely perfect for cycling. I can't imagine a more beautiful place to cycle. Along the way, beautiful stone bridges that Rockefeller also had built, designed after his favorite bridge in Central Park, NYC, dotted the landscape. It would be worth coming to Acadia purely to experience these incredible Carriage Roads.

We also spent quite a bit of time searching for the best deal on live lobster. We finally found it for 6.50 a pound, which is quite a deal for hardshell lobster. We cooked it twice, and it was absolutely delicious. We tried the softshell as well, the difference is quite significant. The meat was tastier and sweeter than that of the hardshell, but there was so much water and much less meat that by the time you worked your way through the lobster, you were left with much less. It makes sense that the softshells are two to three dollars less per pound. Pete absolutely hated the lobsters, though, and was extremely afraid. It was almost as bad as his tong phobia. I guess I can't blame him, since when we got them home, I made the mistake of putting one of them on the counter top, where it crawled around and fell down while I wasn't looking.