Pimp Mobile

We almost forgot to tell you about the rental car. When we picked up the car at Alamo in Stamford, CT, they told us they were giving us a free upgrade. And we sure got an upgrade. I tell ya, those pimps in Maine were sure jealous of our wheels. Not only was it a new car, we also had the new, orange, New York license plates on it. And we even got comments on the plates. We were at a gas station in Vermont right before the Canadian border on our way to Montreal, and the guy from the car in front of me said, "Whatdaya think about those new New York plates?"

We thought this shot in Acadia National Park was particularly appropriate for the road trip, since we were parked right in front of one of those Cruise America rental RVs (aka 1-800-RV4RENT), which we saw everywhere on our previous two road trips in the national parks in the west. Ah, the memories.

Road Trip 2010 conclusion update:

Final road stats:

68.57 gallons of gas. 1800 miles. Gas price range: $2.69 (Holden, ME) to 3.09 (Darien, CT). 26.25 mpg. Not too bad for that big ride.

Heading back to New Hampshire

Tuesday, June 1 - After coming back from sunrise watch, going back to bed for a while, packing up, and heading back to Cafe This Way in Bar Harbor again for breakfast, we hit the road to head back to the White Mountains in New Hampshire. We felt like we got an extra day in there since we got up at 4am, did some sightseeing and went back to bed again!

Our destination today: The Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, NH. Not quite a direct route from Bar Harbor, but god bless Google Maps on the iPhone for getting us there. Sandy was a bit skeptical about the route, since we were directed to get of the interstate and drive through small towns and country roads. But I assured her we should keep the faith, and after seeing some nice countryside and stopping at our 3rd outlet mall this trip, all was well.

Windy - and very early - sunrise

Tuesday, June 1 - We did it. We got up VERY early this morning in order to try to see the sunrise from Cadillac Mountain in Acadia. At 4:52am. And man, was it windy. When Sandy opened the car door, it almost took it off it's hinges, and she quickly shut it. "Oh my god!" It was a struggle just to walk up the steps to the top. See those two green lumps on the ground behind us? Those are people huddled inside sleeping bags waiting for the sun to come up. You can also see the motley crew of our crazy compatroits crazy enough to be on the top of the mountain in (probably) 50mph winds just to *maybe* see the sun rise through the clouds. That purple sack that guy is carring? A child.

We knew that the weather wasn't going to be as good as yesterday, but since it wasn't raining, we gave it a shot. And while it maybe wasn't the most beautiful sunrise, just a little bit of pink in the sky made it all worth while for Sandy.

At over 1500 feet, Cadillac Mountain is the highest point on the Atlantic Coast north of Rio de Janiero. But because it was so windy, it felt a lot higher than it was. We huddled behind a big rock for a while to get some shelter from the wind. It was also pretty funny to see this lone seagull try to battle the wind. Every time he took off, he stationary in mid-air. Sandy took a liking to this little guy, and while I'd gotten back in the car and turned on the heat, she stayed out in the windy cold

Acadia: Take 2

Monday, May 31 - After driving the Park Loop Road, we went back to town to rent bikes in order to spend a few hours riding on the carriage roads in the park.

The carriage roads and stone bridges are well known because they were built by John D. Rockefeller and donated to the park. Acadia is unusual because it's the only national park where the lands were donated by private citizens. Rockefeller was key in making that happen. Acadia was also the first national park east of the Mississippi.

Acadia National Park

Monday, May 31 - Ahhhh. It felt great to be back in a national park. Acadia is really beautiful, and it was a picture perfect day.

We started the day by driving the 27-mile Park Loop Road, which has amazing views of the coastline and rocky shore. We talked about trying to get up to watch the sunrise from Cadillac Mountain, but we weren't quite ready to get up for the 4:52am sunrise today. We'll try again tomorrow.