I felt decent on our second day in Maine but I woke up the third day (Tuesday October 10) feeling like absolute garbage. My face was draining and I was sneezing so much and coughing a bit (I had warned Kiersten the day before that I was this way and she absolutely did not care since she had kids and is an infectious disease nurse, and Val & Steve also didn’t mind, but I still felt bad to be that way around them). I slept horribly and woke up counting down the minutes to when I could take Mucinex. Sigh. Anyway.

We had a fun adventure planned for the day – visiting the state capitol in Augusta, then going to Acadia National Park. I can’t believe how lucky I am (as a Midwesterner) to have been to three national parks this year – Saguaro, Joshua Tree, and now, Acadia. I’m very grateful.

Steven drove us to Augusta and we did the self guided tour of the State House. Val had said she’d never been inside a capitol building before and now she’s interested in checking out the inside of Colorado’s in Denver and maybe seeing Wyoming’s in Cheyenne. I think it’s fun (obviously).

The building wasn’t super impressive, but did overlook a beautiful park, which we enjoyed seeing. And I mailed my dad his birthday card from a mailbox inside of it, so now his card will have a Maine stamp.

Eek, when we were leaving, we heard a loud crunch behind us and two cars had collided. Maybe a Massachusetts driver? Ha, I say that, because both Kiersten, and later, Charlyn, were telling us how horrible the Masshole drivers are.

The crash sounded bad but luckily enough, an ambulance and cop car were right there so they just turned their lights on and drove the 100 feet to the accident. And I should note, we saw everyone get out the cars okay, so that made us feel better.

We stopped at Dunkin’ (Charlyn said they call it Dunk?) on the way out of town then began the long leg to Bar Harbor. The first leg to Augusta was just over an hour and the second was about two and a half. Ha, the day before when we told Kiersten we were planning to drive there she said “that’s so far!” and we were all talking about how it doesn’t seem far to us, being from bigger cities, but we totally get why it seems far to her (and it was far, ha).

Also, while I am talking about driving, whoa, the roads are so curvy and random out in Maine! I felt like I never really got my sense of direction because I was almost always on a weird curvy route. Definitely different from the Midwest!

We stopped at Mother’s Kitchen outside of the National Park and had delicious sandwiches, then headed to the visitor center to get a map and a park pass. And postcards, since I love to send them.

We had made a reservation to drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain, and somehow timed it perfectly for our 2:30-3:00 time slot. It was gorgeous up there and I definitely recommend it, if you go!

After we drove down we took the one way route around the park, stopping at Thunder Hole to hear the loud water that sounds like thunder,

Otter Point for a little walk, and Jordan Pond Path to see the mountains (hills?) reflect off the pond.

While we were at Jordan Pond Path another tourist asked us to take their picture then asked if we’d been to White Mountains National Forest in New Hampshire. I told them no, but my plan was to go there tomorrow, the group just didn’t know it yet. Ha. This person raved about the National Forest and said they missed it while being in Acadia and thought the forest was better. I would say it was different. Acadia (for us) was all shore and rock, which we loved seeing, and the forest was all about the trees (duh). But more on that tomorrow.

I loved getting a little glimpse of Acadia. Like with all National Parks, I wish I could spend more time there and do a serious hike.  Maybe some day!

We headed back toward our Airbnb with a stop at Mason’s Brewing Company in Brewer, Maine, where I got a vegan burger and fries. I think it was decent but I felt a bit meh so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I should.

Steven had been doing all the driving and then I started after we left the brewery and did the over two hour drive back. I think we got back around 10:30 pm. We did a lot in one day that had over 6 hours of car time!