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Where to Eat in Salem, MA: A Foodie Guide to the Witch City (Plus October Treats)

October 14, 2026

Where to Eat in Salem, MA: A Foodie Guide to the Witch City (Plus October Treats)

The Ultimate New England Fall Road Trip: A Six-State Foliage Loop (2026)

September 15, 2026

The Ultimate New England Fall Road Trip: A Six-State Foliage Loop (2026)

white church in autumn woodstock vermont
The Girls Trip Guide to Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park

September 4, 2026

The Girls Trip Guide to Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park

Girls trip to Acadia National Park: four friends posing on Ocean Path near Otter Cliff with pink granite rocks, Frenchman Bay, and fall foliage on the Bar Harbor, Maine coastline, cover photo for The Well Worn Shoes girls trip guide to Acadia and Bar Harbor.
Acadia National Park October Guide: Fall Colors, Weather & What to Pack

August 18, 2026

Acadia National Park October Guide: Fall Colors, Weather & What to Pack

Bright red maple leaf featured over autumn Maine waterway
The Bar Harbor Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need To Know Before You Visit

July 22, 2026

The Bar Harbor Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need To Know Before You Visit

Downtown Bar Harbor's walkable shopping streets in Maine — featured image for a complete Bar Harbor and Acadia travel guide, capturing the village's shops, benches, and small-town charm.
The Complete Guide to the Best Bars in Bar Harbor, Maine

June 18, 2026

The Complete Guide to the Best Bars in Bar Harbor, Maine

A craft cocktail at a Bar Harbor brewery bar in Maine — featured image for a guide to the best bars in Bar Harbor, designed to work as a Pinterest preview.
The Complete Guide To Getting Out On Frenchmans Bay

June 9, 2026

The Complete Guide To Getting Out On Frenchmans Bay

Complete guide to Frenchman Bay near Bar Harbor, Maine - featured image of the working harbor with moored sailboats, a classic Maine tugboat, and pine-covered Bar Island under dramatic clouds, the iconic view anchoring a complete guide to boat tours, whale watching, kayaking, sailing, and fishing charters near Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island
The Best Sunset Spots in Acadia National Park

May 26, 2026

The Best Sunset Spots in Acadia National Park

Best sunset spots in Acadia National Park - featured image of a pastel pink and purple sunset over Seal Cove with a lobster boat and seaweed-covered low-tide ledges, a guide to the most peaceful, crowd-free sunset viewing spots on the quiet side of Mount Desert Island, Maine
One Day In Acadia With Dogs: A Local’s Itinerary

May 12, 2026

One Day In Acadia With Dogs: A Local’s Itinerary

Where To Get The Best Lobster On Mount Desert Island

May 7, 2026

Where To Get The Best Lobster On Mount Desert Island

Bar Harbor Lobster Pound lobster roll in Bar Harbor Maine — close-up of a golden toasted split-top bun overflowing with fresh Maine lobster claw and knuckle meat in branded lobster pound paper with French fries, the star of the best lobster rolls on Mount Desert Island guide and a must-order at one of the most iconic seafood restaurants in Bar Harbor Maine near Acadia National Park
Dog Friendly Acadia National Park: The Ultimate 2026 Guide

May 7, 2026

Dog Friendly Acadia National Park: The Ultimate 2026 Guide

The Ultimate Coastal Maine Packing List

May 5, 2026

The Ultimate Coastal Maine Packing List

Seal Harbor sunset on Mount Desert Island Maine - panoramic golden and pink sunset over a sheltered lobster boat harbor at low tide, with exposed pink granite ledges, seaweed-covered rocks, and a spruce forest shoreline, capturing one of the most peaceful and picturesque hidden sunset spots on Mount Desert Island near Acadia National Park
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I have a soft spot for places when they’re not put I have a soft spot for places when they’re not putting on a show. I don’t want to get the shot you’ve seen 20 million times! 

This is Oxbow Bend (photo 2 &4), Grand Teton’s most photographed view. It’s gorgeous! You’ve probably seen it with golden aspens and a perfect reflection at sunrise.

We went the 2nd week of October at sunset. The leaves were almost gone, a storm was rolling in, the light was purple, and there were only a handful of other car in the pullout (which, if you’ve been there, you know is insane). 

Was it the most iconic shot? Nope. Do I love it even more? Absolutely.

A little farther down the road, a mule deer buck stepped out of the trees like he’d also been waiting for everyone to leave. We also saw elk and a grizzly cub (highlight for me, but no photos, I was just in the moment for that one). 

I think that’s why I love the off-season. The parks look different, the plans get a little looser, and sometimes you get a whole place to yourself.

Around here, we’re less chasing the perfect shot and more let’s see what happens if we stay a little longer.

If that sounds like your kind of travel, you’re in the right place. 💚
The best view of Acadia isn’t on Cadillac. It’s 3 The best view of Acadia isn’t on Cadillac. It’s 3 miles offshore, and I’ll stand by that! 

We took the Lighthouse, Wildlife & Acadia National Park Cruise with @barharborwhales last October with visitors in town, and the fog rolled in twenty minutes out. I was thrilled. Coastal Maine doesn’t owe you a clear day. It owes you a mood.

The plan was Egg Rock, Winter Harbor, Baker Island, and Bear Island. The fog had other ideas, so the captain swung us around the quiet side of the island and we got Bass Harbor Head from the water, which almost nobody sees from that angle. I wouldn’t trade it for a clear day! 

Practical bits: about two and a half to three hours, it runs through the fall, and the route changes with the weather, so go in with no expectations and a real jacket. It’s ten degrees colder on the water than on the dock, every time.

🌊🍁 Save this for October 🍁🌊 I hope you get some fog too! 😉
Salem questions, round two. I love being your unof Salem questions, round two. I love being your unofficial tour guide for your October witch era. 🧙‍♀️

Which train should you take? Is 9 a.m. too early? (For Salem in October? Absolutely not.) Where did the witch trials actually happen? Can you go inside the Hocus Pocus house? (Nope. People live there. Please don’t be weird.)

We’re also talking coming in from Danvers, the ferry, what your 10-year-old will love, and whether November is too late for a Salem trip.

I lived in Massachusetts for 7 years and made the October pilgrimage more times than I can count. These are the answers I’d give a friend before sending them off to get aggressively distracted by every witchy gift shop in town. 

And if you want the whole game plan, I’ve got you:

🧹 The Ultimate Salem Guide ($): Week-by-week crowd calendar, parking lots by address, a kids’ itinerary, and what’s changed for 2026.

🎃 The Salem Cheat Sheet ($): The need-to-know details without the 47 open browser tabs.

Comment WITCH and I’ll send you the links. Consider it your official invitation to your 90s-kid, Hocus Pocus-loving witch era. 🖤
POV: You’re standing in the front yard of the man POV: You’re standing in the front yard of the man who gave Acadia to the world, and almost nobody knows it 😍

No circling the Park Loop Road looking for parking. Just old stone steps, the Atlantic, and a piece of Acadia history hiding in plain sight.

At the end you’ll find old stone foundations and steps going down to the rocks. That’s Old Farm, George Dorr’s house. Dorr spent his life and most of his money piecing together the land that became Acadia, then handed it to the country. He died in 1944, and the park took the house down a few years later. The story goes he swam off these rocks every morning well into old age.

So you’re standing in the front yard of the person who’s the reason any of this is public land. There’s no sign making a big deal of it. I think that’s the point.

Dogs on leash are fine. Park in the small lot on Route 3 just outside of Bar Harbor.

Then head back into town for dinner. Table Salt on Main Street if you want to sit down somewhere nice, or the Black Friar if you want a pub, a fire, and a bowl of stew. Both are a few minutes from the trailhead, which is the whole argument for doing Compass Harbor late in the day.

✨🍁✨ Save this one for the day you want Acadia without the Park Loop Road.

Heading to Acadia in the next few weeks? Comment Fall and I’ll send you links to my guide and blog post 🍁✨
If Horseman’s Hollow is on your Sleepy Hollow itin If Horseman’s Hollow is on your Sleepy Hollow itinerary, sit down, we need to talk 🎃👻✨

Sleepy Hollow rebuilt its entire Halloween lineup this year, and most of what’s on the internet about it hasn’t caught up. 

Horseman’s Hollow is gone. Kykuit’s paused. Irving’s ‘Legend’ moved outdoors to Sunnyside. Halloween is a Saturday and so is the parade a week earlier.

I lived in New England for 7 years and drove down almost every October. This is the version I’d hand a friend, checked for 2026: the honest week-by-week crowd calendar, every ticket and the order it sells out, the train and the parking lots, parade night and Halloween night hour by hour, one perfect weekday, and the seven real Legend addresses.

The Sleepy Hollow in October Cheat Sheet ($) is six pages you keep on your phone. The Ultimate Sleepy Hollow Guide ($) is the whole year including itineraries, where to actually sleep (RV included), the dog version, the estates, the real history.

Comment HORSEMAN and I’ll send you both links, plus my blog post One Day In Sleepy Hollow!
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