road trip snappies...

old orchard beach... a road trip...

this year's vacation plans changed quite a bit at the last minute.  our original plan was to take the bike to massachusettes.  i've always wanted to see salem, and there's so many beautiful spots nearby... martha's vineyard... cape cod... so that was our plan. head down to massachusettes, camp where and when we want to, see all those spots, maybe a little detour into old orchard beach, a stop in bangor and/or portland... those plans changed the night before we were scheduled to leave. dominic realized his swingarm (the part that keeps the back tire in place) on his bike was cracked. not safe! so we were left with a dilemma.  try to have it fixed asap (mind you it was the weekend, so not for a few days at least) and leave for our trip after that? skip our trip altogether? go with the car? 

so we opted to go with the car, but not as far.  that way we'd be home earlier in the week, with time to try to have the bike repaired.  we decided to go to old orchard beach, maine, for a few days.  still no specific plans, go with the flow, how we like it. 

the pier is gorgeous, and the sand is insane. not a rock to be seen! our first night arriving was gorgeous, and low tide, so we walked along the beach a bit that night. and i'm glad we did, because it rained every other day we were there.  (i'll post some instagram pics soon of Old Orchard at night).

not only was it raining, but even when it managed to stop, it was quite windy, as you can see :)  it made it a little challenging to grab some photos of us. but, we managed.

the one perk of taking a car in place of a bike is that we actually had room for shopping! no acorns strapped to a bike this year! and boy, did we shop.  we found this fantastic antique shop while looking for a movie theatre just outside of old orchard beach.  we pretty much filled up the car with unique items we'd probably never see again.

 after leaving old orchard beach, we made our way to cape elizabeth.  here, we found Fort Williams Park.  it consists of, as it states, a fort, as well as Head Light lighthouse and Goddard Mansion, built in 1853. 

On our last night, while heading back in the direction of home, but taking some scenic routes, two things happened. the sun came out! we were so excited to see some blue sky.  and almost at that exact moment, we found a skatepark in Augusta.  

a bike trip, part six: the road home...

 after bar harbor, we were ready to make our way back home.  rather then back track to the nearest border, we decided to keep going on the scenic route and make a stop in Bangor to see Stephen King's house.

a beautiful home, surrounded by a gate with gargoyles and dragons... very suiting for the author.

 it even has a complimentary black cat roaming the side walks, who was very friendly and loved attention of the site-seers.

our last night camping, we made it to Houlton, Maine.  the next morning we continued our trek back to NB.

the packed helmets were soon replaced with shopping items! when we were in Bar Harbor, we found the cutest wooden acorn bird feeders and houses.  i loved them, and inquired about having them shipped home... as luck would have it, we ended up in the hometown of their creators.  my sweet boyfriend drove around until we found the Amish village where they're made, and we purchased a few.  the helmets were then forced back onto our heads, and off we went to our Canada.

a bike trip, part five: bar harbor, maine...

bar harbour, maine. the furthest of our destinations.  this is where my parents went on their honeymoon, and it's a place i've always wanted to see.  we found a campground almost immediately when we arrived, set up camp, and headed out to eat after a long day of traveling and sight-seeing.

the next morning we went straight to the heart of bar harbour and spent the day wandering around, relaxing, enjoying the sites.  it's a beautiful spot, and the weather we had that day just added to the atmospher.

the docks were beautiful, and the water was so calm.  it was such a great photo op! we sat by the water for a while, dipped our toes...

we didn't take a tour on this beauty... maybe next time. there were a few things we would've liked to do, including a flight tour, but we were also both anxious to get on the bike and evade a bit of this heat.  we wanted the cool breeze in our hair!