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Time to go home

I'm sitting here at 11:30 pm, the last night in Bar Harbor. Everyone's asleep. Sweet Boy looked at me in the car on the way back to the house, after I asked him to stay awake until we got home, "but I had such a good day, and I'm so tired, I want to just sleep a little bit here." Gotcha, kiddo. I feel the same way. It was a good day, and I'm so tired. But I don't really want to go to sleep because when I wake up, vacation will be over. And we were just starting to have fun! (Not to mention, I don't even want to think about the 14-hour car ride...oh, my aching back.)

Today was the best weather day we've had all week, so we crammed in as much of Acadia as we could handle. Which really wasn't much, but it was good for us: Cadillac Mountain summit, Otter Point, Otter Cove, a quick drive around the Park Loop road, then into Somesville to visit the Port in the Storm bookstore (which we've driven by hundreds of times before, and I always say I want to go in there, so we finally stopped). We relaxed for, oh, about 40 minutes, then went back into Bar Harbor to eat dinner at Rupununi, and we wandered around the shops looking for souvenirs and gifts for family.

This late-evening wander seems to be a new tradition with my family. It's like we're all searching every storefront for that one thing that will signify all that this place means to us...but somehow there's no such thing, so we settle for a t-shirt. Usually a "Cool as a Moose" or "Life Is Good" t-shirt, another of which I bought tonight. Only this one is the "Cool as a Moose" logo with the "Life Is Good" motto...two birds with one t-shirt, how convenient. And it was on sale -- bonus.

It's been a good week, all in all, even with the rocky patches. The best times were the times we were all together, sitting around at the cabin or at dinner. Go figure. I don't know when we'll be back, although I know it won't be next summer. And probably not the summer after that, either. Perhaps we'll venture back downeast when Sweet Boy is old enough to hike alongside me, instead of on a leash or on my shoulders. I hope he'll have happy Acadia memories someday, like the rest of us do. This week his favorite thing was throwing rocks at the water. Which is just as good as anything else, I suppose. (He's going to have a tough time next week without his Uncle Nate, too. Oh, how he adores you, Uncle Nate!)

OK. Time to go to sleep. Goodnight, Bar Harbor. Sweet dreams, Acadia. Thank you for always being such a good host.

TODAY I LEARNED
when hiking on the rocks on the side of a mountain, it really is best to keep the 3-year-old on a leash.

Comments

  1. Aww, I'm sorry it's over, but glad you had a great time! I'm always bummed when it's over, too. But you had to come back sometime -- Christy and I need our third amigo.

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