A Special Visitor

First of all, I want to apologize for my hiatus. With Grandad being in town and the beautiful weather we've been having, it's hard to sit inside for too long. The long, cold, snowy winter has made me appreciate sunshine, flowers, and warm afternoons more than ever. Maine was beautiful when it was covered in snow, but the vivid blooms and bright green grass beats the snow on any day.

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Last weekend trumped all the beautiful days by far. It was partly to due to our company. Grandad flew up from TN all by himself. That's quite a trek for a 80-something year old, but he's no typical 80-something year old. He's the most active, hippest, fun granddad around.

I'm pretty sure the snow never truly goes away in Maine.

The majority of the weekend was spent in Bar Harbor and Acadia. The summer season is just beginning in Maine, which means stores and restaurants are actually opening and crowds of people are filling the streets and highways.

We acted like typical tourists by stopping at all of the souvenir shops, taking tours, and photographing everything in sight. For all of my TN friends wanting to know what Bar Harbor is like, Patrick described it perfectly. Picture a nautical Gatlinburg. Though I love a good trip to Dollywood and occasionally walking the Gatlinburg strip, it doesn't hold a candle to the views you get at Bar Harbor.

Lobster ice cream anyone? Yes, they put real, buttered lobster in vanilla ice cream. I know everyone says that you have to eat lobster when you go to Maine, but I don't think this is the way to do it.

Anyways, back to the views.

One of my favorite stops in Acadia is Jordan Pond. It is a massive pond in the middle of the island, and is one of the most serene, tranquil stops in all of Maine.

Maine is also known for its lighthouses. Unfortunately, most of them are not visible by land, and the lighthouse cruise doesn't start until the end of the month. But as luck would have it, a cruise ship was docking in Bar Harbor on Sunday, so the tour company decided to have a special lighthouse cruise just for the ship (and us). Besides getting sea sick halfway through the 3-hour tour, and it being 50 degrees and windy out on the ocean, it was one of the most remarkable sights I've ever seen.

One of the neatest parts of the day was seeing two bald eagles. To see them in their natural habitat trumps Dollywood's eagle exhibit any day.

Once we were coasting back to shore and my head stopped spinning, we spotted this lobster boat. For those of you who don't know, my first name is Stephanie, and though I have an "a" at the end of my name, this was pretty darn close.

Though all of the adventures and sight-seeing was incredibly fun, I would have to say our favorite part was just drinking coffee and talking about life with Grandad. It just doesn't get much better than that.