If you noticed a week’s absence, it was because I was busy boycotting all digital communication during my week of vacation. The boyfriend and I took a trip to his family cabin in Nova Scotia followed by a few days at a relaxing resort in Bar Harbor, Maine.

We started the trip with three days in Nova Scotia. We spent one day in Halifax, where we sampled brews at Alexander Keith’s Brewery. This is legitamately the only IPA I have ever enjoyed in my life. It was so bubbly and crisp, completely unlike the bitter concoctions I’ve sampled in the States. We also stopped at Peggy’s Cove lighthouse around sunset, where I discovered Lobster Lane!

I attempted to enjoy some form of lobster at least once a day. I got it in during breakfast with some delicious scrambled eggs and homemade bread at Kiwi Cafe in Chester and at dinner at The Trellis Cafe near Hubbards with some decadent lobster ravioli. These restaurants were my two favorites of the entire trip. Highly recommended! 

On our last day in Nova Scotia we took a drive down the southern coast in an attempt to stop at a section of Kejimkujik National Park, but were thwarted by a dirt road that we weren’t quite sure our rental car could handle. We did manage to find a beautiful rocky shoreline nearby and hiked up and down the coast checking out tide pools and some seriously colorful seaweed. I admit that I did not think seaweed could be pretty, but you haven’t experienced real seaweed until you see it in the northeast. 

Since we were roughing it in Canada, we decided to splurge on a nice hotel in Maine. We stayed at the Atlantic Oceanfront Hotel and just loved it. The staff was amazing—on our first night we wanted to jump in the jacuzzi after our long drive but it was right around closing time. The maintenance man offered to come back in an hour to lock up so we could relax!

We spent a lot of time exploring Acadia National Park. Above I’m on the rocky shoreline near Sand Beach and below the boyfriend is jumping up and down as he’s just stepped in a fire ant mound during our hike up Beech Mountain (don’t worry, he survived ant-bite free). We had a hard time picking which hike to do because there were just so many options, but we ended up choosing Beech Mountain because we wanted something that wouldn’t involve iron rungs (my request) but that would still take us to the top of a relatively high mountain (the boyfriend’s request). This hike was easy to moderate, with a bit of scrambling up rocks but nothing too difficult. You also get to hike on three sides of the mountain, so you see great views of Long Lake and Echo Lake to the east and west and the Atlantic Ocean and coastal islands to the south. The top has a fire tower which isn’t completely open to the public, but we were able to climb about halfway up to get an even better panoramic view. We also did the hike backwards, first hiking through the forested Canada Cliffs and then coming up Beech Mountain from the south going toward the parking lot. I actually think this route turned out to be better because you summited near the end of the hike rather than near the beginning. 

Of course, I had to keep the lobster theme going. We ordered takeout lobster (yep, that’s a thing) our first night from the Finback Alehouse in Bar Harbor. The food was good, but we actually loved this place more as a bar—it doesn’t feel as touristy as some of the other spots in the area, the drink prices are reasonable and the server was super friendly. Our last night we had to fit in a round of mini golf at Pirate’s Cove (we couldn’t resist…and we even won a free game, so I guess we have to plan a repeat trip!).

Recommendations for future Maine or Nova Scotia trips or questions about my adventures? Please leave them in the comments!