Park Loop road and Gorham Mountain trail

We started the day by driving the park loop road and stopping to check out the views here and there. Got some good views of the ocean and the rocky shoreline. We then checked out Northeast Harbor, a very small town with basically one Main Street area with shops and restaurants. After lunch we hiked up Gorham Mountain, a "moderate" trail, about 2 miles in and out. Still had some tricky patches, that confirmed we are not doing the beeehive trail, which is rated difficult and has some scary parts. Took my picture at what we thought was the summit, only to find out we still had a little bit to go. Again, awesome views.

Easy hike turns difficult

Our first day, thought we'd start with an easy hike around Jordan Pond and then eat at the restaurant. About 1\3rd through we see a side trail up to "The Bubbles". "Want to try it?" my darling asks me, "sure". Turns out we are now on a trail we later find out is rated "difficult". It was tough but we made it to the summit of South Bubble and the views were pretty cool. But man our legs were feeling it. After this hike we got back on the easy trail around the pond and ate at the Jordan Pond House restaurant. We got popovers, as this is the thing to do here, and they were pretty good. They're hollow puff pastries that are served with jam and butter. We also had a full dinner, nice restaurant. The last picture below is from the deck of the restaurant, in the background are The Bubbles.

Albany to Bangor

This was the last day I worked from car, the vacation offically started at 6 PM. Since we realized we were driving almost right through Boston, we took a side trip into the city to Yankee Lobster where we went a few years ago for lobster rolls. They're still good. Drove up to Bangor and had a good dinner at a restuarant called Timbers. Tomorrow we have about an hour drive to Acadia.

Niagara Falls

Had a meeting at noon, so I stayed in the hotel room and worked in the morning while the wife swam and did water aerobics in the pool. In the afternoon we went to the falls, We started on the Canadian side and then walked over the rainbow bridge to get on the Maid of the Mist on the American side. This is my 3rd trip to see the falls and they are still awe inspiring. We drove to Albany, NY after we had our fill of the falls.

Inside the falls on the Maid of the Mist

1st day-just driving

This day was spent driving. I worked in the back while my wife drove. We made it to our hotel in Thorold, ON. The only issue was Google maps changed out route mid-trip and we took the long way, looping around Niagara Falls and back to Thorold. Originally we were entering Canada through Windsor and would hit Thorold on the way to Niagara Falls. Whoops. I actually got quite a bit of work done, thanks to my awesome mobile office set up.

Dublin day 2

We started our day with a 2 hour walking tour of Dublin given by an older woman, who knew alot but was hard to hear on the streets. We were all grossed out by some white stuff that formed in the corner of her mouth. Too bad she was so hard to hear and had the distracting alien larva escaping onto her face because she was very knowledgeable and had some interesting things to say. Took an uber to the Temple Bar pub, which was packed in the early afternoon. We found possibly the last table, luckily outside in a courtyard because the weather was awesome. One of the first things we noticed was a guy dressed as a nurse surrounded by a big bunch of friends. When we asked what the occasion was, his friend said "It's Saturday". When he changed outfits later we found out he was from England and it was his bachelor party. At the rate he was drinking, including multiple shots, I find it hard to imagine he made it to 8 o'clock.

"It's Saturday"

We then went to the Ireland's highest pub-Johnnie Fox's, in the mountains outside of Dublin for dinner. Food was good and it was a nice place, very traditional. Overall it was good place to go after the Temple Bar nuttiness.

Johnny Fox's

When we got back to the hotel we walked over to John's Bar and haberdashery. It was an old clothing shop converted into a bar. Strangely, there was also a fast food place (Wonder Burger) right in the back of the bar. We were having a good time, including a rousing "Sweet Caroline" sing-along, until a big, drunk, and scary guy picked me out as his conversation partner. The guy was rambling from one topic to another with no logical connection. Eventually he mentioned special needs kids in school. I seized this opportunity to escape by pawning him off onto my favorite Debbie by mentioning her daughter taught special needs kids and running to the bathroom. After I came out we extricated ourselves from the guy,giving up the table to some poor girls who had no idea who/what was waiting for them, and left the bar.

Called it a night after that. Awesome (long) day in Dublin.

Chicago to Dublin

Our flight was packed but uneventful, we landed around 11 AM. After getting our bags, we met the Exoticca guy outside of security and waited at least an hour for the rest of the poeple being driven to the hotel with us. It turns out some of the people on our tour never got their bags, which is why they took so long. We did the Guinness storehouse tour, which is basically a museum tour with a tasting, kind of disappointing really. I liked the Guinness, no one else did. The gravity bar onn the roof was kind of cool, with great views of Dublin. We walked down to a recommendeded fish and chips place-Beshoffs, and around Dublin a bit. Christchurch chapel was on our way home. As we walked by we saw a person sleeping on a bench in front. As we looked we couldn't tell if it was an actual person. So we moved closer and discovered it was a sculpture, apparently Christchurch has a mission to help the homeless. We were exhausted from the travelling so we called it an early night.

Here's to you Mr. Guinness!

View from the Gravity bar